Ok, maybe a dumb question BUT if you mainly use a nickname for your kids that's a spin-off of their real name, did you teach them first how to spell their nickname or their real name? Like, my son's real name is really unique and has 7 letters, but we mostly call him his nickname, which is a CLOSE spin-off and 5 letters long. He has been learning how to spell his nickname because it's shorter. Would it confuse him too much at this age to teach him his full name too? His full name has the same 5 letters but 2 extra ones, but in different places, not just added on to the end....
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We taught my daughter to spell her real name first only because it was shorter than her nn. I think I’d stick to what you’re doing (nickname) if that’s the name he thinks of himself as and the name teachers use. I think it’s certainly possible to get him to memorize both, but probably doesn’t matter for now and will come naturally as they “get” spelling more vs just memorizing.
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Hmm, I don’t know what I’ll ultimately do. My son’s name and nn are the same amount of letters. Maybe start with the name he would want people to call him/ be introduced as.
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My kid has a common nickname that seems like a distant relative of his real name (think Peggy for Margaret or Betsy for Elizabeth). He only goes by his nickname, so that's what I've taught him
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I’ve got an Eleanor/Nora and she learned Nora first and Eleanor a few years later.
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We’ve done nickname first, but as we are nearing the end of preschool I’m working with her on her full (8 letters vs. 4 letter nickname) name. In kindergarten she’ll be expected to use her full name so I want to be prepared.
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I would do real name because that’s what all official correspondence will use and what school will use before they know his nickname. This is unless you plan to use his nickname when filling out any paperwork/registration forms.
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Preschool taught DD her nick name. Abi vs Abigail. But once in public school here they make you use your full first name. So in K they taught her her full name.
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I think I would do the full name!
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@pinkb: @PinkElephant: this is bizarre to me....why do schools force kids to use their full name?
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My 3-year-old can write his nickname (3 characters with only two different letters) but not his name (9 characters and 6 unique letters).
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@meadow: @pinkb: Schools won't force a kid to use their full name, but all of the official paperwork will be in the full name, and if the teacher makes name plates or uses labels on cubbies, it will have the full name at 1st.
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I go by a short nickname (3 letters) that is very different than my "real" name (8 letters). I know I learned my nn much earlier than my real name. So much so that for I remember having to consciously spell out my longer name in my head as I wrote it on documents.
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My LO goes by her given name (7 letters), and my mom taught her to spell it when she was two. I think I would start with spelling the NN, because that seems more useful initially (my mom wanted LO to be able to spell her name for when people couldn't understand her pronunciation of it, and also I imagine it is what you will coach LO to scrawl in cards), and then focus on making sure that your kiddo can recognize his full name.
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DS is 3 and has decided to go by his full name at school and his nn everywhere else. There is another kid with his nn at school, so that’s why he wants to use his full name there. Anyway, they are teaching him how to spell his full name and we are teaching him to spell his nn. He’s not confused so far
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@meadow: @DesertDreams88: I don't think it's all that odd of an expectation? They never insisted on calling the child by their full name, and (I think - my oldest doesn't use a nickname) they switched the name tags to nicknames later on if the student requested it, but they did make sure the child knew how to write his or her full name, probably since it's what is required for official documents.
Disclaimer: my oldest don't have a formal nickname you would actually write; my middle switches back and forth between using her nickname (an "expected" short form of her 8-letter name) and her full name, so maybe that's why I don't feel strongly.
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We taught Xander how to spell his nickname, but Pre-School and Pre-K just taught him how to spell his fullname, Alexander. He didn't seem to realize that Xander was within Alexander though, haha. he just memorized how to spell both!
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I fully expect DD, Emmalyn to use her full name in school since there will probably be multiple Emma's. But it's easy enough to learn both.
I have never used my full name, always a shortened version. I remember in 5th grade trying to switch the y to an i, at the end, and my teacher told me I better pick one.
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@meadow: I don’t think it is all that uncommon anymore. Some nicknames are pretty far off from given names. They can’t pick and choose who can and can’t use nicknames and end up with all kinds of complaints. So you go by your birth certificate here, copy has to be given when u sign up (or similar legal doc) They do lax it a bit the more into the year and will use her nn in talking to her. But all her assignments and such are her full name. I would think all the testing they will be doing in the years to come also play a role that it all has to be under your full name.
And my nephews went thru this almost 10 hrs ago her in the same state. One didn’t even know his legal name because he was the third and went by a nn his whole life. So it was a real shock in school to have to go by a completely different name. Definitely has made me think twice about what I have names our kids lol. -
My kindergartner has almost exclusively gone by his nickname at school. He did have name tags and labels with his full name at the very beginning of the school year, but the teacher updated them quickly. He signs all of his papers by the nickname.
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