How To Combat Parental Kindergarten Panic

So here’s a little confession for you…when my oldest son was about to enter kindergarten, I had a sudden-onset panic about whether or not he was going to do well at the kindergarten assessment that happened in the summer before school started.  Do your schools do this?  Do they set up a time for parents to bring their tiny children to the ginormous elementary school where they are whisked away by a sweet-looking kindergarten teacher to be asked questions and “assessed” on their readiness for kindergarten?  What do they do if they’re not deemed ready?  Do they return your tiny child to you with a “better luck next time” note?  It caught me totally off guard!  Up until that point, I had just rolled with the idea that my child was smart and he’d be fine.  But then the morning came for him to go to the kindergarten assessment, and I totally freaked out!  What if he doesn’t know the stuff that they want him to know? What if I didn’t teach him enough?

I had talked to my neighbor across the street whose daughter, has a “B” last name, had her assessment the day before my letter “N” child.  She told me some of the questions, so on the ride to the school, which is about two minutes long, I grilled him…”What’s your address?” “What sound does the letter X make?” “Name the months of the year!”  Nice, right?!  It was total insanity, and you want to know why?  Because my instinct was right that he would be fine.  He was a good kid.  And he had been to preschool where they taught him the things he needed to know in a developmentally appropriate way.  But I always think about this time when parents ask me what they need to do to get their child ready for kindergarten.  Even though I know that I am doing everything I can to prepare my students for the next step, I try to go back to that place where I was the parent and I just wanted to know that I had done everything in my power to set my child up for success.  I also make sure that I start talking about readiness well in advance of that kindergarten assessment so that I can help ease the panic.  I know, I know.  It’s only November.  There is loads of time to talk about next year, and you don’t have to talk specifically about kindergarten, but let’s start giving parents the tools they need for success now instead of waiting until the car ride to the assessment like I did.

I bet there are lots of us who tell parents the best thing they can do for their children is read to them.  And it really is the best thing.  Research has shown that it has a huge impact on our kids.  Here are some of the benefits of frequent reading that you might want to share with families.

Benefits of Shared-reading at Home

• Builds the relationship between children and their caregiver
• Promotes a higher aptitude for learning by stimulating brain development
• Reinforces basic speech skills
• Builds pre-reading skills
• Helps develop better communication skills
• Builds larger vocabulary and better understanding of language
• Promotes logical thinking
• Helps lengthen attention span and improves concentration
• Engages imagination
• Helps children develop social/emotional skills such as empathy
• Creates a positive association with reading

Here are some things that you can do in the classroom and parents can do at home to help engage children during story time:

In addition to just telling families that they should read to their children, it’s also important to talk about how they can get the most out of their time reading together by reinforcing print concepts. I used to read to my kids all the time, but when I went in to talk to the kindergarten teacher about my son’s assessment, I remember that she gave me a list of tips that I’d never thought of before.  On that list, there were things like pointing to the words as I read them, talking about the title of the book, and pointing out punctuation.  Keeping in mind that this was before I returned to school to become a teacher, my parent brain had never thought to do these things…these very simple, easy to do, things.  I’d wished that I had that list much earlier!  So guess what?!  I made a list for you that you can download and give to the families of your students.  Yay!

As parents, we all just want two things…to know that we’re doing the absolute best for our kids, and a nap.  As teachers, we can’t help with the nap, but we can tell parents that being there for their kids, spending time with them, reading to them, those are the things that will prepare them for what lies ahead.  And maybe by sharing information like the list above, we can help settle those fears about readiness and ease the impact of kindergarten panic.  Parents, don’t worry!  You’ve got this!