Whether your son is advancing from pre-K or entering school for the very first time, kindergarten will be a very different world for him. In kindergarten, your son’s social skills, motor skills, and cognitive abilities will be challenged in many ways.
In our article, “7 Signs Your 5-Year-Old Is Ready For Private Kindergarten,” Boston-based educational consultant Carol Kinlan talked about some of the abilities and traits your son will need for a smooth transition to kindergarten. A popular Scholastic article lists some of these skills, as well.
But what if your son is lacking in a few of these areas?
Don’t worry. Your son is not necessarily in for a rocky first year. First, in a high-quality kindergarten program, your son’s teachers will adapt your son’s curriculum to his learning style and background, making sure he gains the skills and knowledge he needs in kindergarten to go on to the rest of elementary school with confidence.
Second, there are plenty of things you can do at home to help your son get ready for kindergarten. In a presentation at The Fessenden School earlier this spring, Carol listed a few of these everyday opportunities.
To your son, most of these are just fun activities. But as he does them with you, he will be honing his skills to take on the challenges of the kindergarten classroom.
1. Let your son set the dinner table.
Children need and like a sense of responsibility, Carol says. Setting the table is one fairly harmless way for your son to become comfortable taking personal responsibility for a project that benefits a larger group—your family.
If the task of setting the table seems a little mundane, Carol recommends, “Put a little flare into it. Say, ‘Put out the plates and little Joe the Bear might show up tonight.’”
Setting the table also helps children develop counting skills as they make sure they leave enough places for everyone (including Joe the Bear).
2. Talk your son through your cooking projects.
An increasingly common condition among older children, Carol says, is executive function weakness, an inability to initiate, plan, organize, and complete tasks.
“One of the reasons we’re seeing more of it now than we did 30 years ago is that there is just more homework and more activities going on than the brain of a pre-teen or teenager can handle,” she explains. “From a neurodevelopmental standpoint, boys struggle more with this than girls.”
You can start early helping your son develop his organizational thinking skills by talking him through common activities like cooking.
“Let’s say they have to make cookies. You bring out the little box with the ingredients. You talk methodically about every step: ‘We have to get the eggs out. Can you get the eggs out? The eggs go here and the milk goes here,’ and so on,” Carol describes. “Listening to you plan out each step is phenomenally helpful in developing a sense of mindfulness and being very intentional about things versus, ‘We’re going to make cookies. Isn’t this great?’”
3. Use plastic bottles to teach your son about variations in sound.
This is also a tip for reusing those plastic bottles you would otherwise recycle.
Fill a few bottles with small pebbles, rice, marbles, or anything else that would make a noise when you shake it. Shake the bottles or have your son shake them. Ask him about the different sounds he hears. What does it sound like? Can he tell a difference between the bottles? If he empties out one bottle and refills it with sand, would it sound different?
“It sounds simple, but you’re helping your child not look at the environment in a clumsy way, but being more particular about what’s around him,” Carol says.
4. Take the time to teach sharing, respect for the rules, and respect for others.
“How do you take an egocentric child and have them look outside of themselves?” Carol asks.
If you feel your son is struggling with sharing and respect, the key is to be very clear about, “what’s in it for him,” Carol explains. Make sure your son understands that when he treats others with respect and shares with his friends, he will have more fun on play dates and in school. Other children will want to share with him, as well.
“At this age, all children know is their viewpoint. They can even look at a mirror and ask, ‘Who’s that?’ It takes a little while to understand other people,” she says.
How do you prepare your son for kindergarten?
Do you have tips for the other parents reading this article on how to get a young boy ready for his first day of kindergarten? Let’s get the conversation started. Please share them in the comments section below.
If you are looking for a high-quality kindergarten program for your son, follow this link for a free copy of the Pre-K & Kindergarten Private School Visit Checklist. It will help you ask the right questions as you search for the perfect fit for your son.
