'My child just doesn't enjoy lego/puzzle/playdoh/cutting/writing/drawing...'
/Yeah, and so what is your point?
So your child doesn’t like doing something - does that mean they shouldn’t do it?
I’ve written about this before so I won’t go on about it - search for my blog about this.
Last week, I spoke to at least 20 parents who called me enquiring about my learning programmes. Several parents are currently preparing their children for their 4+ assessments and quite frankly their voices seemed nervous, scared and frightened.
You see, with less than 1-2 months left until the assessments (2026 entry), right now really shouldn’t be the time that you ‘start’ teaching your child anything new. Right now should be the time that you are perfecting what they already know.
Teaching your child to hold scissors 1-2 months before their assessments will ultimately lead to frustration. As I wrote yesterday, children are not robots. And some take far longer than other to grasp new and unfamiliar concepts.
Do you think my son was a pro at holding scissors and cutting when I started teaching him how to do it at the age of 17 months? No he wasn’t. Do you think he wanted to do it each and every time I would take the time to prepare an activity for him to practise his cutting skills? No he didn’t. Did I force him to do it? Of course I didn’t. Now, I put a pair of scissors in his hands and he really is ‘a pro’! I don’t have to tell him how to hold the scissors. I don’t have to tell him how to hold the paper with his other hand. He knows.
Your child won’t enjoy doing everything! This is obvious no?
My 3 year old doesn’t enjoy phonics currently. And even though Ive been teaching him phonics since he was 17 months of age - he currently can identify 5-7 sounds consistently. So even though ‘he just doesn’t enjoy phonics!’ does it mean that I don’t do them with him daily? No it does not.
I expose him to phonics every single day - in one way or another. I trust that he is absorbing my teaching. I trust that in the next few months, he will know all of his single sounds and will be blending way before the age of 4. I know that to be true for him and I know that to be true for all of our students here at CMT.
At the end of the day, if you have chosen to send your child to a 4+ assessment, you surely know that your child will be up against hundreds and hundreds of other children. Many of them prepared by myself and my senior teachers. Who will pass? Will it be the child who knows their phonics or the one who doesn’t? Will it be the child who can count to 10 or the one who can’t? Will it be the child who can hold their pencil or the one who can’t? etc, etc …
Your child not enjoying something is not a reason not to expose them to it anyway. Gently encouraging them to try it. Never forcing, never being negative. We are building a love for learning that will go on and on into their older years. We are not building a hate for it!
Start early (at least 12 months before) and enjoy the process. Have a bespoke learning plan in place just for your child and ride the waves slowly and calmly. Do not leave assessment preparation to the last 2-3 months. Simple.
