TAKE TIME TO DEVELOP DEXTERITY 

I have written elsewhere about the importance of handwriting skills and their development for children.

There are the rudiments of learning that I have an estimate of the value in developing coordination capacity and finding motor skills for children. These things all take time and, unfortunately, are often discounted for the sake of expediency.

If the traits of paper are required to be pasted into scrapbooks, in terms of time, it can be easier and quicker for teachers and assistants to complete that activity. Having children grow up on their own takes a longer time and creates a mess! However, unless children practice glueing, the skill will escape them, and ultimately, they will be poorer for not being able to do this independently.

The same goes for cutting, colouring, and other skills requiring physical manipulation and mental dexterity on the part of children.

When children are in significantly lower grades in school, I believe they should have the opportunity under teacher guidance to develop the ability to work independently with materials, which include cutting, colouring, glueing, and similar. It will take time, but in the end, it pays dividends.

Once children master these basic skills, their ability to apply them in terms of general overall school work will pay dividends in terms of the time it takes to complete particular activities. Rather than shuddering and aversion to children working with these materials, I believe the teachers should embrace the opportunity to develop their skills in these fields with them.

It may seem more straightforward for teachers’ assistance to undertake these activities directly on behalf of children in the short term. However, in the long run, children without the ability to manipulate and use materials correctly will be the losers.