Kindergarten today is not like it used to be: it demands more of children on several different levels. How can you tell if your child is ready, and what can you do to help him prepare?
At birth, it seemed like sending your child to kindergarten was in the distant future; as you held your tiny baby, you probably couldn’t even really imagine him as a five or six-year-old. But now the time is nearly upon you – time for your baby to make the transition and jump into the world of academics. You may be facing this day with a whole range of emotions, from pride to sadness to disbelief. You’re probably wondering if your child is truly ready, and whether you’ve done everything you can to help him. Sending your baby off to school can be difficult enough without having to worry about how he’ll fare once he gets there; here are a few things to prepare him (and ease your mind).
Not your mother’s kindergarten.
Kindergarten today is much different than the kindergarten we attended as children (if we even attended it – some schools just started right at first grade). While reminiscing on our first year of school may bring back memories of cut-and-paste and show-and-tell, today’s kids will look back on their own first year and think of a much more intellectually challenging environment. The concept of kindergarten (meaning “children’s garden” in German) came about in the 1830s, the brainchild of a German teacher named Friedrich Froebel. Its original purpose, according to Froebel, was basically to socialize children – to get them accustomed to interacting with others. It was designed to help kids smoothly make the transition from being at home all day to attending school. While this is still partially the purpose of kindergarten, it isn’t the entire focus any more. These days, the vast majority of children have spent substantial amounts of time at preschools and day care centers before ever entering school, which means they already have experience in working and playing with other children. Therefore, the kindergarten experience has been rethought and revamped by public school systems. Now there’s a bigger focus on academics and cognitive learning. Children are working with computers and learning programs. They have required reading and homework. And they’re more likely to attend a full day, up to seven hours, rather than the half-day programs so common a few years ago.