When is the best time to sign up for kindergarten and what should the parents know?
Any young family thinks that it is time to send their baby to kindergarten at a certain moment. But where is the fine line between the right time and being too early? This article will help you make this difficult decision and answer the main question of when is it best to send your child to kindergarten.
Contents:
- Should the child go to kindergarten?
- Advantages and disadvantages of going to kindergarten
- When is the best time to bring the child to kindergarten?
- How to understand that the child is ready for kindergarten?
- If it is still too early: how to prepare the child for kindergarten?
- Tips of a psychologist
Should the child go to kindergarten?
In the modern world, mothers rush to continue working very early after having a child, thus ending their maternity leave. If there are no adults in the family who could look after the child, then kindergarten becomes a necessity for the family.
Moms and dads can have two completely different opinions. For example, the mother can be sure that kindergarten is bad for the child, while the father can be convinced that kindergarten is necessary for the child to socialize and get ready for school. Let’s figure out whose opinion is more correct and let’s consider all the pros and cons of attending kindergarten.
Advantages and disadvantages of going to kindergarten
By putting different opinions together, you can identify the main negative and positive statements about the necessity for a child to go to kindergarten.
Disadvantages
Getting away from the family
No matter how wonderful the kindergarten is, it still separates the child from the family and limits the time spent with the parents. Nowadays, there are quite a lot of families in which adults are trying to send their little ones to kindergarten as quickly as possible to free up their time. However, it is very often enough to play with the child for a short time at home, and then they will find something to do on their own.
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Many parents think that by handing their child over to the kindergarten, they affect their relationship with them. However, this is not the case. Affection is not about being physically close. It’s about quality time together, about emotional connection, acceptance, and love. What to do if the mother is physically exhausted and does not find any free time for herself and her wants and needs? A child needs a calm, happy, and self-confident parent besides them. Therefore, it is better to send your child to kindergarten and to bring the focus on solving your own issues. After all, the main thing is not how the child feels in the kindergarten, it is more about how they feel in their family. If parents were able to provide their child with love, care, understanding, then it would be much easier for the child to get used to kindergarten,
The absence of the child’s personality development
The independence that a child develops in kindergarten is pretty subjective. After all, everyone in the kindergarten obeys the same rules which do not allow for children to demonstrate their individual characteristics, especially when the group is large when it is comprised of 25-30 people.
A bad example for other children
Children often mimic the habits of other children in the group, and these habits are not always good. There are many instances when the child, after being in kindergarten, begins to bite, spit, and starts being rude, because the children’s class may have kids from various backgrounds and families.
Frequent colds
According to the statistics, in the first year of attending kindergarten, children are more prone to getting colds. And the more often a child is sick, the more difficult it is for them to adapt to kindergarten and vice versa.
Eating behavior issues
The problem with eating is becoming global for many, especially for children with allergies to certain foods. Indeed, in kindergarten, no one will cook a separate meal for each child. Moreover, children who always eat little can get stressed if they start being force-fed in kindergarten, after which they may no longer wish to go there anymore.
Problems with teachers
Another disadvantage is the choice of teacher in a preschool institution. Educators may not always turn out to be experienced teachers to whom parents could safely entrust their children. It often occurs that the lack of professionalism of the caregivers leaves its mark on the emotional state of sensitive children.
We have recently discussed how a father, using a GPS watch, has proven that the teachers were beating their little son up in kindergarten. Unfortunately, such situations are not that uncommon. In order not to worry for your child in kindergarten and to know that they are not offended by their teachers and peers, use the Find My Kids app in a combination with a kid’s smartwatch.
Advantages
Behavior and manners
In kindergarten, children are taught good manners and the rules of appropriate behavior: how to greet each other, use the words of gratitude, say goodbye, and much more. Not all families pay enough attention to this. In kindergarten, the child gets used to cleaning up after themselves and taking care of their belongings. All of this is taught in kindergarten, contingent on the condition that the kindergarten employs highly qualified teachers.
