Sellotape, Magic tape, Scotch tape, Masking tape and recently artists tape are big favourites in the world of the under 5s in our house. This past week we celebrate the 80th anniversary of tape. The story of masking then Scotch tape is fascinating especially how tape came to get its name.
Can you imagine a world without tape?
Just glue, string and elastic bands to keep things together.
Once kids find tape there is no stopping them. We buy them in bulk. Everyone gets tape. Tape are like pens in our house. It’s just easier this way. You can always find tape. Except a few weeks ago I couldn’t find any! Yikes that was a scary moment.
How we value tape?
If it won’t stay together- go get the tape
If you want to examine the carpet – go get the tape
If you want to know how to make a sticky ball- go get the tape and pull.
If you get excited turning the page in the book- go get the tape.
Difficulty with pincer grip with that crayon or spoon?
Have you ever wondered what hand your child will use as their dominant hand?
With the BG he didn’t decide until almost Kindergarten. He was happy to use the free hand and it was truely equal his choices. We became quite fascinated with the whole left and right handedness issue because of it. By preschool it was clear he didn’t have a preference. He still loved to draw, write and make marks but for sure we couldn’t say he was left or right handed.
The MO was pretty clear from the beginning. We were a little shocked and would give him things in his other hand but he just switched them. He was fine with his choice.
Jury is still out with the LO. He has a strong preference for one we thought but is much more fickle recently.
Why does it matter?
We found it mattered the most in preschool when they were forming letters. At home they have all swapped about but by preschool they are expected, in our experience, to have a hand dominance.
It has impacted their dominant foot too. When the ball is kicked to the BG there was always hesitation over which foot to choose. The MO no hesitation and the LO I’ve not noticed really a preference.
Scissors
Working on that up down cutting motion is hard if you are left handed and have right handed scissors. Does your child have a hard time cutting?
Pincer grip
Holding that crayon or pencil is learned and if you hold it in the wrong hand then there is less control and more frustration.
Helping (in the kitchen, in the garage)
Using can openers and later peelers.
Have you stopped to think about the amount of equipment that is right handed in your home?
Grade school problems
So your child has gone through preschool and now has problems with handwriting in school. Having had problems since the beginning they naturally see that writing is just difficult. I don’t think I would have suggested to swap hands and use the other. By now you figure your child finds writing difficult.
Maybe you have a dominant left hander already and are wondering how they will do in mainstream school?
I was interested to read the article this week Left-handed children ’struggling at school the ramifications in education when handedness is wrong or not adjusted for within the school setting.
I remember sitting next to left handers at school and having to swap seats so I was on the right otherwise we would just clash hands. They got their scissors first because they were yellow and green and special. But that was it. The crooked angles of the page, once we were using ink, so they didn’t smudge their work.
“It is not the case that these children are incapable. In many cases they turn out to be even more creative because they are having to work harder at what they do to succeed.
“But it is the case that things take longer, and may be handled more clumsily, because left-handed children’s requirements are not being met at school.
“This isn’t a special needs issue, it is about equal opportunities. We are putting another barrier in their way and not showing them the best way to do things.”
We have no idea what hand the LO will end up choosing. We worked with pencil grips and triangular pencils before and will again if necessary.
How have you adapted your environment with your left hander? How does your preschool/ daycare/ nursery adapt for the left handers ? Is it any better now?
It’s all too easy to jump in the car to grab something from the supermarket. Or you’re late for an appointment so you bundle the kids into the car and make a dash for it. Only to find that somehow you meet a delay or road works.
Worse is when you are on a long commute home from a trip out and you get caught up in traffic. I nervously start working out the nearest toilet stops. Although having boys it’s not so bad it’s me I worry about. Sound familiar?
Do you turn off the car then on again? Do you chug along slowly so you keep moving or accelerate then sharply break? Am I in the right lane……..? That’s just me. But what happens to the kids behind.
These are our ” Traffic Jam” sanity savers or long journey savers. You usually find these in our car- always! We’ve used them and now keep available for times such as these.
Sticker books
These are a big favourite. There is a stall in a local market in the UK that sells sticker books. Whenever I’m home or anyone is coming over I beg ask them to bring a stack. All on different themes. With 20-30 pages they fit nicely into the pockets of the car seats in front of the children or into the stroller. Always something new and different in them. We reserve the 400 page mega sticker books for home or heavy-duty waiting. These little sticker books are often switched out and rotated.
