Unfair pressure from teacher?

[Aimee McMillan]

My daughter(6) cannot zip her own coat yet, she has trouble connecting the zip but can pull it up if its connected by someone.

Her School teacher is putting pressure on her though by saying that by the end of next week, she has to be able to zip it herself so my daughter is getting frustrated when I'm teaching her due to the pressure of having to be able to do it by end of next week.

So, I am now having to worry about my own daughter struggling to zip her coat as well as having to deal with the 8yr old that I mind, refusing to zip up her coat.

[*daisychain*]

Let's hope the weather is nice and no zips / coats are needed! Sure you are fed up with zips at the moment ! I would have to tell the teacher that she will do it in her own time when she is ready and that you are supporting her at home.

[Koala]

Buy a cheap coat from supermarket with velcro or buttons. Get the teacher to try and zip that one up! poor kid I agree this is too much pressure but maybe the teacher is just trying to help your daughter develop (incorrectly by putting time limits on IMO it's not exactly A levels YET! ) I would support your daughter by removing the issue and mastering it at your own pace Give her a big hug and treat her to a new coat if you can.

[Maza]

You'll be dreaming of zips soon! Yes, I think that's unfair. Have a word with the teacher. He/she might not realise the impact of his/her words. Some coats just have trickier zips than others. As we speak I am wearing a cardigan which I have to pull over my head because I cannot undo the silly zip on it. I'm sure here are plenty of kids who can't do their zip at that age. x

[Glitter]

You need to talk to her teacher and explain why your daughter can not zip up her coat. I know the teacher will be frustrated as zipping up a coat seems like a simple thing to do, but the extra pressure will not help your daughter.

I agree with Koala about buying a coat which does not have a zip (or sewing velcro strips in her coat).

I understand what you are going through- my daughter could not put on her own socks until she was 8 and still can not use a knife and fork at the age of 12, and this often gets her in to trouble.

[bunyip]

My daughter(6) cannot zip her own coat yet, she has trouble connecting the zip but can pull it up if its connected by someone.

Her School teacher is putting pressure on her though by saying that by the end of next week, she has to be able to zip it herself so my daughter is getting frustrated when I'm teaching her due to the pressure of having to be able to do it by end of next week.

So, I am now having to worry about my own daughter struggling to zip her coat as well as having to deal with the 8yr old that I mind, refusing to zip up her coat.

OK, so: teacher says DD has to be able to zip her own coat by next Friday............

.....or......

......what, exactly?

Is the school planning to expel her or actually, er.....well......er, support and teach her, maybe?

IIWY I'd ask. School-issued ultimatums are frequently an exercise in bluff-calling.

[scottishlass]

I would also put her in a different coat without a zip for next week! My daughter can sometimes get her zip done other time not and she is 7 - seems to get it first time or gets annoyed and loses the rag at it! Xx

[Ripeberry]

Give her a big jumper type fleece. Sorted!

[blue bear]

Agree with the above but looking at it from another angle which bit does your daughter find difficult, have you tried to break it down so this week we will try getting the metal bit into the two bits and I will zip it, next ...
Or may be just start with getting her to hold it in her hands the correct way no putting it together just getting the hold right, baby staps like you do with any learning. Most children I've ever worked with have been able to master coat zipping by six, most but not all. My 21 year old still can't and never will.

[Allie]

My 8 year old granddaughter has trouble with all fine muscle control and stuggles with this, so coats with velcro as well keep her independent

[Aimee McMillan]

Agree with the above but looking at it from another angle which bit does your daughter find difficult, have you tried to break it down so this week we will try getting the metal bit into the two bits and I will zip it, next ...
Or may be just start with getting her to hold it in her hands the correct way no putting it together just getting the hold right, baby staps like you do with any learning. Most children I've ever worked with have been able to master coat zipping by six, most but not all. My 21 year old still can't and never will.

Its connecting zip she has trouble with, she can pull it up if its connected for her.

I will just keep working at it.

[Aimee McMillan]

Let's hope the weather is nice and no zips / coats are needed! Sure you are fed up with zips at the moment ! I would have to tell the teacher that she will do it in her own time when she is ready and that you are supporting her at home.

Weather up here is anything but "nice", yesterday was really heavy rain with strong winds, weather was so bad that teacher zipped DD coat all the way to the top and today it is just strong winds but luckily she is indoors today.

[Simona]

OK, so: teacher says DD has to be able to zip her own coat by next Friday............

.....or......

......what, exactly?

Is the school planning to expel her or actually, er.....well......er, support and teach her, maybe?

