Family Interviews
Since I am doing my research paper on trickle-down academics (pushing education on younger children), I spoke with two different parents who have children that could go to kindergarten next year to ask their feelings on the reasons why they are making the decisions they are about kindergarten for their child.
The first parent has a daughter who will be five on September 1. Our school district has a cut-off date for kindergarten as August 15. Her daughter is academically ready for kindergarten and she has attended two years of preschool. She has decided to keep her in preschool for another year because she herself is a teacher and has seen the impact that academics has on children at many levels. Currently she teaches kindergarten but in the past has taught 8th grade, 3rd grade, and 1st grade. She based her decision on the social readiness and the fact that as children get older, the age difference really starts to show in their maturity level as well as their academic skills. She stated that the children that are behind in kindergarten are the same ones that are behind in 3rd grade and the same ones that are behind in 8th grade. She wants to make sure her child succeeds in school and knows the importance of giving her time to grow and learn.
The other parent I talked to has a daughter who will be five on August 27. This parent has decided to push to get her daughter in kindergarten next year. She feels that it would be easier on her as she is a working parent and would like the benefits of placing her in the all day program. While I feel that this child is academically ready, I wonder if the parent is just looking at the "day care" benefits; she won't have to bring her to school and will have somewhere to keep her all day. She has been working with her daughter at home to get her ready for kindergarten and her daughter is very smart.
I wonder why some parents want to be in such a hurry for their child to grow up. They don't realize how fast the time goes as their child grows and before long they will be old enough to move out of the house and go to college. While I don't think that the second child will struggle in kindergarten, I wish I could convince the parent that it is just as important to allow her time to grow and develop socially and emotionally. I encourage all of my parents to visit kindergarten classrooms so that they have the opportunity to see how academic kindergarten is now compared to when they went to school.
How sad that the little girl is being pushed into kindergarten. I have a friend who did the same thing, she pushed for her daughter to get into kindergarten so she could go back to work, and now she is in 5th grade. This poor little girl is having so much difficulty fitting in and keeping up academically. She is in my daughters girl scout troop, so I know her pretty well. She is not mature enough to fit in socially and academically she is really struggling, and that started in third grade. If I could shout from the rooftops one piece of advice for parents it is to err on the side of caution with your children, do not push them into school to suit your needs!
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI remember when my son started kindergarten, the first two or three day he came home he went to sleep. He awoke the next morning. In trying to get him to eat dinner and bath was a job,
he was exhausted.
I have a daycare and I have seen several parents have their children start kindergarten a year later. Some of them do it for sports. I had seen this happen one time and the child was so sad when all of his friends were gone on to kindergarten when he came back. It was sad; parents need to consider that and also the fact that the child could be much taller/larger then everyone else in the class.
I have been in childcare for over 15 years, and if you ever had to pay for daycare you would understand a parents need to enter them into kindergarten when they were age ready. I wanted my children to start kindergarten when they were age ready and they have done well. I am not sure I buy into the teachers comment about how children are behind in kindergarten they will continue to be so...all I have to say is shame on the school system! Something is obviously wrong then when teachers can pinpoint children who will be behind yet may not be doing what they should be to ensure that this type of pattern changes.
ReplyDeleteThis parent, who is also a teacher, knows the changes that have been made to kindergarten curriculum. It is no longer what most of us remember learning it kindergarten but more like what we learned in first grade. In both of these cases, the children are not old enough to go to kindergarten by the standard set forth in our school district. I realize the burden that parents face by having to pay daycare expenses but is it fair to put your expenses before what is best for your child?
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