Why Prepare for Kindergarten?

Last week I shared what kindergarten readiness is…CLICK HERE to find out more.

It seems weird that you would need to prepare your child for kindergarten, right? I mean, isn’t that what kindergarten is for—to prepare your child for their school career? Yes… and no.

Kindergarten, and the first few years of education, is the most crucial to establishing a solid foundation for a child to have future academic success. Kindergarten will help your child to develop primary skills needed for the foundations of reading, math, and social interaction in further grades. But let’s take into consideration all that takes place for a child during this new milestone called kindergarten. Your precious little child will be in a new environment, around new people, with new schedules and routines, learning new rules, learning how to interact with new friends, experiencing new emotions, being introduced to new academics, and many more firsts. This rite of passage is very exciting, but can also be scary and overwhelming for any child. 

So, it would be beneficial to reduce some of the stress of this new adventure by helping prepare your preschooler for kindergarten. Just think, if you can help your child learn to count, write their name, recognize colors, or even begin to read, that is one less thing they will need to focus their attention on during kindergarten. They will be able to focus their energy on other areas that might be new to them.

Kindergarten isn’t all about academics though. It’s also about helping these young children develop skills that will set them up for a lifetime of success by being able to focus on a task, think logically, develop vocabulary, demonstrate self control, cooperation and speak clearly.  Skills like these can be nurtured at home. So if academics aren’t your strong suit then help prepare your child for kindergarten by focusing on developing these key life skills that will set them up for victory. (Although, I will share some helpful ways to prepare your preschooler academically for kindergarten—that anyone can do—next week!)

Why do you think preparing for kindergarten is important? Email me to share your thoughts.