IIWY I'd ask. School-issued ultimatums are frequently an exercise in bluff-calling.

Imagine what teachers will do when presented with 30 2 year olds in nappies?
I would like to know what kind of ultimatum will they be issuing on such young children?...let's guess...'either you learn to use the loo or I will return you to a CM when you will do that in your time'

Seriously...the child will learn to zip up her coat as and when ready ....would I buy a new one with Velcro? certainly not and ask the teacher to be a little bit more patient

[FussyElmo]

To the op were you there when the teacher made the comment?

I was just wondering whether or not this is a misinterpretation of what was being said.

Could the teacher have said with a little bit of practise you could learn to do your zip by next week - its only this bit you are having trouble with. Not you will learn to fasten your zip by next week. Children have a tendency of only hearing certain parts of sentences.

Like my when 6yo came old and told he his teacher was trying to drown him. Loosely translated he had been asked to go in a deeper part of the swimming pool

[AliceK]

I would definitely be speaking to the teacher if only to find out exactly what was said, but in all honestly whatever it was it has obviously stressed your DD and made her worry about it. If it were me I would if I could send her in a coat she could do up herself if only to avoid the stress she may be feeling when she has to have her coat on at playtimes / lunchtimes and at home I would practice with her with the zip.
I have a 4yr old mindee who starts school in Sept and she has only just learnt to do her zip up with my constant helping because I know the school wont bother and they'll leave her with it open. On the other hand I have a 2 yr old who can already zip her own coat up. They all learn in their own time.
My own DD aged 6 got very stressed with having to put her tights on after her PE lessons, she can do it but it takes her ages and they don't have ages when they are at school. I didn't realise how much she was stressed by it until she one day told the teacher she couldn't do PE because her leg was hurting and the teacher called me. I think if I can alleviate some of the stress then I will, so now on PE days I send her in trousers with tights underneath (as it has been cold) but I put her a pair of long socks in her bag so after PE she can just put her socks on instead of her tights. Anything to make life a bit easier for her so she doesn't have to stress so much.
I'm sure your DD will learn to do her zip in time but putting pressure on her isn't going to help.

xxxx

[Aimee McMillan]

To the op were you there when the teacher made the comment?

I was just wondering whether or not this is a misinterpretation of what was being said.

Could the teacher have said with a little bit of practise you could learn to do your zip by next week - its only this bit you are having trouble with. Not you will learn to fasten your zip by next week. Children have a tendency of only hearing certain parts of sentences.

Like my when 6yo came old and told he his teacher was trying to drown him. Loosely translated he had been asked to go in a deeper part of the swimming pool

No, i was waiting outside for her so it could be that it was a misinterperation.

As I said though, I will keep teaching her, probably won't be tonight though as I will find it hard to concentrate after that typical loss from jaws of victory from Scotland Rugby team :'(.

[bunyip]

No, i was waiting outside for her so it could be that it was a misinterperation.

As I said though, I will keep teaching her, probably won't be tonight though as I will find it hard to concentrate after that typical loss from jaws of victory from Scotland Rugby team :'(.

Oops they did it again: - 'Oh, Shower of Scotland..............'

[Aimee McMillan]

To anyone saying get a coat with velcro, the coat has velcro but as its the coat issued by the School, she has to wear it plus the teachers insist on it being zipped up whilst at School so at start of day when she goes into School and during break/lunch it has to be zipped up and on way out of School its either teacher or me that zip it up, teacher does it more often than not though, I let her leave it unzipped if teacher hasn't done it if its good but if its poor weather and teacher hasn't zipped it, I start it off and let her pull it up.

[Simona]

No, i was waiting outside for her so it could be that it was a misinterperation.

As I said though, I will keep teaching her, probably won't be tonight though as I will find it hard to concentrate after that typical loss from jaws of victory from Scotland Rugby team :'(.

Isn't that what happened in the Scotland-Italy game 2 weeks ago when Scotland snatched victory at the very last minute for just 1 point?

No matter...it was a very good game!...on we soldier with Oh flower of Scotland!! and the Inno di Mameli...otherwise known as Fratelli d'Italia!!!

[Aimee McMillan]

Worked on this for a while today but she still isn't getting it which is frustrating poor bairn, just told her to keep at it.

I showed her that once its connected she has to keep a hold of zip and pull the zip, keeping a hold of the bottom tightly so that it zips up properly.

She gets zip into its part but doesn't hold bottom tightly enough meaning it is not zipping properly, hope this makes sense, its best way i could describe her problem.