Can a parent take the blame or credit for their dc's penmanship?

[plain jane]

If your child has beautiful penmanship, is that mostly due to the teaching they received? The curriculum used? Neither? Both? What is the biggest/most important factor?

 

What about if a child was hs'd, has beautiful manuscript but then went to PS and learned cursive but does a terrible job of it? Is the PS teacher to blame? Is the child just not as talented in that way?

 

What about the other way around- if your child went to PS and learned to print there (and it's terrible) but after coming home and learning cursive, their cursive is beautiful? Would their printing have been better had they hs'd or is it just a fluke that the cursive is better?

 

I'm just curious? :D

[serendipitous journey]

I'm sure they _could_, but don't know that they _should_. ;)

 

I don't know anyone with beautiful handwriting who wasn't taught, usually over some level of objection/boredom. I also don't think that, given neurotypical capabilities, attractive handwriting is beyond anyone.

 

That said, dh's handwriting is marginal at best, he doesn't blame anybody, he doesn't wish it was better if that meant he'd have had to spend longer working on it, and he is very successful in his chosen career. So it wouldn't be on my personal short list of things a hs-ing parent should beat themselves up about.

 

-- any particular reason you're thinking about this?

[mrs.m]

I have terrible handwriting even after remediating myself and teaching 3 children. (I have "neurotypical capabilities".) If I am trying really hard, I form all my letters correctly. But when I write at a normal pace, I revert back to my sloppy handwriting. So I think one is born with the ability. But I think that it has to be taught correctly in order for that ability to properly develop. But I'm sure even the best teachers in the classroom will have some with lovely handwritng and some that need improvement.

 

I would also say that you can't judge what a child's handwriting will be like until they are past 9-10 yrs old. DD's was not great until she turned 11. I'm sure some develop much later than that.

[plain jane]

 

-- any particular reason you're thinking about this?

 

 

No, not really. lol I was curious and just wanted to make conversation. :D

[boscopup]

I think just like with parenting, there is a bit of both, and the parent can do everything right and have a child that writes awfully, or the parent can do everything wrong and still have a child that writes beautifully (because that child has internal motivation to do so).

 

I try to train up my children in the way they should go, but they still have to choose to go that way as adults. ;)

 

As far as my own son's current handwriting... I could probably do better. When he went to school, he had wacky letter formation because the teacher just can't watch each and every child as they write every letter. That's a benefit we homeschool moms have - we can correct bad habits before they start! I did correct his letter formation, but I probably haven't been as much of a stickler for neatness as I should be. This week on copywork, I told him I wanted it to look nice. When he was done, I had him go letter by letter and correct the ones that didn't look nice. The paper wasn't perfect in the end, but it was definitely improvement. He is capable of doing better than I've been making him, I think. ;)

[Soror]

I would say both. I think we all have a certain amount of ability and some will be able to do it really well without guidance and others even with guidance will not have very nice writing. My son is a left-handed boy, his writing is not very pretty. He has always been more geared toward larger motor skills and it is hard for him. I can get him to write neatly but not very much and it is a challenge. My daughter already can write more and neater(although she understands less) she has always had great fine motor skills(but lagged behind him in gross motor skills).

[snickelfritz]

I think it's a mixture of teaching and personality. Obviously, they have to know HOW to form the letters correctly. But, they also have to WANT to put the effort into it.

 

I CAN write neatly. If I'm writing a card, it's neat, though not flowery and pretty. If I'm writing myself a note, it's a scribbled mixture of print and cursive.

 

My dd just started 3rd grade at a private school. Our homeschool usually had much less writing. Short, focused assignments. She wrote beautifully. dh always joked that it was better than mine.

 

Her school has much more writing. She just wants to get it done and her handwriting grades are marginal to middling.:tongue_smilie: We've focused on an area at a time to do a reward chart (not for grades, but for effort on various things.) Her current goal is to go 2 weeks without an "N" on a handwriting grade. She CAN do it, since she'll have an Excellent mixed in with her bad grades. :tongue_smilie: I certainly don't think it's because her current teacher gives poor handwriting instruction. They're working on cursive, so her printing instruction would still be blamed on me.

 

This all greatly pains my dh. He's Mr. Type A Engineer, who writes with very precise all-caps. Which wasn't taught to him, but was something he's picked up on his own. But, he's neat and precise in everything he does.

[MissKNG]

My brother's writing is TERRIBLE so I guess you'll have to blame the ps!!:D

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

My ds had beautiful handwriting as a child. However as a teen it is horrible but neat. He turns in papers that at first glance you think how lovely...all perfectly slaneted, spaced and of the same size. It is very pretty actually. That is until you try to read it and cannot make out the words. Even ds has trouble reading his own writing. We have tried all sorts of things. Man times he has to redo his work. Whose fault is it? I know he learned properly, I have pages and pages of work he did with readable handwriting. Is it laziness on his part? I don't think so. He has worked hard to get the page to look neat. So my answer to the OP question is I am not sure.