Easy going approach
Not all children feel at ease in front of other people. Kindergarten can teach them to overcome this fear. As a result, after some time, your humble child can recite a poem in front of an audience.
Rules and boundaries
In kindergarten, the child begins to realize that they are some rules and boundaries. This is more difficult to be understood by children in whose families permissiveness reigns.
Appropriate collective behavior
Kindergarten teaches children to share their and others’ possessions, to wait for their turn, to perform well-coordinated actions, and to help each other.
Socializing
Communication with peers is the main aim of kindergarten. In a group of children, kids learn to communicate with each other, and skills are formed to make friends and to accept certain particularities of each other.
Physical activity
A large amount of physical activity is a big advantage indeed. In kindergarten, kids do not sit in front of a TV or a computer. They are constantly on the move, they do exercises, attend physical education lessons, and gymnastics classes, and go on walks outside.
The daily timetable
Parents do not always manage to maintain a daily routine that contributes to the physiological, psychological, and emotional normal well-being of the child. In kindergarten, nap time in the afternoon is an integral part of the regime. Therefore, this part of the daily routine is also important to be maintained by the child.
Getting ready for school
Not every working parent can find the time and energy to spend time with their child and get them ready for school. In this situation, once again, a kindergarten comes to the rescue. It works on the basis of an approved educational program. During the classes in kindergarten, the child begins to develop perseverance, a very important part of the learning process at school.
When is the best time to bring the child to kindergarten?
This decision is made based on the preferences in every family. Normally, children are brought to kindergarten between the ages of 2 and 3 years old, much less frequently at the age of 4 years old. During the first couple of months, the mother should be prepared to be able to take a few sick leave absences at work should their child fall sick or experience a very difficult adaptation period.
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It is better to sign the child up to kindergarten before the age of 2.5 years old or otherwise, after the age of 3.5 years old. This way, this would allow the time of starting kindergarten not to happen at the same time as the three-year-old crisis. At this point, the child begins to realize that they are a separate person, whilst still being very strongly attached to their parents,
The main need for a child under three years old is the presence of a mother next to them, to maintain a close bond with her. At this age, children do not have an urgent need to communicate with their peers. If you send a child of the age below two years old to a kindergarten, this sometimes may not be appropriate for their most crucial psychological needs.
Therefore, according to experts, the most optimal age to send a child to kindergarten is after three years old. Only by this stage, the child develops an interest in other children and social interactions. By the age of three, the child has already fully masters the skills of self-care and can control their physiological needs. Starting from the age of three years old, the adaptation period becomes much milder for the child.
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It is advisable not to send the child to kindergarten at a time when some important changes are taking place within the family. These include the birth of children, divorce, relocation, etc. This needs to be done in order not to put additional strain on the child’s nervous system,
What age is the best to enroll children in kindergarten?
In the US, for parents, especially mothers, to be able to return to work as soon as possible, children can be placed into daycare facilities from the age of 6 months old. However, some facilities accept infants from the age of just 2 months old, enabling women to have just as many career opportunities as men do, allowing for maximum gender equality.
Preschool programs for children in the US can be classified into 3 main categories:
| Type of educational institution | Child’s age |
| Children daycare | From 6 months |
| Pre-kindergarten | 3-5 years old |
| Kindergarten | 5-6 years old |
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Stop worrying about your child when they are in kindergarten. Make sure that they are doing well and do not experience problems in adjusting themselves to the new environment, and ensure that they are not being bullied. Download the Find My kids app!
How to understand that the child is ready for kindergarten?
To be able to enroll a child in a nursery group, it is desirable for the child to possess the following skills:
- being able to fall asleep on their own without pacifiers and being rocked to sleep;
- knowing how to use a cup;
- asking to go to the bathroom and not using diapers while being awake, as well as informing in the event that it was not possible to reach the bathroom;
- eating on their own.
To join the youngest group at the kindergarten, the following additional criteria are added:
- expressing a certain interest in learning;
- having experience in dealing with peers;
- expressing themselves clearly;
- getting dressed autonomously.
