Advice History

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What skills MUST my my child have for kindergarten?

 

Kids need ot have a great deal of patience and a long attention span to sit through a full day of kindergarten these days. There is a lot of seat work and quiet time that many 5-year-olds just aren't ready for. Ask yourself: Can my child stay focused on one topic with me for about 20 minutes? Can my child wait his turn when others are speaking? Can my child sit calmly during a story that he isn't interested in? Does he respect authority? Those are really great skills that a teacher would welcome in a kindergarten setting.

What about social skills?

 

Along with the patience and attention span, you have to ask yourself as a parent, is your child ready socially to interact with kids who may be older?  Some of the kids in my daughter's kindergarten class were almost six when school started because their parents felt they just weren't ready -- emotionally or socially.  I've heard this more from parents of boys.  In fact, some private schools will have different age cutoffs for boys and girls, comes down to a maturity level.

 

What is "red-shirting" for Kindergartners? Does it really help?

This "trend" which only really got a name a few years ago, is derived from college athletics where an athlete might sit out his freshman year to improve his academics, or to grow and develop more. The athlete retains his four years of eligibility and should generally benefit from the time.

 

The same can apply for your child. If he or she is a bit young to be starting kindergarten, you might hold your child out a year to give them more time to develop physically, emotionally or academically. Since this happens more with boys than girls, the term red-shirting seems particularly apt.

 

News reports in recent years have also highlighted a trend whereby zealous dads of boys choose to "redshirt" their kindergarten-aged boy in the hopes of gaining an athletic advantage in high school. Just how widespread this "trend" actually is remains uncertain.

 

My child is very shy. Should I wait to enroll her in kindergarten? Or would it help her to be around other kids now?