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Is Your Child Ready For Kindergarten?
When we think of going into the “preparation mode” as that first day of kindergarten approaches, the two areas we most focus on are the academic and the emotional.
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If your little one has conquered shapes, colors,
counting and basic vocabulary, these are some of the academic skills
that she should have as she heads off for that first day of formal
school. You may have given her some home school or even preschool
exposure to get those skills in place and all of that was good
preparation for this big day.
From an emotional and social point of view, the big change from staying
home with mom every day to being in an institutionalized setting is one
that your child will cope with better with some preparation. So letting
her meet the teacher, the other students, sit in on one day with you
there and then have time to role play or talk through what it will be
like all will be very helpful at reducing that feeling of disorientation
that your kiddo may experience the first day at school.
But there are other areas of competency that you would do well to gauge
in your child as she prepares for a day without you there to do
everything for her. And if you start developing those check lists in the
last full year before kindergarten, you have time to help your baby
develop those skills well in advance. For example, when your child goes
to lunch at school, she will probably go through a line to get her food,
find a table on her own to sit with relative strangers to eat and have
to get through meal time without guidance or encouragement. You can give
her some of those experiences by eating at buffets where you let her
handle her own tray and even pick the table and “be a big girl” by
making all of the decisions.
The more independent your child becomes in that last few months before
kindergarten, the more that feeling of self reliance will pay off when
school starts. Being able to dress and undress herself is a basic skill
that we work on with our children. And while this will not be necessary
at school, there may be times when your child needs to go to the
bathroom to adjust his or her wardrobe. And not having to have a teacher
there with him will make this a much smoother operation.
The basics of being able to perform simple student tasks such as how to
hold a writing implement, how to draw the basic shapes, how to color a
picture and how to answer questions from the teacher without mumbling
are things that can be worked on well before the first day at
kindergarten that will make that transition much smoother for your child
and for the teacher as well.
There are also mental or intellectual talents that your child can pick
up just from being part of your family but they will be of great
advantage in school. This includes being able to listen and understand a
story and then ask intelligent questions about it, being able to
understand humor and even make simple and appropriate jokes when the
time is right in class and knowing the fundamentals of alphabet, numbers
and vocabulary that will equip the child to start the curriculum at
kindergarten without need for remedial help.
Observe and help your child develop the simple social skills of being
able to enter a room and meet new people, understanding authority and
rules and learning to live with them and making friends and identifying
and avoiding problem personalities in class. These are skills that will
go a long way toward facilitating a happy social life at school and
learning to stay out of trouble which is a lifetime skill your kiddo
will need throughout a long school career.
By thinking through not only the academic but the physical, hygiene,
social, language and logical skills that are sometimes taken for
granted, you cut down on the surprises that wait for your child on that
first day at school. And the smoother that first day goes, the better
her entire year at kindergarten will go which will lead to a happy and
creative attitude toward school and education for life.
