Do you think parents should teach their children how to print the alphabet before Kindergarten and why ?

Question

young children often have a hard time learning to form letters and I wanted to take an opinion poll.

Answer 1

there's nothing wrong with learning at any age. I think it's a great idea to try to get them to learn their alphabet and numbers at an early age, as long as it's not pushed so hard that it has a bad affect on the child

Answer 2

Personally I would try, if it would work or not that depends on the child really!
I have a 2 year old who will be 3 in 2 months her and the other kids in her daycare group already know their abc's, they can count, they can write letters and numbers, they are learning how to spell small words and they all know how to spell their names. So obviously it is very possible to teach kids much younger than kindergarten age. My girl for example loves to learn, ever since she was born I gave her mainly educational toys, she potty trained herself fully before she was 1 because "only babys wear diapers" I don't know about her sometimes I feel like I am raising someone my own age, 20, but shes in the form of a toddler. lol I am not sure if I am lucky or the other people are lucky because their children like to have fun doing stuff with normal kids their age. I don't know how she will be treated by other kids when she is in school thats the only thing I worry about with her knowing the stuff already.

Answer 3

Yes, because most of the other kids will know how to do it and you don't want you to child to be "different".

You also don't want the teacher to have to take your child aside for special instruction while the rest of the class is learning new material.

We have a "new mommy" group at the Kimkins diet site and this was their advice. My kids went to preschool and learned their alphabet and numbers before kindergarten.

Answer 4

The need to know the alphabet and being able to form letters is a great start for any kid but don't worry to much about perfect letter forming that will come in time

Answer 5

Teaching them to write letters and numbers before the age of 5 will be mostly a lesson in futility. Most children don't have the eye/ hand coordination or the small muscle control to write these. Start them on circles and squares ect. You can teach them to identify their alphabet and numbers! But writing them is for the most part not within their capability's!

Answer 6

My kids learned the alphabet in Pre-K. By Kindergarten they should know their letters.

Answer 7

I don't see the problem teaching them, as long as you are not pushing them. All children learn at different rates. Some children get it at 4 and some as late as 6. Keep it fun and children will learn things when the are ready.

Answer 8

No, there is an order to learning. Stages that kids hit one at a time which is the natural way the brain develops. Like when they learn to move, they kick their feet, then scoot, then crawl, then walk, then run. Same with cognitive learning.
Pre-schoolers should be introduced to letters, their sounds and phonetics, holding a pencil and learning to track across a page, but it should be fun and at their own pace.

Answer 9

Its good for them to know. My daughter knew how to write her alphabets and how to spell her name before she even went to kindergarten and she did great. She is still one of the top kids in her class. I think it just depends on the child.

Answer 10

Definatly! My mom taught me this in pre-school. She also taught me my numbers. My mom made me right the numbers and letters (one each day, I chose the number/letter out of a bag) and I got promoted to 1st grade from kindergarten! I was "so advanced" then, and now I'm in Algebra in the 7th grade!