It’s that beautiful time of year when you register or re-register your children for school, the first registration (Pre-K or Kindergarten) was always the most difficult for me. I can remember doing this for each of my children. The nerves that came along with signing them up for school were very real. Will they make friends? Will they be able to follow the teacher? Will they learn? Will they cry for me all day long? Having stayed home with me, the separation from home was something they hadn’t experienced yet and I was always filled with worry about whether or not they were ready to soar on their own.
All three of my children approached kindergarten differently. One was . . .
cautious but accepting. One was terrified and hated leaving home and school mornings were filled with tears and one didn’t look back the first day he jumped on that bus. Were they ready? I think they all adapted pretty well. We all ask ourselves that, I’ve searched through some lists and compiled some pretty important questions to consider. Is your child ready for kindergarten. Take a look.
Emotionally
Children going to kindergarten will benefit with being able to regulate their feelings. Can your child deal with disappointment? Being told no? Waiting their turn? For a child that hasn’t attended daycare these opportunities may be less common. Practice these situations at home with siblings or friends whenever possible. We all like to see our child happy but the reality of life is that this is not always possible and in a classroom with 18 other children they will definitely need to self-regulate their emotions on a daily basis.
School Routines
Children going to school will see a change in their daily routine. There will be set times for them to go to the washroom, eat, play outside, sit in a circle time and complete seat work.
Children attending daycare will most likely be more familiar with this type of day-to-day routine and will adjust to this aspect of school fairly quickly. Children who have not had to follow a daily routine may have more of a shock to their system. However, most children this age are ready for this routine. To help your child transition to this type of day, practice some of the school routines they will be experiencing at home.
Practice walking to destinations instead of running, we hear this phrase in hallways often, walking feet please. If there is more than one child in your family, practice lining up and walking in a line. You can practice sitting at the table for snack time and lunchtime at set times during the day, rather than eating whenever they are hungry or grazing all day long. Have them practice using a lunch box and opening containers independently. Practice reading books to your child and having them listen to the book, as they would in a read aloud in kindergarten. Discuss the book afterwards, ask them questions about what you have read. Talk about school. Throughout the summer, talking about things that will happen at school will help them mentally prepare for a big step in their little lives.
We are experiencing a very different climate in social interactions right now. Coming out of a two year long pandemic where we avoided people like, well, the plague, our young children are much less adept at engaging socially, especially if they have been at home and not in daycare.
Social interactions are important for our children because kindergarten and school in general has a very social atmosphere. We co-exist in each others’ space all day long. We bump into each other accidentally, share toys with each other, play at learning centres together as well as play together outside.
Practicing sharing, taking turns and talking to other children will help your child adapt to a social environment. Children definitely learn through play and observation. It would benefit your child to go to the park, library, a playgroup or play date because a lot of these skills will happen on their own if they are able to have social experiences.
Academic Skills
Any academic skills you work on with your child are absolute bonuses for their start to kindergarten. They are not mandatory, of course, but definitely a bonus for them. If they recognize their name — wonderful. Know the letters in their name, even better.
Alphabet recognition is something that students work on in their early years, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, but if it’s an interest to your child, for example if they are pointing out letters in their environment – you should try and fly with that. Teach them more. The letters and their names are a great start.
In terms of math skills, the opportunity to count is all around us. Count their snacks, count the stairs in their home, count the steps to the swing set. If your child is engaged in learning their numbers, one step further is developing a one to one correspondence for these numbers, that is counting the objects as you touch them. Teaching your child to use children’s scissors and glue before starting school will help them be independent with these activities in school.
These are just a few things to consider before sending your child to school.
Kindergarten is a wonderful gateway to the primary years, it is a year filled with inquiry, socializing and learning school life. There are ways that you can help prepare them and most children will be developmentally prepared to take on the new challenge of a new routine.
If you have any questions about kindergarten, write them down. Should you register your child to a school for the fall, you should get a chance to meet your child’s teacher before school starts and any unanswered questions can be asked then.
Sometimes it’s harder on the parents than the child (it was two out of three times for me). Take a deep breath and remember that every stage your child goes through is one filled with exciting new moments for both of you.
