KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City mother admits she was scared when she learned her daughter was far behind where she should be when it came to fine motor skills for kids in kindergarten.
Kristin Lynch received the news from her daughter’s teacher, who gave her some ideas to help daughter Elise develop her skills.
Lynch was worried about whether her daughter could catch up and worked with Elise on her development.
“Oh my gosh she’s not where she’s supposed to be and can we fix it? What can we do?” Lynch remembers thinking. “Her handwriting was so light you couldn’t really see it and then she said when she colors her hand gets real tired.”
Elise is one of many kids her age who aren’t developing their fine motor skills when they should.
The problem has become so measurable that the Greater Kansas City Chamber kicked off an awareness campaign highlighting the importance of early childhood education on all fronts. Research shows a human’s earliest years of development are the most critical for brain development.
Research shows that just two of every 20 students arrive at Kindergarten with enough hand strength and coordination to use scissors. Only half can hold a pencil correctly.
Why is this happening?
Some blame our busy world, full of technologies that take away from the more traditional activities we grew up with like coloring and cutting paper. Kids are doing less coloring and more swiping on iPads and Tablets.
Learn more on the problem and the solutions in the video player above.
