School Readiness

A parent's decision to move their child to kindergarten or have them wait an extra year is a very hard decision. It is probably one of the most important decisions we as parents will ever make when it comes to our child's future and well being. It is a very hard decision. One that has no right or wrong answer, only a gut feeling. You may be asking yourself, so what does it mean to be ready for school? I came across the following quoted information on the Education.com website.

Education.com's website says that School readiness means "having the ability to learn and cope with the school environment without undue stress.
•A child's intelligence plays only a minor role in his or her ability to cope with the school day."

At a meeting a few days ago the director of my son's preschool talked about what she felt Kindergarten readiness meant. I strongly agreed with her assessment and so I thought it would be beneficial to share some of what she talked about that evening.

* Feel secure in a new environment
* Self regulation and emotional regulation skills
* The ability to communicate with peers and adults
* Developed fine motor skills and coordination
* Problem solving skills
* Critical thinking skills
* Interactive play
* Self confidence
* The ability to socially interact in an appropriate manner

I truly believe that no matter how academically ready a child is for school, without the social emotional aspect, we are setting them up for failure. Unfortunately that is the case for a lot of us, epecially since our kids are being taught in Kindergarten what we were taught in first and second grade. It is sad how quickly our children are expected to grow up. I have friends who have Kindergarten kids expected to complete 1-2 hours of homework a night. A kindergartener should never have to sit at a table and do homework for 2 hours after being at school all day. It makes no sense to me. I don't think it takes a professional to know that they don't have the attenion span to do so and that 5 and 6 year olds should be out riding their bikes and climbing trees after school. Exploring and being kids.

Since this blog post was intended to share school readiness information, I will end it now. Please feel free to post questions about this or anything else I blog about on my site. I welcome the conversation and hope that this blog will help at least one person figure out what the right next step is for their child.