Picking your battles, should I pick this one?

Sammysu

Ugh.. I am really trying to learn this concept: Picking your battles!

I have to say, I am horrible at this and am finding myself in constant battle with DD#1. I am working on it though alot more lately since it was starting to really consume me and stress me out so here is the latest one....

DD#1 keeps switching up her writing, the way that she writes. She has really nice penmanship (not sure if that is spelled right) but lately has been trying to write like other kids. Well, the latest is writing like a gangster. DH and I already told her this was not appropriate and will not be accepted and if we see her homework or anything school related written like this, then we will rip it up. Well, she is consistently writing like this now and she says she doesnt get what we are talking about (even though we have compared her writing to previous writing things and proven to her) and after we point it out now she gives us the famous OOOOK (like she has no idea what we are talking about, even though she does!)

Do I keep bothering her about it or do I just let this battle go and wash away? WDYT?

littlemermaid

Does the teacher have a problem with it?  If not, I would ignore it because it almost sounds like she's doing it just to irritate you.  Or have the teacher tell her and then most likely she will stop because it's the teacher telling her to stop and not you.

Sammysu

That I know of, the teacher has not picked up on it yet. I think the thing that bothered me about it, was the fact that DD has always been a follower and though I dont think she is trying to be a little gangster, I dont want her following in every persons footsteps but I think your right about waiting until the teacher says something. She is a good girl all in all and gets good grades.

ali-1411

Curious, what does the gangster writing look like?

Sammysu

ali-1411:

Curious, what does the gangster writing look like?

I dont know how to describe really but its the way she does her "&" signs and how she does her y's and g's and her s's are similar to the number 5 with a little accent. Its silly but I agree with the others, not a battle worth picking so I am just going to let her write however she feels like it. I am sure she will have a new style next month anyways. I just talked to DH about letting it go too, he agreed, not worth the battle.

IamAli

I would NOT pick this battle.  If she is getting her homework done and her teacher doesn't care, just leave it.  She'll move on to something else soon enough.  Heck, she may even be doing it at this point because she KNOWS it bugs you so much.

neverblushed

My sense, as a secondary school teacher:  Let the teacher handle it.  Don't engage her about this.  It's normal for kids her age to experiment with expressing themselves in different ways.  I've seen lots of kids try out different handwriting styles for a day or two.  If you don't make a big deal of it, she'll get tired of it -- don't worry!  

By 7th grade, a person's handwriting style is so much a part of muscle memory that to write in a different way takes a lot of concentration.  The first time she needs to crank out an assignment in a hurry, she'll drop the silly stuff!