Magnetic books
I’ve talked about Muddle Farm before and we love it in the car for the imaginary stories the boys make. They don’t always use the background and the stories are hilarious. We take an animal and start a story. Try the one where the pig goes to the beach for the day. Someone starts that story and everyone chimes in with the rest of it.
It’s not always easy to play games together even though we’re altogether because we have a third row in our car so someone can’t see. So many of our activities are for one person. However memory game is successful because you can pass the board back and forth and everyone can see if you’re cheating. (such a big deal for the under 5s). The BG started with hangman at 5. We played the original version and a modified version. The modified version is he uses a book to find a word. Uses the word for his hangman so he knows the word and its letters. He had to have a go at saying it too.
Audio books
We have a few Barefoot Books story CD’s and Scholastic book club CD’s. Both groups have paperback books that fit in the car so the kids have many ways to interact. They can follow along or listen or read independently. I love listening to them read the stories out loud, especially the MO who’s memorised the “ping” sound to turn the page. You can also make your own audio books. We love the little engine that could and have this book in our collection. For $0.99 you can get the 7 minute download of this book from Audible kids.
With all that heavy breathing, you are sure to have foggy windows. Make shapes, feet, bunnies on the windows using your fingers. The only problem is sticky greasy fingers but for me it’s worth it to clean the glass down the line.
I have this little ritual. I mark my calendar for each month because everything is still measured in months for the babies and I would get my books out of a night and look through for the month at their milestones for that month. I wouldn’t cheat. ( As I saw it and look forward to the next month) I would look and see how they were doing.
Why?
Well with my first child I had the ‘want to know everything’ syndrome common to first time parents. I loved reading about science, development and play so I enjoyed reading and finding out about my little boy. It was exciting.
I really didn’t like the competitive way it seemed to always end up when I was at mother groups of sharing what my little one had done recently. I knew in my heart that most of us were not showing off, but proud and frankly we just wanted to share because we were excited first time mums, see first point. But if your child didn’t match up I know I felt this overwhelming feeling of being a failure. You see we never really talked about how they did these things on milestone or before milestone. We never discussed if it was nurture or nature or a mixture of everything. We just tooted our horns and sounded off.
My son was surrounded by girls and he was very different in his milestones than them. All our friends, playmates and groups were very girl heavy. …. maybe it was something in the water. Girls and boys are often VERY different when they are young. I wasn’t aware of it all yet but my first clues were there. I was intimidated by the girls language and my son’s lack of control and focus. They just seemed to have it all and I had the anxiety and the atypical one.
The boy mums spent most of their time retrieving their boys and later referring. But the girl mums got to chat and make friends because these girls sat and played. I guess if us boy mums had got together we would have organised the play differently…..for our sakes and our boys. But I didn’t know and we did the best we could. I knew there had to be another way for me to look at his milestones because peers signs were depressing.
I also knew, really I did but often forgot, that comparing my son to other children was not the best way to determine if he was on milestone or if indeed there was a problem.
I was never interested in pushing him forward but many of my peers were. That is hard. I did want him to do well and move forward. I did give him opportunities to try the harder next level stuff but I didn’t exclude the achieved things or force him to do certain activities all the time according to the books timetable. Around me there were a lot that did. That beginning stage was a big growth period for me to decide what type of parent I wanted to be. I’m glad for the experiences because it made me decide a few things.
It’s OK to dream big and expect big. Just keep it age appropriate.
New doesn’t = better.
New is exciting but just because everyone is doing it, it may not be the best thing for me, us or our child.
Old doesn’t = discard or better.
Perspective is everything.
Family traits play a larger role than you think.
Having a variety of friends, family and influencers is the best thing because it forces you to think, adapt, reject and embrace ideals that don’t come up naturally to you. ( That is why mother’s groups are great even if they can be hard work)
Success for you is different than success for your neighbour’s child.
Have a plan otherwise you’ll follow blindly.
Don’t take things so personally.
Not everyone will like your views or family decisions but the good news is there are lots of others that share the same position. Find them!
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I have this little ritual. I mark my calendar for each month because everything is still measured in months for the babies and I would get my books out of a night and look through for the month at their milestones for that month. I wouldn’t cheat. ( As I saw it and look forward to the next month) I would look and see how they were doing.
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