The thought of sending your child to nursery or play group or school can make the parents very anxious. The question of the right age to send the child to school can be churned repeatedly and is quite debatable. Many parents succumb to the peer pressure to commence early schooling, which is not advisable. The basic problem with Indian parenting is that they start bombarding the child with A,B,C…and nursery rhymes from when the child is very little. Buying educational games, showing nursery rhyme videos and playing audios is a rage amongst parents. Do children need to learn this so early? Should we not sing them our traditional songs in our respective mother-tongue? Isn’t it interesting to bond over our local and indigenous stories in our respective mother-tongue? Education and schooling, undoubtedly is a major concern among Indian parents.
A research study at Stanford University indicates that kids who are enrolled in kindergarten at the age of 6 (not younger than 6 years) performed well. Younger children are prone to distractions and poor time management whereas older children develop strong executive skills. Parents should be able to assess the child’s development and decide on the right age for starting school. The peer pressure from contemporary parents can coax you to judge your child harshly. But every child will signal his/her readiness to start school.
There are certain areas to be worked on before thinking of sending the child to the school:
1) children enjoy music, art and drama. Developing creative quotient at a younger age improves expression skills through art and drama.
2) Improving expression through communication. An expressive child is a confident child.
3) developing fine and gross motor skills and providing opportunities for the same.
4) cognitive development is gradual as the child is growing. The ability to process information, conceptualise, language learning skills can vary from child to child, but can be important milestone(s) to decide on an appropriate age for starting school.
Generally, admission age for lower kindergarten is from three and a half years to four years 10 months. The ‘cut-off’ date imparts a pressure on many parents.
The Principal of Delhi Public School, Bengaluru East, says, “Parents plead the management to admit their underage child for the fear of losing out on an academic year.” He also clearly stated that enrolling an underage child can impose difficulty in grasping.
Another important factor in metro cities is the travel time. To avoid subjection of the child to gruesome traffic and travel time, many parents choose enrolling their child in the pre-school of a well known full fledged school. This facilitates the transition to the lower kindergarten.
As per Rajalakshmi M.S., Department Head of Early Childhood Education and administration course, VHD Central of Home Science, introducing writing at an early age (under five) should not be encouraged. She puts an interesting point of non-developed fine motor coordination and neuromuscular skills at early age. Pre-schools should encourage children to read and colour, but avoid imposing child’s use of pencil to write.
I being a mother to a five year old, very well understand the limitations of her grasping. Many upper kindergarten courses include tables and rigorous cursive writing in their syllabus. It is for the syllabus drafting committee to decide that learning tables at an older age on the basis of understanding is more sensible than mugging up in a class.
Many parents are unaware of the various methodologies; Montessori, Kindergarten, and Waldorf.
The teaching approaches are theoretically distinct from each other. The parents have the liberty to choose between them based on the age and child’s inclination.
Some points to remember:
1) More than child’s physical age, the mental age for commencing schooling must be considered.
2) For lower kindergarten, 4+ age is appropriate
3) Developed fine and gross motor skills, conceptual and perpetual skills, language skills before commencing school will boost up the child’s confidence.
4) Peer pressure should not influence you as parent(s)
5) emphasis on writing with a pencil should be at age of 5+
As the parent of a first-timer at school, you probably have apprehensions of how to get her started on this journey of learning. Here are some tips to ensure your child starts school on a good note.