Am I being a little harsh?

easilydistracted

Great minds pinkshoes, my computer froze mid post so some appeared whilst I was posting. OP I think it might be an idea to give the 'tasks' a little break before trying them again in a game type way as he seems rather fed up at the mo. Have you had a chance to look at the links for things to do in the meantime? They suggest activities that encourage hand eye coordination such as making playdough snakes. Worth having a chat with the staff as well perhaps so you can get an idea of what they do to encourage these skills.

January20

Velcro_Hotdog wrote: »

Haha

I always try to make it as fun as possible and I get stuck in myself, in fact i can now draw a mean T Rex :rotfl:

Prove it! :rotfl::rotfl:

365days

Your little man will be at school for 12 years minimum. Why risk turning him off now? In many countries kids don't start writing formally at school until they are 7. The best thing you can do in my opinion (backed up by 15 years as Primary Teacher) is back off from the 'formal' writing. At his age he need to exercise his fine motor muscles so he can control a pencil. This can be done in lots of ways. Painting, threading beads, lego/duplo, decorating cakes, making things from plasticine, sand and water play.

On a sunny day it is great fun to 'paint' with water on concrete/patio/pavement and see how long it lasts. If you have a fence he could paint the fence with water. These are all activities where he can practise and develop his motor skills.


Many parents see writing as just the mechanical part of it i.e handwriting. But there is a distinction between the 'secretary and the author' Meaning that someone can have the neatest handwriting going, punctuation excellent but what they write is dull as ditchwater. Someone else may have a fantastic imagination can spin a great yarn but write like a spider. It is great you want to help your little one, but one of the best ways at his age is to engage him in lots of play, talk lots, and read to him. Maybe YOU could make name labels for his dinosaurs, a time table for his trains. The idea is that he writes because he needs to (He may decide to make some train tickets for example) rather than being made too.


The nursery shouldn't be reporting about his ability to write for goodness sake. He is 4!!! Sorry but I get a bee in my bonnet about it sometimes. Let kids be kids.

Have fun this weekend.

emay

McKneff wrote: »

lighten up a little, take him out to do the fun part of it, see a bus, what colour it is, how do you spell bus.
He's still a baby for goodness sake, play leaning is the best way to go.

or when you get home ask him to draw the bus (or whatever you've done/seen) for you to keep as a momento of your weekend. Then it won't seem like chore to do it, rather a pressi for dad

Brighton_belle

You sound like a great dad OP.
I think you should remember that nurseries are now forced to write these sort of reports and probably struggle with what to put sometimes and will pick on on tiny stuff to crit just to prove they are observant and know your child etc. Also, focus on all the good stuff in the report: shows both you and mum are doing a good job already.

He's only 4 and he will mature in his own time. I think it is much more important that he loves spending time with you rather than learns to dread such activities and associates them with you.

gratefulforhelp_2

velcro I have been doing catch up maths with DD1, I would not push her to do more than 15 mins a day and she is 7. I understand that you only see him at weekends. Have you tried bbc.co.uk/bitesize for help with english? There are lots of fun games.

eta he's only little isn't he? You want key stage 1 when you go on bitesize. HTH.

msb5262

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Have you tried bbc.co.uk/bitesize for help with english? There are lots of fun games.

eta he's only little isn't he? You want key stage 1 when you go on bitesize. HTH.

Actually at age 4 1/2 you need foundation stage - nursery and reception count as foundation; year 1 and year 2 are Key Stage 1.

MsB

LJM

i dont think you can force a child to do it let him play he is only 4 and plenty of time to catch up,force him to do things now and he may end up hating it forever, if its not fun for him its not fair and it is the holidays after all

gratefulforhelp_2

msb5262 wrote: »

Actually at age 4 1/2 you need foundation stage - nursery and reception count as foundation; year 1 and year 2 are Key Stage 1.

MsB

Yes you're right but bitesize don't do foundation and I bet he can cope with the ks1 games.

eta http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/

msb5262

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Yes you're right but bitesize don't do foundation and I bet he can cope with the ks1 games.

eta http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/

He probably could cope with some of them but I think there's a reason why bitesize don't do foundation...this little boy would benefit more from one to one time spent with his mum or dad doing things not on a screen.
Hope you are well, I keep bumping into you around the boards...
MsB