[twoforjoy]

I don't think parents/schools get the blame or credit.

 

I have very nice handwriting (especially if I'm writing slowly). I always have.

 

My sister, on the other hand, does not. Everything she writes looks like a ransom note. ;)

 

We were both instructed in the same way. We put, as far as I can tell, the same amount of effort into it--in fact, she probably put in more, because people were always trying to get her to improve her handwriting. Just like some people are better at drawing than others, I think some people are better at handwriting than others.

[junepep]

It's like you read my mind :D -- I've been thinking about this a lot lately because we're just starting handwriting here with my oldest (we did numbers last year and just stopped there).

 

I lean more towards instruction mattering more than just about anything else in handwriting, because I had pretty much the opposite experience as Lori.

 

Although my sister and I also have vastly different handwriting, she was taught using block and I was taught using D'nealian. At it's base my handwriting is simply a different type than hers because we were actually taught two different styles. I think that mine is more fluid and significantly faster for me to write with.

 

Unlike some others who responded, it took me forever to learn to write, I remember crying over writing assignments because I just didn't have the ability to complete them, but I knew what the answers were. I was a very slow learner with writing. Because of that I'm not going to worry too much if Kit has horrid handwriting as long as we're continuing to practice. The key for me is that handwriting is something that will continue, you're never really "done" with it.

 

Looking back at my schoolbooks I've seen that my handwriting continued to be pretty bad until about middle school. Interestingly enough my sister's handwriting in 1st-5th was better than mine, or at least more legible, but it never really developed past the initial block font, even script failed to make much of an impression on her basic handwriting, so imho she (and my husband, who also learned block print) have ugly handwriting and it seems to take them forever to write anything at all, they also dislike writing by hand and prefer typing whereas I now enjoy writing things out on paper and I'm almost as fast with a pencil as I am with a keyboard.

[jayb842]

Ds's handwriting has been a huge deal to DH. He's very successful and says people have been laughed at office for terrible handwriting. He says it a mark of neatness to have good handwriting.

Ds has terrible print. That was taught in ps but his cursive is better. Yes, it was taught at home. Our aim is to make DH happy with it. When we get there and clear up the speech issues will have climbed so big mountains.

Jenn

[mrs.m]

My sister, on the other hand, does not. Everything she writes looks like a ransom note. ;)

 

This is me if I'm not trying really hard. And this made me LOL!!! :lol:

 

Although my sister and I also have vastly different handwriting, she was taught using block and I was taught using D'nealian. At it's base my handwriting is simply a different type than hers because we were actually taught two different styles. I think that mine is more fluid and significantly faster for me to write with.

 

Interestingly enough my sister's handwriting in 1st-5th was better than mine, or at least more legible, but it never really developed past the initial block font, even script failed to make much of an impression on her basic handwriting, so imho she (and my husband, who also learned block print) have ugly handwriting and it seems to take them forever to write anything at all, they also dislike writing by hand and prefer typing whereas I now enjoy writing things out on paper and I'm almost as fast with a pencil as I am with a keyboard.

 

I'm curious what might happen I try D'nealian? I want lovely handwriting so badly. :( My mother has perfect handwriting and still shakes her head whenever I write something.

 

I learned block and it's what I teach my kids. My kids are doing fine despite their mother's example. DS9 is just like me, he can have perfect handwriting if he takes his time. But normally, he's a mess. DS5 has perfect handwritng fast or slow.

[Amie]

Hmm, interesting questions.

I'm thinking it is a bit of both (nature & nurture?). I believe that regular, quality (what that is may be the question) instruction/guidance in penmanship can go very far...but the teacher can only work with what they've been given in a student...

 

I will say that the large Christian school in the town where I grew up was known for it's strenuous penmanship lessons. They began cursive in pre-k and, wow, they were sticklers about it! Some people thougt it was overkill (especially for young boys). However, the kids I knew who went there had perfect cursive handwriting (boys too). I still know many of them now as adults and they have some of the best handwriting I've seen--especially for that generation. So I dunno...

[Mom22ns]

I don't think the instructor gets much credit. My kids had the same instruction. Ds had a great deal of remediation on top of that instruction. His handwriting is still horrible (except in Japanese which he is learning now and does beautifully with), dd wrote well from the beginning. I think this was mostly about small motor coordination at the age they were learning. Then once the poor writing was developed, it is much harder to change. Sometimes I wish I would have waited until ds was 8 or 9 before he started writing. By then he had the dexterity to actually do it right.

 

For the record ds is not neurotypical, he is AS.

[butterflymommy]

DS 14 has such bad handwriting he can barely write his name. He types better than I do, however. I tried, tried, tried teaching him better writing, until I gave up about a year ago.

