Kindergarten teacher has 1 student every year who has never colored, written, or drawn anything with a writing utensil before: 'They have to be explicitly taught how to apply pressure to write on paper.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Sep 11, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

Should kids know how to write their own names before they start kindergarten?

It's no secret that many kids are getting left behind in the education system. When I was a kid, America was all about not leaving kids behind in this exact setting (when I was a kid, I thought that policy was about parents not leaving their kids behind at the grocery store), but now that it's been 20 years since that initiative, many kids have been promoted when they shouldn't have been

There is still some debate about what kinds of activities set children up to be successful in an academic environment. It's well known that reading to your kids is good for them, especially in early childhood, but some parents don't want their kid to learn how to read too early. They don't want them focused on academics; they want them focused on play instead, and they think reading will get in the way of their kid just being a kid. Kindergarten used to be more like preschool, focusing on play instead of learning to read, but it's probably more advantageous for your child to know how to read, write their name, and follow basic instructions before they go to 1st grade. 

It's one thing for a kid to be bad at holding a pencil in kindergarten, but the kids in this story have never actually held a pencil and written anything on paper. It's as if they never colored with crayons before, which is just unthinkable for 5-year-old kids. Back in the day, when our parents wanted us to be quiet at a restaurant, they gave us a coloring book. Now, when parents want their kids to be quiet, they give them an iPad, which makes developing motor skills much more difficult. 

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  • A group of small school kinds with teacher sitting at the desk in class writing
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A little boy is writing with a pen. 

    Stock photo unrelated

  • I have kindergarteners who have never written, drawn, or colored before.

    For at least the last 4 years, I have at least 1 student who seemingly has never touched a writing utensil in their life. Always students who this is their first ever time away from home (no preschool or daycare). I
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  • will ask them if they have coloring books or ever draw at home and they'll say no. They have to be explicitly taught how to apply pressure to write on a paper, what it means to "color" or how to draw.
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  • The kids always pick it up quickly after being in class. But still, it always bothers me... if someone had just taken the time or provided the resources they could have developed these skills much earlier. Rant Over.
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  • b1e9t4t1y. Art teacher. I make my 3k-1st grade lessons all about motor skills for the first few months of school. I have entire classes that can't hold a crayon. Teaching scissor skills is one of my favorite things bc they are all so bad at it.
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  • summerbreeze2027 It's sad how some parents don't do anything even remotely educational with their children.
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  • Conscious_Elk_2216 Especially when it's not hard and should come naturally, like just talking/singing/reading/drawing with their kid all go a long way.
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  • SufficientExcellence Right? Like, kids are so curious, it's almost like you'd have to actively stop them from learning.
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  • Anthaenopraxia It's why you give a pen and paper to your kid and the loudest toy piano on the planet to your nephew.
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  • A little boy sitting on the flood playing with a keyboard
    via luis arias

    A nephew is playing with a loud piano toy.

    Image depicted solely for explanatory purposes.

  • OrcBarbierian There is this one family on Instagram who I check in on. The parents never demonstrate proper language, so their 5-year-old son simply doesn't talk properly yet. It's possible he's on the spectrum, possibly non-verbal, but I think the stronger explanation is that his parents keep baby- talking to him
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  • smshinkle I was at a high school football game and there was a family, both parents HS teachers, whose child appeared to be a very tall 3-year old, mainly because both parents were talking baby talk to him (e.g. "wah wah" instead of water). I asked how old he was. He was 5. I had no words to say.
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  • TeachScience_ Okay hear me out... We read probably upward of ten books a day to our five year old. He loves books. There hasn't been a day since his birth that we haven't read to him. He has memorized so many of them he can recite them-long ones like the Lorax. We've worked on counting and letters and colors and shapes. We play outside and get dirty. But he HATES coloring, cutting, gluing, or any type of craft. Sure he's colored at home, but getting him to do it was a battle every time.
    via u/_TeachScience_
  • Thankfully he went to pre-k and peer pressure got him coloring and writing with his classmates (and he's doing well in kindergarten so far). He is super advanced in language and math, and a bit behind in motor skills. We aren't bad parents. Sometimes kids have other interests.
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  • summerbreeze2027 You did something with him, though. There are a lot of parents who do nothing and then are shocked when their children struggle with school.
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  • mstrss9 This is why they need to go back to play based learning in kindergarten. They're pushing too much nonsense in pre-K as it is. Although I've learned that kindergarten is optional is in my district... state? Idk my principal told me that when I questioned why I child entered 1st grade and had never been in school. Anyway, I always began the year assuming that they either don't have access to certain things (books, coloring, play dough, scissors, glue, etc) at home or someone is doing every
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  • abardknocklife Two of my kids didn't even know their name. Their NAME.
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  • BooBoo_Kitty I have a load of students who don't know their actual legal name because their parents give them some stupid nickname that has nothing to do with their legal name. I have third graders ( quite a lot actually) who can't write their last name if their life depended on it. I could write my last name in kindergarten and it was a very long, very old, foreign name. going on? is
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  • curlycattails Sooooo... what are people doing with their kids all day every day? My 4 year old and 2 year old colour/draw every day. I can't imagine getting through 5 years of parenting without ever colouring.
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  • tskillz187 Tablets, phones, and other screens
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  • RealisticTemporary70 This is so crazy! Even that they haven't drawn or colored on apps. Have heard of kids getting upset because real drawn lines didn't "fix" themselves like they do on the apps.
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  • Capable-Pressure 1047 Or kids who never used playdough. One of the best ways to help develop the muscles of the hands and finger dexterity for later drawing, writing, cutting, etc. Parents will say "But it's too messy!". Now I see why they stick an iPad in their hands as soon as they can.
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  • Little girl molding colorful gnomes from clay on the table in the kids room
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A little girl is playing with Play-Doh, which helps her motor skills. 

    Photo is a representation of scenes.

  • DiligentMulberry5529 • 18h ago I have seen kids who did not know a book was to tell a story until they got in school. It's very sad.
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kindergarten daycare pencil school color elementary school coloring book pens teaching at school bad parenting teachers teacher bad parents back to school little kids coloring writing parents preschool
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