Have you ever thought your child was being super like lazy because their handwriting is a big mess? You know that they can write better, they can write neater, they can write legibly because they have done it in the past. Right?
They’ve done it before so clearly, they’re just being lazy.
Maybe that resonates with you.
If I as the professional you’re coming to for help thinks your child is just being lazy, I have nothing.
- I can’t help.
- I can’t strategize.
- I can’t show up in the way your child needs because I can’t fix lazy.
It’s an important message to get across because we can’t fix lazy.
If we (like my friend Betsy Guerra says) reframe our perspective, then 💥BAM💥 we have like a hundred options we can do!
- You can call me(or your other favorite OT). We can set up a session in the office or online.
- You can look into testing to learn how your child learns best.
- You can ask your teacher for help.
- You can find an amazing tutor.
- You can ask what can we do to help.
When I talk with parents and they tell me about the struggles their child is having. Then they say ” He may just be “LAZY”. This is when I bust out with the Thanksgiving Dinner (even if it’s July).
I would rather rip off a toenail then have to cook an entire Thanksgiving Dinner.
I do not cook Thanksgiving dinner. I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner and we eat turkey, mashed potatoes and all the good stuff. We just get to it in a different way.
Could I cook a Thanksgiving Dinner? Of course, I can do it.
Would it be super hard? Uh, yeah, it would be super hard. I would probably have to practice, more than a week. I’d have to practice making the Turkey, making sure it comes out right so that the day of the dinner you have a nice Turkey, you don’t want to ruin dinner with a raw bird or a burned one. 
So could I do it? Yes. But I won’t. It’s so much effort for me that I won’t.
Am I being lazy? I don’t think I’m being lazy. I’m being efficient. Right? I’d rather spend my time doing other things. Lucky for me I have the choice to ask guests to contribute or to order from Fresh Market.
Unfortunately, our kiddos don’t have the choice when it comes to doing things that are really difficult-“Thanksgiving Dinner” difficult.
I want you to think of this “Thanksgiving Dinner” analogy whenever you think your kids are being LAZY:
- The kids aren’t being lazy. It’s just probably really hard for them to write neatly, copy from the board, think and put their idea on paper, make their letters legible, ___________{fill in with whatever the thing is that your child is struggling with)/
- Just like I have to work at 200% effort to get that turkey dinner on the table. Your kids, whether it’s handwriting or anything else, have to work at 200% to do something that’s hard for them.
- Our brain is programmed to be efficient. Hence why I skip the cooking of the entire Thanksgiving Dinner and why your child will rush through handwriting tasks, avoid writing, write very little or write illegibly.
The reason I am sharing this Thanksgiving Dinner story is really that I want you to change your perspective. I want you to reframe how you look at your child when you think they are being “LAZY” when it comes to their handwriting. Reframing your perspective can be so powerful in how you show up for your kids and your life.
Now don’t get me wrong here this doesn’t mean now that we see our kids are having to put in the “Thanksgiving Dinner” effort for legible handwriting we’re just going to let it slide and do nothing. No, no, no. Quite the opposite.
Now that you reframed your perspective you are going to figure out how to level the playing field for your kiddo and get the support they need to succeed in handwriting, life and academics.
Now that you have reframed your perspective figure out what NOT to say to improve your kid’s handwriting.