But even if the child possesses all of these skills, they are not ready to attend kindergarten if they did not spend enough time with their parents. This can be manifested in the behavior of the child. If they are playing with the children, but are constantly looking back at you, checking for your presence, then you need to postpone the idea of attending kindergarten and certainly not count on a soft adaptation period.
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Take a closer look at your child’s behavior on the playground. If they demonstrate an interest in their peers (not in older children, just exclusively to peers), and are actively involved in playing with others, it would suggest that the child will find common ground with other children in the kindergarten,
If it is still too early: how to prepare the child for kindergarten?
To ensure that the time of adaptation to kindergarten runs smoothly for the child, it is very important to take the following aspects into account:
- aim to strengthen the health of the baby right from birth;
- try to stick to the daily routine and timetable;
- teach the baby to get dressed and eat on their own;
- make the child feel positive about the moment of starting going to kindergarten.
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At this age, children do not yet possess pronounced communication skills, hence the emphasis should be placed on spoken stories. It is necessary to constantly tell your kid about how good it is in kindergarten, how fun it will be to play with other children, and how many toys they will be able to play with.
As soon as the child no longer needs the constant presence of their mother in their life, you need to start teaching them to be under the supervision of other adult family members, for at least a couple of hours a day. This way, they will understand that they are two different people from their mother, and will allow them to develop independence.
The development of speech in a two-year-old child is the step that requires particular attention. They should be able to express themselves in short phrases, to explain that something hurts, or whether they need something.
Children from the age of three years old need to be taught how to communicate with their peers, explain how to make friends, teach how to share toys with others and resolve simple conflict situations.
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In order to help your child feel confident in kindergarten, you must do the following:
- Teach the child self-organization skills, such as going to the bathroom and eating autonomously. If they also learn how to get dressed, it is great news as well!
- Organize a daily routine, in relation to kindergarten. This will allow introducing the child to the regime of the kindergarten.
- Try to bring the meals at home closer to the ones at kindergarten. The less is the environment around the baby unfamiliar, the faster they adapt themselves to it.
- Sometime before the start of the kindergarten, start going on walks near it, in order for the child to familiarize themselves with the surroundings,
Tips of a psychologist
- If you decide to send your baby to kindergarten, be consistent and persistent. This way, the child will understand that it makes no sense to manipulate you and that it is better to get used to kindergarten.
- Let the teachers know that if the child has any chronic diseases, allergies, and/or behavioral particularities.
- If your child refuses to eat, you need to warn the teacher not to force-feed them. After a while, the child will begin to eat with other children on their own.
- Parents should be supportive of their child (especially during the adaptation period), they need to scold them as little as possible as the baby is already under stress.
- Even before going to kindergarten, take your little one to playgrounds as often as possible, introduce them to a new group of children, and allow them to make acquaintances.
- The majority of psychologists agree that in the first days, it is best not to leave the child in kindergarten for more than 2-3 hours if this is possible.
- In order to have the child get used to the new conditions more efficiently, you can bring one of their toys to the kindergarten. Familiar objects will give your baby confidence. It is advisable that the child then leaves this toy in the kindergarten when going home. Hence, the next day they will go to kindergarten, looking forward to playing with it again.
- When saying goodbye to your baby, be sure to let them know that you will be back very soon. Tell them that you love them more often.
- Instill a calm, the conflict-free atmosphere in your home.
Think back to your time in kindergarten. What are your memories of this time? If they are not positive (for example, you did not like food or were afraid of the teacher), do not pass on your negative experience to your child. You must be ready for kindergarten.
Meet the teacher, and have a look at the class. For a child, their parent must be calm and confident in their decision.
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The child understands all of your states and moods. And if you are anxious in front of the kindergarten, how can your child be calm? It is like flying on an airplane, where the pilot is constantly nervously screaming into the intercom that an accident is bound to take place,
From a scientific point of view, going to kindergarten after the age of three years old will benefit your little one. The most important thing here is not to make a mistake when choosing a preschool institution. Indeed, in kindergarten, the child begins their route to master the art of communication, which will lay a solid foundation for their future life.
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