After reading chapter 8 and the books discussion on when children acquire writing skills, I started looking at my three-year-old nephew. I found an interesting contrast between what the book says and what is being played out in front of me.
My nephew just turned three last week and has been writing his own name and a few other simple words for about 6 months now. Granted, he has a fairly simple name, its only three letters and they are all simple letters to reproduce. I found it unusual that the book said that children begin to copy letters around the age of 4-5 and copy simple words around age 5-6. As much as I would like to think that my nephew is a genius, I don’t think this is the case. My nephew’s preschool class, which is all three-year-olds, has a class goal of having them all be able to write their name by the end of the school year. I feel that this is an acceptable goal for three-year-olds and they should be capable of achieving it. The contrast between the book and what I am seeing with my nephew had me wondering if schools are placing more emphasis on being able to write at a younger age? With more children being placed in childcare systems, more emphasis is being placed on a classroom setting. Therefore, I feel that skills such as writing are being taught and mastered earlier. I also wonder if this will cause any long-term effects such as dislike for writing because it was being taught at an earlier age?
This is just an interesting contrast I have noticed in my own life. I’m curious to know if those people with children have seen any other contrast such as this?
Here is a picture of my nephews attempt to write his own name. Like I said it is only three letters (Ari) but I feel like it is legible given his age. His handwriting is only going to get better as the years go by.
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