Little boys aren’t known for their lovely penmanship. We have had an ongoing problem with little boys who don’t hold the pencil properly and who write their letters from the bottom up instead of the top down. (Take a quick moment and draw an I, a T and an F for me… from the top, down… right?)
Anyhow, Grant is one of the worst offenders and easily has the sloppiest writing in his 2nd grade class.
You may remember this lovely example from my post on Thank You Notes….? Terrible, right?
So last week while having Chinese Food for dinner, Grant announced he wanted to use chopsticks instead of a fork. We didn’t hold out much hope for success.
Boy, were we wrong.
All of us: “Grant! Wow! How did you do that on your first try!?”
Grant: “Um, I read the directions… helllloooo.”
We asked Conner to read the directions too. He still uses the chopsticks like giant toothpicks and stabs the food.
I have it figured out… All I need to make a wrapper with illustrations/directions on how to properly hold a pencil. Grant can read them and maybe then he will start writing as if he has opposable thumbs, rather than as if he is using his feet.
Sound like a plan? (We’ve tried everything else…)
Just out of curiosity, why is it that grade 2 is the year to focus on penmanship. I had a lovely grade 2 teacher (Mrs. Green) who once told us that no matter how smart you are, you will never get very far if no one can read your writing. To this day if it’s something important I make sure that my writing is as neat as possible 😀
Hey it might just work. And very impressive, chopsticks are hard to use!
I can’t use chop sticks. At all.
I end up getting my fingers in the food and stuff.
My son writes his 4’s from bottom to top and his pen never leaves the paper to do it if that makes sense. It’s weird!
You’re so funny but man is he a little cutie! My handwriting was horrid in 1st grade so my mom put me with the meanest teacher ever in 2nd (and was well-known for her strict handwriting guidelines) and that was all she wrote! It’s been decent (on most days) ever since!
P.S. I CAN NOT use chopsticks. I’m the only one out of my friends and family.
xoxo
Good plan!
And I love that he just read the directions. Geez you guys!
Monkey is hilarious while using chop sticks.
Some of us will never have neat handwriting. Never. I didn’t and my brilliant, witty, college-grad children don’t either. I got irritated with their teachers who acted as though the scrawly writing was something my children were doing on purpose, as if they wanted poor grades and messy books. As an English teacher, as long as the writing is legible and your best effort, it’s fine. For anything else, that’s what a printer is for.
PS. I can use chopsticks. And draw and sew and sculpt. Ca’t read my own handwriting, though.
That is SO funny! You know, maybe writing from the bottom-up is a sign of intelligence. My oldest son, who is a junior at Duke, does the same thing. (He’s also handsome and musically gifted, not that I’m prejudiced or anything.)
Nope I don’t think it will work. I think Grant is gonna do what Grant wants to do. LOL. 🙂
Ha!! Does sound like a plan!
Good luck
Hugs
SueAnn
After nearly 25 years I still struggle to read my husbands handwriting. When you find the needed pencil wrapper with instruction please send one my way!
I have two boys. Worst.writing.ever.
We went and saw Santa at the mall and he told my 9 yr old boy that he ought to focus more on his handwriting than the huge list he had prepared…my boy told me in the car on the way home “that was NOT the REAL Santa. He would never criticize my handwriting”…if he only knew;)