School Sparks - Kindergarten Readiness

Your child will make mistakes. Lots of them. Growing up is hard work. The key is to help your child manage his frustration and to turn each situation (even the ones filled with mistakes) into positive learning experiences. Through the years, I have learned the importance of acknowledging a child’s efforts (and not just the outcome) as a key way to help a child manage feelings of disappointment or failure.

Young children are full of questions and quick to become upset. Alternatively, most parents are full of answers and quick to generate solutions. Our typical response is to quickly intervene when we see our child struggling or upset and this desire to get involved is natural. This may make you (and even your child) feel better in the short run. However, it will likely hinder your child’s development in the long run.

Heather sent me an interesting email this week that I wanted to share. “Hi mom. Funny story… Joshua spilled milk on his pants during lunch today. He left the table to run to his closet and came back with clean jeans—but they were on backwards…

Young children thrive on routines. Whether it’s a bedtime routine that calmly gets children into bed, or a meal-time routine that encourages a picky eater to clean his plate, all families with young children typically have at least a few routines scattered throughout their day. There are a number of reasons why routines are especially critical for young children.

Board games are a common playtime staple in most households. However, many parents often overlook the hidden difficulties in productively playing a game with a young child. After many years of “chuting and laddering” my way around a game board with my own children and helping countless kindergarten children learn to play games peacefully among themselves, I settled on four “rules” for successfully playing games with young children.

Children strongly believe what they tell themselves. As a result, if they believe they can do something, they will be happy and willing to try it and to persevere through any challenges. One of the most important things parents and educators can do for children is to help begin their self-fulfilling cycle of success.

Years ago, a little boy named Jack in my preschool classroom told his mom that he wasn’t learning anything in school. Jack quickly clarified after his mother’s confused pause: “I don’t have time to learn anything, I’m too busy having fun.”  This story stuck with me for years as evidence I was doing something right. My students always had their share of “pure play” and spent plenty of time on the playground during recess. The rest of the day? Jack’s non-stop fun was actually a structured learning plan (in disguise) honed over years of teaching preschool children.