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Home › Expert Q&A › Child Development And Behavior › Preschoolers And Children › My son has a fall birthday. How can I decide if he is ready to start kindergarten?

Expert Q&A

 

By Elizabeth Pantley
Child Behavior Expert Better Beginnings, Inc.

My son has a fall birthday. How can I decide if he is ready to start kindergarten?

This is a common question for parents of children with fall birthdays. Many people are concerned that waiting that extra year will bring negative results, but studies show that in the majority of cases it's wise to wait. Even though your son is very bright, kindergarten is about so much more than academics. A child who is spending his days with children who are socially and emotionally more mature will not fare as well as one who is at the same level with his peers. I have seen the imbalance even in the junior high years when the youngest students in the class lag far behind their peers in physical and emotional development.

Your questions should really be: how do I know if my child is ready for kindergarten? And how can I make sure my bright child is challenged and encouraged at school.

How do I know if my child is ready for kindergarten?

Children used to enter kindergarten knowing very little in the way of academics. But that has changed.

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education (February 2000) surveyed 22,000 entering kindergarten children and found:

  • 82 percent were familiar with print familiarity skills (knowing that print reads from right to left, that words have meaning)
  • 94 percent know basic shapes, numbers and letters

The survey also found that most kindergarteners have good beginning social skills, 77 percent are comfortable making new friendships.

Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself when contemplating whether your child is emotionally and socially ready for kindergarten:

Does my child...

  • have strong self-management skills?
  • work independently?
  • make his/her own choices without teacher or parent interaction?
  • show willingness to try something new , is not apprehensive about new situations after a short adjustment period?
  • wait his/her turn in a group situation in play, during snacks, sharing materials?
  • interact well with other children on an equal footing?
  • negotiate most of his/her own social problems fairly successfully?
  • express his/herself well to communicate what he/she does and does not understand?
  • have strong self-confidence and self-esteem?

According to the Kindergarten Readiness Checklist developed by Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed. S., you can use this checklist to see how well your child is doing in acquiring the skills found on most kindergarten checklists:

  • Listen to stories without interrupting
  • Recognize rhyming sounds
  • Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
  • Understand actions have both causes and effects
  • Show understanding of general times of day
  • Cut with scissors
  • Trace basic shapes
  • Begin to share with others
  • Start to follow rules
  • Be able to recognize authority
  • Manage bathroom needs
  • Button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers
  • Begin to control oneself
  • Separate from parents without being upset
  • Speak understandably
  • Talk in complete sentences of five to six words
  • Look at pictures and then tell stories
  • Identify rhyming words
  • Identify the beginning sound of some words
  • Identify some alphabet letters
  • Recognize some common sight words like "stop"
  • Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape
  • Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects
  • Count to 10
  • Bounce a ball

If your child has acquired most of the skills on this checklist and will be at least 5 years old at the start of the summer before he or she starts kindergarten, he or she is probably ready for kindergarten. What teachers want to see on the first day of school are children who are healthy, mature, capable, and eager to learn.

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