Holding scissors wrong--LHTH

[hs.mama07]

Hi! I just started LHTH with my son who is 4.5 (we had started this summer but he wasn't ready yet...things are going much more smoothly now.) I've noticed, when he uses scissors, he holds them upside down. Thumb on bottom, fingers on top. I've tried a couple times to correct him, but fine motor skills and sitting still really aren't his thing (he's highly energetic and wiggly , so he tries it the right way once and then turns his hand back over and continues upside down. I'm wondering if I need to correct him, and if so, how. He likes to do things his own way and can be pretty stubborn...I have a strong feeling he'll resist the correction. I'd like to teach him in a gentle, fun way. Any ideas? Or do you think I can just let him keep doing it wrong and fix it when he's bigger? That'd be easiest, lol.

[MomtoJGJE]

My guess is his hand strength is weak, and it's easier to maneuver the scissors upside down. I would suggest not worrying about it right now and work on building hand strength for a couple of months. As his hands get stronger you might find that he does it the right way automatically.

Play doh
writing in sand/rice with fingers
regular legos
using tweezers to pick up puff balls or beans and transfer them.

Even things like monkey bars or other climbing things will help!

[hs.mama07]

Well that certainly makes sense. He's the kid who turns markers into space shuttles blasting off instead of drawing with them, lol. Doesn't get a lot of fine-motor skill practice, even when I provide opportunities. I like your ideas...we'll try them...and just take it slow of course. Thanks for the reassurance!

[Nealewill]

I love the ideas that MomtoJGJE posted. I wish I had been more steadfast and intentional with my son He has come a long way though. He did end up in OT off and on and they did help tremendously with his strength. But because we didn't do HOD for him when he was younger, he did miss out on a lot of the fine motor skill activities that HOD offers. I had so many moms say to me not to worry about it. I think I should have "worried" about it a little bit more and I wouldn't have had to spend so much time and money on OT. Because of his age I wouldn't stress too much. But I would gently try and correct the issue if you can. Correcting it now is much easier to do than when they are older. My son is 8 and he still has trouble cutting things out. He has gotten a lot better. But he still has a ways to go too.

[MomtoJGJE]

I guess what I was trying to get across is that at his age I wouldn't worry so much about WHAT he is doing, but WHY he is doing it. If you fix the why, the what will likely fall into place. But fixing it might take a few months.

[hs.mama07]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement ladies. We'll definitely start gently working on increasing his hand strength!

[MelInKansas]

One of my daughters did this for a while. The problem was, she wasn't very successful at cutting this way and I felt like that grip was the problem. I had her practice opening and closing the scissors pointed at me. I told her to point the scissors at me (which turned her hand over) and then just open and close them. Then I would hold the paper for her while she would open and close the scissors pointed at me. It didn't take long and it corrected itself. Scissors was the ONLY fine motor skill my DD was willing to do when she was 3.5-4 and so we did a lot of it and I do think it helped prepare her for handwriting. She did better with handwriting early on than other of my children.

[hs.mama07]

Thanks, that's a good idea. We'll give it a try! He's not very effective with his cutting either so I think, once he can get it right, he'll like it a lot better.

[my3sons]

It helped our boys in LHTH to put a square/rectangle/circle in permanent marker around what was to be cut out. I would help get them started cutting and help them learn to hold the paper with their other hand. I guess I'm old-school as I would not let our sons cut holding the scissors the wrong way. Habits are hard to break! I just kept putting the scissors in their hands the right way.

In Christ,
Julie

[daybreaking]

He likes to do things his own way and can be pretty stubborn...I have a strong feeling he'll resist the correction. Or do you think I can just let him keep doing it wrong and fix it when he's bigger? That'd be easiest, lol

This post struck a chord with me, as, years ago, I had a strong-willed 4 year old who often resisted instruction. He's now a sweet, gentle, compliant 12 year old, but it took a lot of work to get there, so I thought I'd share what I learned, in hopes of saving you some struggles.

Often, when a child is stubborn and resists correction, it's very easy to avoid correcting him, rather than having a battle. I think we can all relate! However, from my experience, although doing so gives peace for the moment, it ends up causing more problems down the road, as the child soon learns he can get his own way by resisting instruction. A child who resists correction actually needs more opportunities to practice receiving correction with a good attitude. I think if I were in your shoes, I would show my son the correct way to hold the scissors. If he switched them back, I would gently put them back the correct way. I would keep doing this, as long as he allowed me to switch them back. If, on the other hand, he gave me a hard time, or wouldn't let me turn them back correctly, I would take the scissors away and calmly (showing no frustration - just matter of factly) explain that he is not allowed to use them if he won't listen to me on how to use them correctly. It might seem like that is making a big deal over a simple pair of scissors, but tolerating the resistance, now, is setting the foundation for years of resistance in many other homeschooling areas in the future. BTW, I certainly wouldn't correct wiggliness or forgetting to use the scissors correctly, even if I needed to remind him numerous times a day. I would only address resistance to my correction. I hope this makes sense and helps!

[gardenmama28]

I think all of my children have held scissors incorrectly to begin with. But as someone else mentioned, it really does not take long for them to switch and hold them correctly when they practice. I agree that it is best to encourage them to do it the right way from the start. It is good for them to learn to receive correction from you in school. Later on it will be how to hold a pencil, shape their letters, conduct a science experiment etc. It is hard to break bad habits, both in motor skills and in the way your kids relate to you as the teacher. Both of my daughters resisted my instruction on how to hold a pencil and sit when writing, but when I enforced them to practice the right way, it was a very short time and they were doing it the right way as a matter of habit. And when they come to something new now, we can look back to that time and remember how even when something seems hard to begin with, very soon perseverance pays off.

One silly little thing I did with my 3 year old who was learning to cut with scissors, was to draw straight lines with a thick marker across a paper, and have her cut the paper into strips. At first this was very difficult for her but now it is easy to do and she loves it. Cutting shapes is very complicated especially when you are just starting out. She is a pro at straight lines so recently I tried drawing large circles for her and it was way too complicated for her. So we will stick to lines for now and then maybe move on to squares or another simpler shape in time.

[hs.mama07]

Thanks you so much for the advice. Yes, my little guy requires a lot of correction and firmness. That's actually why I wanted to know if I needed to make an issue of this...I try to pick my battles with him. I see the wisdom in correcting it now, though, and will definitely be using the ideas on this page.

Ironically, we just did a scissors activity. I let him cut plastic straws (the little pieces go flying all over the place when you cut). He had to hold the scissors right in order to get the straw and see the pieces fly, lol. He did really well!!