My son, age 4, has been writing his first name for awhile now. Okay, he writes Matt, which is what we call him, not his whole name Matthew. He even signed his own library card. I come to find out none of his daycare friends can do this and they are all about the same age. In fact, their moms are fairly amazed that Matt can do this. So, I ask you, how old were your kids when they started writing their names?
oldest= 4 years
middle= kindergarden (5 years)
youngest= 4years
Don’t have kids, but…
I think I was four. Not my first name, because no-one actually calls me that, but my middle name (and it ain’t easy to spell!). My parents taught me to read and write before I went to school, though, as is no doubt the case with Caricci’s son.
My son is four as well. He’s been doing it for several months, with varying success (Alex was Aelx for a while, and the x looked a little more like a t for a couple months, and don’t expect in on lined paper). but I know he couldn’t do it by his fourth birthday - because the girls in his class mostly could by their fourth birthdays and most of the boys couldn’t - and I was pretty amazed that the girls could - he wasn’t even close. But within a couple months he could. (The girls were all a few months older than he was, so there was the perception that the kids were “the same age” when in fact the girls in question were all actually two and three months older).
My daughter is 3 1/2. She can spell her name and sign it, but can’t write it yet (small muscle control isn’t quite there). I think it will come in the next month or two. She is getting close. She was writing her name with minimal success in the sand yesterday.
At our daycare, the girls seem to learn as early as 3 1/2 as late as 4 1/2. The boys are six months to a year behind that. There are, of course, exceptions - the girl who doesn’t learn until five, the boys who can do it at three.
Oh, yeah, my son could sign his name well over a year ago, too. What I’m thinking is that the old teacher in his daycare classroom was much more ambitious than the new one. In fact, when we had his birthday party in January, all of the kids who had had that teacher wrote their names in the cards.
Not sure of the month but she was three at the time. Before three and a half. And we gave her a tough one, 9 letters long.
I think my son started this when he was four but just about five. Fine motor skills are not his strong suit (although he’s making a lot of progress). My daughter was probably writing her name when she was about 3.5 yo. She has wonderful fine motor skills, but isn’t as coordinated as my son. So they’re both different. Which you should pretty much expect for just about everything with children. BTW, their names are six and seven letters long, respectively, and not very common, if that’s important.
Before his 4th birthday by a month or two. Name recognition was emphasized in his preschool program. That might not be universal.
I was 3 or 4. Can’t say which, but I’m certain that I knew how to write my full name (first and last) before starting pre-k.
Caricci,
That is probably some of it, but it isn’t necessarily ambition. There isn’t anything that says “if you can write your name before five, you are destined for Harvard.” And since a lot of kids don’t have the small motor control before four or five, rather than teach some kids what other kids simply can’t do, the new teacher may be of the opinion that they will learn at their own pace. There is plenty of time to teach writing and reading in kindergarten and first grade - and no reason to push those things at three and four, despite some children being ready that early.
Granted, opinions on this vary a lot. Some people would feel remiss if their child was ready to start reading at three and they chose a non-academic daycare - friends of ours had their child moved to an expensive private daycare when they felt his brillance (and he is a bright kid) wasn’t being adequately challenged. He’s destined for private school or homeschooling because they want to keep him challenged. I have another friend who considers such behavior close to child abuse - a three year old child should not (in her opinion) be pushed to write or read before they are ready.
It’s not that I think kids should be pushed or anything. In fact, I moved my son back from the oldest class at his daycare because I value socialization over academics for pre-schoolers and the old classroom is where his best friends are. It just surprises me that this teacher doesn’t even seem to try to teach this skill, or so it would seem. And it surprises me that the parents haven’t tried either.
Awwww… You mean I’m going to have to take those S.A.T. things then?
I was three, but I only had three letters to master. T, O and M. Thomas probably came at four, since I can never remember calling myself Tom.
My nephew just turned 3 in March and can write his name and several other words, like mom and cat and such, and quite a few numbers. I think this is quite early though, especially for a boy.
