Hey parents, have you ever asked your child to write neater so you can understand their handwriting?
Have you ever asked them to not be so messy when they write because you don’t understand them? Then sometimes you end up getting worse handwriting then before you said anything.
I have parents just like you that call my office every day, every week saying the same exact thing. I see it all the time. This is a problem that a lot of children have.
We’re going to get right into what NOT to say so that you can help your child have better handwriting. By the way, when we say better, we mean clear, legible, and readable.
Continue reading or watch the video At the bottom of this post.
One of the things that we always say is, “Hey, that’s super messy.” The reason it doesn’t work is that messy is relative, right?
What’s messy for me might be really neat for you. What’s nice and neat for me might be a disaster for you, right? Vice versa. It’s relative.
What we can do is change our feedback to be specific. Try saying “Hey, when we’re doing our homework today or when we’re writing the note to grandma, make sure you leave spaces on each side so you have a margin.” or “Make sure you skip a line. So it’s easier to read. ”
Here’s a little handwriting extra credit
If you tell them to leave a space before they start doing the writing assignment and again during the writing assignment. “Hey, remember to leave a space between words. ” Then when they are done go back and say, “Hey, we talked about leaving a space. How did it go?” This builds in accountability. This builds in them being able to self-correct,
I know all these things are hard to remember and I want you to put them to use. So I have a cheat sheet that has all of this and more! Get the FREE sheet HERE
We know exactly what to do. Either we skipped the line or we didn’t skip the line. Either we respected the margins or we didn’t respect the margin.Another thing we always say is, “Hey, can you just make that neater?” Again. You say tomato. I say tomato. Neat is not specific at all. One of the things you can say is; “Hey, Johnny remember to leave a space between words. It makes your handwriting easy to read. Don’t forget to leave a space.” The Golden Rules of Spacing can really help here.
Here’s a little handwriting extra credit
If you tell them to leave a space before they start doing the writing assignment and again during the writing assignment. “Hey, remember to leave a space between words. ” Then when they are done go back and say, “Hey, we talked about leaving a space. How did it go?” This builds in accountability. This builds in them being able to self-correct,
I know all these things are hard to remember and I want you to put them to use. So I have a cheat sheet that has all of this and more! Get the FREE sheet HERE
