The response to my blog about Kindergarten Readiness has been overwhelming! I truly understand the indecision that parents face. From your responses, I wanted to address three additional points which I have added to the post.
- “All of my child’s friends are going to Kindergarten.” – This is a statement that I hear a lot. This happened with Bubs. At church, all of the kids moved up and he stayed back. It was rough for a a few minutes but he very quickly made new friends. Actually one of the boys that moved on is repeating Kindergarten so he is back with him!
- “But my child thinks he/she is going to Kindergarten.” – Bubs was asked for many months about Kindergarten and he learned to say that Mommy and Daddy are holding him back. It truly wasn’t an issue because we talked about it. If it had been, we would have handled it just like anything else – Mommy and Daddy know best.
- “But my child is already enrolled?” – This is a tough one but sometimes Mommy and Daddy’s change their minds. Also, I know of schools that say at orientation (the day before school), “If you have any doubts, now is the time to change your mind. And, we will look forward to seeing you next year.” A school would rather have a child who is truly ready than a child who will struggle because of their age. Plus schools have children drop all of the time!
As I stated before, there is not a magic formula to help you make this decision. It truly comes down to a decision that needs to be made by each family for each individual child. This is the question that I ask each person who seeks my advice… Do you want to start your child a step ahead or a step behind?