(He can also sing the alphabet song and knows a good portion of the alphabet backwards!)
I would say anytime between 3-5 sounds about normal.
Boys tend to not grasp the fine motor skills as easily as girls. They are usually too busy grasping other things 
Girls usually start at about 3.5 on upwards. Boys, depending on birth order ( older siblings help a great deal) usually mid to late fours.
The artwork at my sons preschool was real interesting. Girls did multicolored intricate drawings with rainbows, houses, pets and family. Boys ( I swear to Og) did circles with sticks in them for people/aliens/dinosaurs/faces. Every one of them.
Our son just started writing his name in March. He turned 5 in April. He knew how to spell it and recognize it, but writing it …the big fat negatory.
Our daughter, 3.5, is already making progress on her name.
Girls are naturally superior, not that I am biased.
That is so funny. I teach preschool, four-year-olds. Whenever an art project calls for drawing something, the girls are the ones who take foreeeeever, because they have to be so precise in drawing finely detailed multi-colored flowers and people and animals. We quickly figure out which little subset of girls will take even longer than forever.
The boys are the ones who just do the bare minimum, so they can go back to playing Spiderman.
We do a really neat project in the begining of the year with their names. We use a strip of sturdy cardboard, and write their name on it with a Sharpie marker, about 5 inches high. Then we outline the letters one by one with glue, and the kids glue dried beans to the letters. It takes a couple of days, but the kids really get a kick out of it.
I always feel sorry for the poor kids with long names, like Christopher and Madelaine.
If you do this at home, make sure you write their name in upper and lower case letters. So many parents teach their kids “DAVID” or “JOHN” when they should be teaching them “David” and “John.”
Primafloret the Elder has dysgraphia so he wrote his three letter name when he was 4. I think. Bad mother, I never paid much attention. He now uses a keyboard and only writes under duress or if it is totally his own idea and he can’t figure another way to make someone else do it.
Primafloret the Younger was 2 when he first wrote his 5 letter name. But he was sightreading at 2 as well. In his childcare room, most of the kids can write their names but there’s a lot of emphasis put on them learning that. Even then, some leave for school unable to do it. It’s mostly fine motor skills though not a display of intrinsic brilliance IMO.
So I came back to post that this weekend my daughter, Nell, wrote her name for the first time. She will be four in September, So about three years, nine months. The E had a few too many crossbars and the Ls looked a little more like Cs, but it was her name.
And I came home yesterday to find her name in chalk on the sidewalk written so well I thought the six year old next store did it. Nope, she did.
I was writing little books (6-12 pages, construction paper–with illustrations) when I was 3, so I’m pretty sure my parents thought they had some sort of genius on their hands.
Boy, did I ever prove them wrong. 
Happy
I have a very vivid memory of writing my name on the sign up sheet to play with the good dress-up box in preschool–“LiNDsAY.”
My first born in 3 years, 9 months. He’s been writing his name - though it is sloppy it is legible - since last Fall. He knew the alphabet since his early 2’s, was recognizing/reading simple 3/4 letter words since before his 3rd B-day.
As of the last 2-3 months he has been reading - actual reading of books (beginning readers - 1st grade level I’d say), signs, things off TV, etc. Whatever word his doesn’t know he asks. He will read entire Thomas Tank (the beginning readers) stories to his baby brother.
He has a keen interest in learning new words and he seems to be able to memorize new words, since he has on a number of occasions remembered a new word that he asked about just once two-three weeks earlier.
I can tell his world is opening up each day as he can find out for himself what things say and what they mean. I do read a bed-time story most every night and he often props up and reads some of it himself (I hope he doesn’t soon want me to stop just because he can do it himself!)
We don’t work with him or practice reading unless he initiates it, but we don’t push him at all. He just seems to want to learn. It is a bit of a pain that we cannot spell secret things in front of him anymore.
Now, if he would just want to swing his baseball bat more than 6 times or take more than 3 shots with a basketball. His attention/focus doesn’t last very long on physical play, even though he is the one who says he wants to play ball, ride his bike, play on the playground, etc.