Preparing your Child for Kindergarten

It’s that time of the year – kindergarten registration.  Taking my child and her friend to school this morning I saw the banners up at our local schools: “Kindergarten registration – deadline, January 31, 2012”.  If you have a child that is entering kindergarten, especially first-time round mothers, I’m sure you have wondered how best to prepare your child for kindergarten?  I have some tips for you.

When your child enters kindergarten he or she moves from a mostly parent-centric to a school-centric learning.  As an aside, we’ve talked on this blog before about how important it is for parents to continue to stay involved in their child’s learning through the early elementary years and to work in partnership with their children’s teachers.

However, the fact is that your five-year-olds will now be at school for the 6 most productive hours of their day – five days a week.

Here are some practical tips on how you can help prepare your budding kindergartner for their impending academic career:

1. Help them stay healthy and get regular exercise.  It goes without saying that healthy food, enough sleep and regular medical/dental check-ups are needed.  Also, kids need 60 minutes of exercise every day.  This does not mean you need to sign them up for an activity every day – a trip to the local play park is ample exercise.


2. Help them with their social and emotional development.  Much of the kindergarten year will be spent on learning social activities.  Teach them to be kind, helpful, patient and to learn to share.  Help them to work through their emotions, such as anger, and give them the tools to resolve conflicts with siblings and peers.  Much of this takes place during the all-important playtime. 


3. Help prepare them for the academics.  There are lots of resources (in print and online) to help pre-schoolers feel more comfortable with language arts, math and science - to learn their letters and numbers.  One important activity that many experts mention is to read together every day and to involve your child in the story with frequent questions.  This is the first stepping stone to learning to read.


4. Talk to your child.  There are still lots of opportunities in the day to talk about things that are on your child’s mind.  Find opportunities to sit down and talk through their thoughts and concerns.