kindergarten

As a mom and a daycare provider, and now a substitute preschool teacher for our local parks & recreation department, I’ve almost always dealt with kids in the pre-K age range. And I have to say I’ve always had some hesitation at the age requirement for kindergarten. For many years here in California, a child must be five by December 2nd of that school year to start kindergarten. As most parents or adults who deal with kids in any way know, in many situations four year olds who are not quite ready for kindergarten, either academically or socially, start kindergarten anyway.

I was one of those kids myself. I started kindergarten at the age of 4, my birthday being in October. It didn’t leave a huge imprint on my life, but I did struggle socially throughout elementary school as a result. And these days with the expense of daycare and most households being families where both parents are working, parents have become less inclined to put off starting kindergarten if their child is not ready for the convenience of having them start school.
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Sending our little ones off to kindergarten is probably one of the most memorable milestones we’ll reach as parents. It’s an exciting time, but it can be emotional and take some adjustment on the part of both the parent and the child.

Most children today start school with some sort of previous experience in preschool. This not only prepares them academically, but emotionally as well. In spite of that, we all still know the difference between attending preschool and going into “big kid school” is huge.

My youngest completes her last week of preschool this week. And in the fall she will embark on the journey that is kindergarten. Lucky for me, I’ve done this before and have a little insight into ways I can better prepare her for school.
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Among peers for the first time, Eric settled in quickly at his new preschool. They were all high-energy boys who shared his enthusiasm and his sense of humor.

What a change!

But some things had not. He was still easily frustrated, but at least he was in the right environment with a lot more support and a lot less pressure. His love of books resurfaced and without the academic expectations he was learning more each day.

After a month or two, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I was back into my daily workout routine and had a great regular group of moms who joined me for regular hikes and coffee breaks.
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I was ambivalent about pulling Eric out of kindergarten. On the one hand, I could see how much he was struggling. But he was struggling with things that I thought were developmental and I felt like he was so ready to learn. There is a big developmental leap between five and six years old, and I believed that Eric would catch up to the other kids soon enough.

Unfortunately his teacher thought Eric’s issues were behavioral. This is an important difference. When he didn’t complete a task, she believed he was not paying attention or following directions. Or she maintained that he was misbehaving.
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After the first month of school, I still wasn’t sure how Eric was doing in kindergarten. He no longer complained daily about attending school (as in, “What? We have to go back to dat school place again?”), and I finally stopped getting bad news daily. I actually thought we were headed forward.

At our goal setting conference, the school principal greeted us along with Eric’s teacher.

“We must be in trouble.” I joked half-heartedly. Nobody laughed.
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Will “toothbrush time” join the ranks of nap time and recess as staples of preschool? Massachusetts is the first state to add toothbrush time to schools, in an attempt to fight a growing trend of poor dental care in the state. A 2003 study revealed that one out of four kindergarteners in Massachusetts has a dental disease.

Of course, there is still resistance from parents, who think that a state-mandated teeth cleaning is “too much government intervention.” But teachers are being trained with all the skills needed to help kids learn how to brush their teeth correctly, and hopefully curb the growing issue of dental hygiene among kids.

Full story at the New York Times.