How can I encourage my 6 year old son to write more?

Question

He is bright in every other area of his school work but he really detests writing, his teacher has asked me to encourage him to write a little every night but it is really hard work for me as well as him. I end up getting terribly stressed with him because he does so little, puts no effort in and even forgets spaces.

Answer 1

by example and encouragement and praise

Answer 2

My son is nearly 8 years old and still detests writing. His teacher suggested the same things when he was in kindergarten - about wanting me to work with him more on his writing. There were a few things I came up with. First, I took a can of shaving cream and made a pile on the table top. I had him practice writing his letters and numbers in it. When he was through, he could draw pictures or whatever, then wash his hands while I cleaned up. (Simple and easy to clean up.) Another thing I did was get a dry erase board. While in the car or at an appointment I would have him write me messages on it. (Simple is fine.) Sometimes I would have him write words and I would have to read what he wrote. (Gave him confidence.) Later on, I had him help me with the grocery lists. I would give him paper and a pencil then I would list off what we need at the store. Not only does this help him write and spell, but he learns about food and what your family likes to eat as well. He can contribute to the list as well. To help him remember his spaces, have him put a finger (from the non-dominant hand) at the end of the word he just wrote and begin the next one, thus ensuring that he allows enough room for spacing. Good luck to you!

Answer 3

How about writing letters. Just short little ones to grandparents or aunts and uncles. That's how I get my 6 yo to write more. Plus I gave her an old notebook and told her to write whatever she wants in it. We take 30 minutes each night to write one way or the other. She thinks it's fun most nights. Boys do tend to dislike writing. My son wouldn't write short of a death squad when he was 6. I'm mom to 3. Another way to do it, is get the workbooks they have in some stores now. It usually has some fun things in it to encourage writing.

Answer 4

We are having the same problem and I think that some children develop writing skills at different paces. My daughter has had neat handwriting since the beginning, my first son had horrible handwriting until 2nd grade, our second son is 6 and he doesn't like to write, won't put spaces between his words, and just scribbles the letters onto the paper. We will erase all of the owrk that is not correct and make him rewrite it usually on the second go around it looks somewhat better. I usually will sit with him and when he is writing sentences I put my finger in between the words to represent spaces, or tell him to. Just practice a technique every night and it will come to him.

Answer 5

my 6 year old Josh had a big problem with this. One of his most favorite things to do is roller blade, so i tied that in with his writing. We started out by just sitting down and talking about thing he liked, as we gradually worked at it, i got him to write it down on paper. Now he enjoys writing about things he likes, but give him a boring topic, and it's still no use. Try getting your son to start writing about things he enjoys or thinks is interesting.

Answer 6

Some children at that age still don't have the fine motor skills or are ready for letter recognition. Here are some things to help. Just work on one or two letters a week. Start with the first letter of his name and move on from there. After the letters from his name, pick a letter that starts the name of a favorite toy or movie character. Use large sidewalk chalk on outside or inside on a black board to write a letter and let him go over one or two let with a fat paint brush with water on it. Make letters with play dough and let him trace them with his finger. Either form them with cookie cutters or just roll out long ropes of dough. The he can cut them up with scissors when he's done. That will help cutting skills as well. Just remember, some kids are not ready to learn to identify their letters until Kindergarten and that's normal. We expect too much academically of our little ones right now and sometimes they get frustrated and shut down. Keep it fun and don't use flash cards.

Answer 7

write a short book together. get a blank lined journal. decide what it will be about and each of you take turns writing a paragraph or page. alternate with illustrations he can draw. let him design the cover when its finished and have an evening where you read the book aloud to family. could be fun. by doing it together it seems less like work or practice and more like a craft or activity. by doing the drawings, he won't get to bored with the writing. good luck

Answer 8

I found that when my son was around 6, he was the same way, uninterested in writing. The teacher and I got together and asked him what kind of stories, movies and books he liked, and he said anything with airplanes, so then she asked him to write about one movie, or book that he remembered , and when it was about something that really interested him and he wasnt "told" to write, he did a wonderful job & he had fun with it.

Answer 9

Have him do a "story map" first. Draw a circle in the middle of the page and put the topic that he is going to write about in that. Let's say "snow day." Then draw about four smaller circles, connected to the first one with a line. He writes a couple of words in each to remember what he wants to write about. For example, "snowball fight" and "snowman" and "hot chocolate" and "no school" go in the other spots. Then he uses that as a guide to begin writing. Organizing their thoughts like that first helps some kids.

My son's teacher also suggested having him help writing shopping lists for me.

Answer 10

Just ask him to make out his wish list for a birthday or christmas. Or a good way to practice fine motor skills such as writing is to have him coloring or painting. Or maybe even work on some model building.

Answer 11

I would say start off small.
Have him make a "grocery list" of items to buy.
Have make a list of favorite toys, games, shows ~things he likes.
What ever it is he enjoys try turning it into some sort of writing exercise without it being so OBVIOUS that it's homework.
Write the names of characters or friends or family.
Names of candy or whatever is his fancy
Most importantly make it fun!