For parents of preschoolers, making the decision on when to enroll their children in kindergarten is not an easy one. Not all youngsters are ready for kindergarten just because they will be the educational system’s “charmed age.”
The so-called charmed age when a child is ready for kindergarten is determined by each state. The majority of states require that a student enrolling in kindergarten be five-years-old on or before September 1. Parents need to realize September is not a magical month. The start date for their child to step into a kindergarten classroom must not be determined by the school’s declared month but by their youngster’s unique character, maturity, and development. In other words, rely on God’s time and not the calendar’s time.
Evidence Shows the Importance of a Balanced Development
In my 34 years as a PK-8 Catholic school principal, I witnessed families’ mistakes in starting their children in the first “official” grade in elementary school before they were ready. Academic and/or behavioral issues would commonly arise for the student who began kindergarten too soon. Sometimes the realization showed up before September even ended. In other cases, it would take until first or second grade for the school struggles to arise.
A boy or girl who will most likely be successful as a kindergartener is one balanced in all the various areas of development: social-emotional, physical, and intellectual (aka academics). A young one who shows no success in any of these three fundamental areas of a preschooler’s development, or only shows success in one area, will probably experience failure in his or her first “official” school year.
For example, a four or five-year-old kid who shows intellectual maturity by already being able to read, might be so immature in social skills and motor skill development that he or she will get extremely frustrated in the kindergarten classroom. Similarly, a kiddo who seems mature when hearing his or her verbal conversations with adults, but has no skill or interest in learning numbers and letters, may benefit from waiting until age six before formally starting school career.
Besides trusting the parent’s “gut” in combination with “God’s calendar” on realizing when a preschooler is or is not ready for kindergarten, there is a list of 12 activities that can help make the enrollment decision. Mom and dad should use the following list in two ways over the summer prior to the kindergarten year:
- First – Use these activities at the start of summer as a way to informally test a preschooler’s readiness.
- Secondly – If the test reveals the child may not be ready for kindergarten, they should repeatedly participate with the youngster in these activities throughout the summer.
After practicing developing these following skills necessary for a successful kindergarten experience, if the child still doesn’t show competency by August, it probably means another year in preschool would be the smart choice.
A Dozen Activities That Test and Develop Kindergarten-Readiness Skills
Test and Develop These Social-Emotional Skills
1 ) Can your child verbally express how they are feeling, such as sad, mad, or scared? Find photos in books and online of children’s facial expressions and ask your preschooler what the emotion is.
2 ) Is your child flexible when it comes to not getting his or her way? “Defeat” your child now and then when playing a game so he/she is okay with losing. Discuss how someone can feel sad or frustrated when things don’t go one’s way, but that it will be okay.
3 ) Does your child know how to politely turn away someone who wants to play but your child would rather do something else or play with someone else? Role play these scenarios and also provide opportunities to practice this social skill with siblings or at playtime in the park.
4 ) Is your child secure enough to not fuss when left for at least a few hours with another person other than mom or dad? If not, provide repeated opportunities for the child to be left with a babysitter, a playdate at another family’s house, etc.
5 ) Can your child do daily tasks independently? If he/she cannot do the following without adult help, continual practice is necessary: poop and pee in a restroom, including handling pants/dress and washing hands afterward; put on and take off jacket and shoes with no help; open up snack bags, drink boxes, etc. and clean up afterward; put things in and take things out of a backpack.
Test and Develop These Physical Skills
6 ) Has your child built up the stamina to not need to take a nap in the middle of the day? Since most kindergartens are now full-day, the youngster has to be able to stay alert and active for at least seven hours straight.
7 ) Does your child have good small motor skills and strongly developed fingers and wrists? Kindergarteners will daily be writing with a pencil, operating scissors, and delicately using a glue stick. To develop fine more skills, he/she should practice daily over the summer the correct pencil grip and scissor grip with fun drawing, writing, and art activities. As importantly, provide daily practice of buttoning and zipping clothes. Playing with legos and playdough is good practice, as is helping mom, dad, or older siblings in the kitchen making cookies or lunch and performing cutting, pouring, and stirring actions.
8 ) Does your child have good large motor skills so he/she will be more confident at playing. An incoming kindergartener does not have to be an “athlete,” but competent ability to move the body will lead to finding more new friends and developing social skills at recess. To develop these skills, parents and older siblings can do the following fun things over the summer: throw, catch, and kick a ball; play Simon Says with directives that involve motor skills like hope on one foot or roll on the ground; play balloon-volleyball inside and redlight-greenlight outside; spend lots of time at playground structures that involve upper-body development (i.e., climbing, hanging, and pulling).
Test and Develop These Intellectual Skills (aka Academics)
9 ) Can your child print his/her first name using the correct form? An entering kindergartener who understands names begin with an upper case (“tall”) letter, followed by lower case (“small”) letters, will feel more confident when the teacher has all her students write their names that first week of school.
10 ) Can your child identify all letters of the alphabet? This knowledge pertains to both upper and lower-case forms of all letters. Additionally, the identifying should be in any random order and not just the ability to “recite your A-B-Cs” in alphabetical order.
11 ) Does your child have strong phonemic awareness skills as evidenced by an ability to hear individual sounds of letters and words? Fun verbal games over the summer can help build these skills. Understanding rhyming words can be taught by asking your kiddo, “Do ‘cat’ and ‘hat’ rhyme? Do ‘dog’ and ‘tree’ rhyme? What words can you think of that rhyme?” When driving in the car, play I-spy with sounds. For example, the parent says, “I spy something out your car window that starts with the letter ‘b” and its ‘buh’ sound.” The child notices the barn and responds with “barn.” Dozens more phonemic awareness games can be found here and here.
12 ) Is your child able to both name and write the numbers 0-10 and also count up to these amounts at a minimum? The ability to count objects with a 1-to-1 correspondence shows good number sense. Take opportunities by having your child count the toys when putting them away into the toy box. In the kitchen ask your son or daughter to put three ice cubes in the glass and eat seven carrots off the dinner plate.
Consider Giving the Gift of Time
Deciding when to enroll a child in kindergarten is a pivotal decision that should not be based on the government-determined, kindergarten cut-off month or what peers are doing. Parents must consider their son’s or daughter’s maturity based on if he or she has developed enough social-emotional, physical, and intellectual skills needed for a successful start in kindergarten.
Mom and dad need to be open to the possibility that holding back for a year might just be the best choice. Giving the “gift of time” will provide an extra year of “ripening” to maturity. Thus, the kiddo will have a better experience in kindergarten and will more likely thrive in the primary grades that follow.
During this “bonus” year of additional preschool experiences as a five-year-old, the kid will be able to accumulate much more practice in preschool education. This better assures a flourishing kindergarten experience a year later. Furthermore, social and motor skills grow when the additional preschool year includes more participation in group settings like swimming lessons and art classes.
God uniquely develops each of His children. When a youngster’s parents decide to wait a year before kindergarten enrollment, it might just be they listened to God saying, “Give my little one another year to develop and blossom.”
A PRINCIPAL'S PRINCIPLES FOR PARENTING 
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