Guest post by child behaviour expert Chrissie Davies from Chaos to Calm Consultancy.
Starting school is an exciting time for families and kids. But the reality is BIG school is a massive jump from a child’s experience in a childcare or kindergarten setting.
Many early-years educators will attest to the fact that when children enter the classroom for the first time, they bring a wide range of skills and experiences. More importantly, they bring vastly different social and emotional skills, depending on their family support, experiences, and family environments.
Many families ask me how they should know if their child is ready for school or not. First and foremost, I tell them that they should not decide based purely on a child’s age. If I sound negative, I don’t mean to – hear me out.
For many years’ children have started school in accordance with their birthdays, but now we know so much more about brain development and that a delayed school start can be beneficial for many kids, if not all. In my experience, a delayed school start has never been a decision that families have regretted. Many kids struggle once they hit a busy classroom (and often enormous playground) with long periods of unstructured playtime. I honestly believe that all kids could benefit from an extra year of play-centered learning.
More and more, our educators must veer away from the curriculum to focus on teaching functional classroom independence basics. Once formal learning begins, there is lots of sitting around for children, waiting for your turn, navigating friendships, and independent problem-solving. Students do not always get to choose activities that spark their interests and must also understand they are one of many kids who need attention from their educator.
I have been fortunate to be a part of the first year of school for many children, so I know first-hand that the amount of information learned during this education period is mind-blowing. Children’s ability to sit and focus and take in information, follow instructions, self-manage, problem-solve, and be resilient are just a few of the essential skills children need to navigate and access education.
They must also deal with disappointment, navigate complicated friendships, and manage emotions, which are all tricky skills for children who are still learning how the world and relationships work. The more practice they have developing these skills, the more equipped for learning they will be.
It is time to flip the script on the choices we are making about starting school. While many schools are catching on to how vital play-based and child-lead learning is in the formative years of education, we still have an exceptionally long way to go.
If you are sitting on the fence, deciding whether to send your child to school or not, I encourage you to think about the benefits of a delayed school start. Many families believe that they will be able to repeat another year of kindergarten, but unfortunately, due to funding, that is not the case. Families must understand how the system works and make decisions earlier for their kids. They should focus on social skills and teaching emotional intelligence as a priority over letters and numbers.
Doing this does not mean we are holding our kids back. It means we are learning to understand that our child’s development and skills should be the basis of our choice for starting formal education.
We are making conscious choices to set them up for success and to be able to thrive in an academic setting, and there is absolutely nothing negative about that.
Chrissie’s debut children’s picture book Love Your Brain, aimed at children aged 4-12 years, is out now.
