The handwriting style differs from child to child. While some display extraordinary skills while writing, others simply do not care how they write and just want to finish the job on hand. Before we begin to talk about how to improve your child’s handwriting, let us make one thing very clear handwriting is not in any way related to your child’s brilliance or intelligence. Find out 8 Easy Ways To Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
In India, parents tend to believe that if their children have good handwriting, it indicates meticulousness, hard working nature and interest in school. And on the same note, if a child’s handwriting is bad, he/she is assumed to be careless and uninterested in academics. These are all baseless assumptions. That said, a good handwriting is important nevertheless.
Children are evaluated based on written examinations and a legible handwriting makes it easy for the examiners to correct the answer papers. The good news is that handwriting can be improved with systematic practice. It requires a lot of patience from both your and your child’s side, but the quality of your child’s writing can be improved with practice
8 Easy Ways To Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
- Make sure the child is grasping the pen or pencil correctly
- Get the proportions right
- Write with the right speed
- Do not pressurize
- Make writing fun
- Strengthen fingers and wrist
- Increase the amount of reading time
- Find out any underlying problem
8 Easy Ways To Improve Your Child’s Handwriting
As a parent are you constantly perturbed about your child’s writing or is your child always complaining about something or the other when asked to write? Is his handwriting deteriorating because of lack of interest or concentration? Remember, not all children easily take to the skill of writing. As a parent, it is imperative for you to inculcate interest and excitement for writing in your child. If your little one is continuously struggling with his handwriting, here are eight easy ways to improve your child’s handwriting:
Make sure the child is grasping the pen or pencil correctly to improve handwriting.
Getting a good grasp is the first step to writing. Many a times, if attention was not paid to get a good grasp in the early formative years, children would not have neat handwriting in later years. Here are some tips to get a good grasp:
- Teach your child to hold the pencil firmly
- The pencil should be held with the thumb and the index finger (or pointer finger), with middle finger supporting it
- The pencil should be held in such a way that the pencil rests on the bridge between the thumb and index finger
- The grip should be gentle, not tight
- Try using pencil grips, available in most stationary shops, to improve the grip
Get the proportions right
One of the reasons for bad handwriting is getting the proportion of the letters wrong. Some good tips to get them used to the right proportions are:
- Use a four-line note book to practice writing
- Show them clearly how capital letters are bigger and lower case letters are half the size of capital letters
Write with the right speed
Getting the right pace is also very important. Some kids take a long time to finish their writing, while others want to rush through it. Teach your child the importance of setting a timeline and pacing their writing accordingly. Understanding your child’s current pace is very important before you both start this handwriting improvement journey. If you rush a child who prefers to write slowly, then he will soon lose interest in writing
Do not pressurize
It is important to remain calm and patient while helping your child improve his handwriting. As we said before, rushing a slow child is not the solution. Insisting things change overnight is not realistic. Give your child enough breaks. Do not scold him if he does not get it right the first time. Remember, if he is stressed, he will stop enjoying the whole activity of writing and this is counterproductive
Make writing fun
If you just give the children words to copy, they will soon be wary of it. Instead, engage them in interesting games and activities that can indirectly improve their handwriting. Some of such activities are:
- Connecting the dots
- Word puzzles
- Hangman
Strengthen fingers and wrist to improve handwriting
To write well, your child needs to hold the pencil correctly and get the dexterity and coordination correct. Many non-writing activities can also help strengthen their fingers and wrist to get good pencil control. These activities include:
- Sand play
- Playing with wooden blocks
- Using spoons and forks
- Coloring
- Cutting paper
- Stringing beads
- Play dough
Increase the amount of reading time
That is right, reading more can improve writing. The more they see neatly printed, well-proportioned letters, the more chances of the letters getting imprinted in their minds and the more chances of them imitating that neatness when they write
Find out any underlying problem
Sometimes a child writes untidily on purpose to mask bad spelling. Is that the reason your child is writing badly? Or is it because of low attention span? Or are there any other reasons for their lack of interest in writing neatly? Finding this out might make it easier for you to solve the issue
Handwriting is a proficiency that is acquired with practice. The more your kid writes, the better he gets at it. Making this activity interesting depends on you as a parent. Be aware about the fact that these are formative years and pressurizing your child to excel at something will only bring more hindrances. So just enjoy this learning phase with your little one. Make parenting more fun for you and your child. All the best!