 

DD 9 has the most beautiful script I have ever seen-- sometimes I can't even tell if it is her writing or the font in the workbook. I barely put any effort into her writing, apart from handing her a practice book when she showed interest around 1rst grade.

 

So which can I take credit for? :D

[MeganW]

I have 4 kids who have had handwriting teaching together, so I *know* the instruction has been identical! :)

 

Two have pretty handwriting, two have chicken scratch!

[junepep]

I'm curious what might happen I try D'nealian? I want lovely handwriting so badly. :( My mother has perfect handwriting and still shakes her head whenever I write something.

 

 

Why not give it a try? I found a few links to make your own free worksheets for D'Nealian while I was looking for something that was a good fit for Kit. The one below was the easiest for me to use:

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

 

 

I put some of the links for free handwriting stuff that I'd found and and some practice sheets that I made up for Kit in the italic font that we eventually decided on my blog (link in siggy), actually, I'll go add the rest of the lower case letters now jic anyone wants to use them.

 

We were all set to start with D'Nealian but after a few tries I realized that she just doesn't have the motor skills for it yet (and she hated the K :lol:), so we're making do with something close (Lucida sans, which I found from an old thread here that it is very much like the Getty-dubay font). Hopefully that will allow us to make an easy transition in another year or two and satisfy her driving need to learn to write for now.

[blondeviolin]

I think some of it is in-born and some of it is taught. So I guess, if you homeschool your child you can claim most of it. :lol:

[TracyR]

My oldest daughter's handwriting is awful. For a girl its kind of shameful really. But I think she could do better if she took her time. Something she isn't willing to do because school work is beyond her at the age of 13. rolling eyes here:

She has always just wanted to get it done and over with.

My three younger ones have very good handwriting. I will admit though my 2nd daughter's handwriting has improved. She kind of started doing her own thing for some reason , had her own way of writing. Not sure if she was experimenting or what. But last year she went to private school and had a teacher, more old fashioned, and something clicked with my daughter. not sure if it was the teaching, the curriculum she used , or just a light went on and she wanted to do better. It could have been all the above for all I know. Even so my 2nd daughter's handwriting , even at not her best was better than her older sister's handwriting.

Even so the same teacher had students that had poor handwriting too. So it was mix. Sometimes I truly believe it has to do with personality and ability to take their time. Because my oldest could care less. Even in the same school her handwriting never improved because she just wanted to fly through everything to get it all done. Sigh. So it just didn't matter to her. Where as my 2nd , 3rd and 4th daughters tend to have perfectionist tendencies( like their mom and dad. lol )

I have nice handwriting. My husband says he likes my handwriting. It truly is mix of different handwriting styles. I ended up picking up some Calvert style when when I was using Calvert too. Plus a little French style handwriting because when I was in high school we had a French foreign exchange student and I would watch her write. So some of my letters have that style to it. And I have some of my mother's handwriting skills. As in high school I learned to write my own excuses ,, shhhhh.. naughty, I know. lol

My husband had the neatest handwriting I have ever seen when he was a child. His mom kept a paper when he was in 1st grade and it was better than most adult handwriting. He went to Catholic school and had a nun that taught. But never in my life have I ever seen such handwriting from a 1st grade child. Literally, ever! I'll have to get that paper from her and scan it. You would all be in awe. But as time has gone by his handwriting has changed. its neat but no where close to that 1st grade paper of his. So it can change in time I guess for some people.

 

 

You really do bring up a good question though.

Edited October 14, 2011 by TracyR

[SailorMom]

I think it may be genetic to a large degree.

My handwriting looks so much like my dad's it's insane. What's even odder is that my dad was left handed and I am right. Both of my sons' looks like DH's. Now, my dysgraphic son is obviously worse, but that's different - it still is very similar to his dad's.

[Violet Crown]

I believed handwriting was mostly nurture, until I married dh and had his children. :glare:

 

Dh has unreadable handwriting, writes with a startlingly severe overhand (and he's righthanded!), forms his letters from the bottom up, and has to comment on his students' papers by typing up the remarks and stapling them on, or be faced with translating his comments for the students during office hours. My poor MIL taught second grade in one of the better elementary schools in the district, and it was a source of unending shame to her, she says, that her ds's handwriting was so incorrigibly illegible.

 

Dd15's handwriting, despite years of my hard work (and her tears), is identical to dh's.

 

Dd8 had beautiful fine motor control even as a baby, and loved penmanship. I bought Peterson Directed Handwriting for her, as it was the most beautiful method I could find, and she has handwriting now that makes people gasp.

 

Dd15 touch-types beautifully. :D

[tristangrace]

I haven't put much effort into my kids' handwriting. My 7yo son's cursive is much better than my 10yo daughter's, which is not a surprise as he has above-average hand-eye coordination and above-average attention to detail. With a minimum of "nurture", the differences in "nature" really stand out!