Situation #4.5: The stroke order of a Chinese character seems very important, but I am not sure how much we should press my child to memorize it.Reality: Stroke order is intended to maximize the ease of reading and writing, and to improve the overall look of the character (i.e. a box-like shape). Once one learns certain rules, he can mostly infer how most other characters are to be written (e.g. left before right, top before bottom). Of course there are some exceptions. But it should not cause much inconveniences in everyday writing. The stroke order becomes extremely important, however, in Chinese calligraphy, where the beauty of the character is revealed more distinctly from the brush stroke.

It is more difficult to revert to the correct way once a habit has been established. In light of priority, however, it is not quite as important, considering the little amount of time and the opposing forces about your child in learning Chinese in an English-dominant society. It is very beneficial, however, to enforce the basic rules in the beginning of character writing. The child will in turn figure out the rest, and if not, ask you about it. The worst to do is to impose stroke order when the child is in a position of reluctance and frustration in learning Chinese. As long as he is interested, you can teach him this interesting phenomenon.