Letters and Numbers

I'm a unix system administrator by trade. I'm paid to troubleshoot and creatvely come up with solutions. This last week, however, I have had my toughest assignment yet. Teach a five year old to write letters and numbers. I'm just not equiped for this. No amount of patience, determination, brilliance, or creativlty have proven successful. Tools I use every day to solve problems just aren't applicable here. The letter "C" for example seems easy. But no amount of patience produces a written "C." Determination alone won't produce a written "C," nor will brilliance or creativity. Because us parents are required to follow the teacher's instuctions, I was filled with rage when the instructions for the number "8" were, "Draw an "S" and curve it back around." PRIOR TO LEARNING THE LETTER "S!" Speaking of "S" I cannot think of an eaiser letter to produce, yet this too has proved nearly impossible. We tried starting with a "C" to make the "S" but see comments above. I'm just not cut out for this.