Skip to main content

The Long and Winding


It’s the time of year when the Howard County Schools host their “Road to Kindergarten” events for prospective parents. I don’t remember going to one back when my now-college aged kid was heading to kindergarten. Maybe they didn’t have them then. Maybe we spaced out. Perhaps I have completely forgotten the entire thing. It’s possible.

Since I have some expertise in the area of what makes one ready for kindergarten, I’m going to throw in my two cents here. And remember, any time from birth onwards is the road to kindergarten, just in case you’re the kind of person who likes to plan ahead.

First and foremost, you will help your child to be ready for kindergarten if you talk to them, listen to them, engage, interact, make eye contact. Start at birth and never, ever stop. Don’t take my word for it, check out Howard County’s Talk With Me page.

Encourage open ended, creative play. Fancy plastic toys that make lots of sounds and have lots of buttons to push are quite alluring. A cardboard box, some markers and a lot of imagination are almost always more fun and provide more development of self-motivation and decision-making skills.

Outdoor play and active large motor indoor play when available. To clarify: self-directed play, not classes, lessons, or teams. It’s not just “good exercise” but it also supports the development of healthy executive functioning skills which are hugely important in navigating kindergarten and beyond.

Allow your child to learn how to do things for themselves. In the teaching world these are called self-help skills. It takes longer to allow your child to struggle but the time invested will pay off when they go to school and can confidently zip their own coat, carry their own backpack, wash their own hands, wipe themselves in the bathroom, and all the many daily tasks which we as adults do without thinking. Trust me, it is not an act of love to keep doing these things for your child. Also, a lot of these involve developing fine motor skills, which will be crucial for writing, drawing, and cutting with scissors.

Modeling and valuing kindness. This will never, ever be time wasted.

There you have it. The basics. Shapes, colors, letters, numbers, handwriting and so on can all be learned when a child is ready. True readiness comes from what I’ve listed above. Trying to force feed “school subjects” when what a child needs is exercise, love, play, and human interaction is a kind of malnourishment of sorts. You can force it before a child is ready and then claim your child is “advanced” but there will almost always be a price to pay down the line.

That’s my sermon on the road to kindergarten. Not everyone will agree. All I ask is that, if someone tries to sell you workbooks or a tutoring program for a preschool child, you come back and read this post. And then, go to the playground.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...
2 comments
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more