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Thursday, June 23, 2011

My Little Boy goes to school

My little boy goes to school now. At the age of 3 and 1/2, he really looks so young with a bottle of milk still in one hand (as shown in the picture), and always want to go to sleep longer, but with the demand of today's early education, he has to get up early. Sometimes i have to wake him up at 7am or 730am, and his eyes could not be opened yet. But whenever he wakes up, he wants to rush to go to school immediately and i hear from his nanny that he participates well and can do lots of things already. Quite amazing, but he is my boy.


Below are some of the comments from different parents:


1. Don't Move too Fast

I believe some children can start Kindergarten at 5 or so.  It all depends on their emotional maturity I think.  My daughter (23 years old now) was put in first grade and though she had not trouble doing the work (she was acedemically mature) she had trouble there and was suffering.  She even started wetting her bed which was very unlike her.  We decided to put her back in Kindergarden for an additional year and she did very well from that point forward.  We didn’t demote her... or set her back.  We simply asked her which would make her happier and she said she would be happier back in Kindergarten so we put her there.

Parents often push their kids to enter school quickly and progress forward as fast as possible and this isn’t a good thing.  If the child falls behind they may never catch up and they could be behind other students and struggle all the way through high school.  You really don’t want to set them on that path of you can help it.  Better that you move slower than faster.
Sources: Personal Experience

2. The average age is 5 -


However, some start at 4, mainly depending on birthdate.  Some start as late as 7.  In NYS, kids have to start Kindergarten by age 6, unless there are really extenuating circumstances (which must be documented). 

The mandated start age varies by state, as does how young they can start.  In some places, kids with birthdays after Oct 1st have to wait until the next year.  In other places, it's Nov 1st (and others Dec 1st!). 

The most important thing to remember is ready-ness.  If your child is 4, and meets the birthdate requirements, do a lot of thinking & evaluating before sending her/him off to Kinder at 4...sometimes social readyness isn't there yet, and it's better to wait a year. 

Good luck!
Sources: Experience w/kids AND education

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