The saying “everything I learned I learned in kindergarten” was a relatable statement for people who started school at the age of five and went straight into kindergarten. With children beginning school at the ages of three or four make it important to remember that these are important years of learning as well. Not only are they learning the alphabet, colors and numbers, but also habits that will hopefully carry with them through the entire time they spend in school.
Here are a few lessons to consider while they start school:
1. Arriving on time and attendance
When parents make an effort to show up on time to a movie or a party, but don’t bring a child consistently on time to preschool it sends the message that school isn’t important enough to be prompt to. In the same vein, allowing children to stay home without justifiable reasons also sends the message that school is something to go to if they don’t have anything else to do.
2. Follow directions
Teachers send home instruction for various events, assignments, or needs. If these instructions aren’t followed by the parent, why would a child follow the directions given by a teacher? This is most often seen with activities like show and tell. If a teacher sends a note home requesting for a specific type of object to be brought into class and a parents allow a child to bring in a toy of their choice instead, it tells the child that the directions aren’t important. As the child enters elementary or middle school these allowances become damaging to grades. Establishing the need to follow directions carefully starts with simple tasks in preschool.
3. Communication
Parents who get involved in preschool with their children’s activities and progress will have an easier time continuing to monitor their child’s progress as they get older. Knowing how they are doing in a subject or how they are behaving will allow a parent to reinforce the information or punishments at home making the education of the child at school a team effort. Dropping off or picking up the child personally will allow the teacher to express concerns in person as well as give the parent the opportunity to ask quickly if there is anything they need to know or if they behaved okay. As they get older they will expect their parent’s involvement in school and will have a harder time falling behind academically if parents are monitoring their homework and assignments from an early age.
4. Respect
Parents who show respect to teachers will instill the same in their children. This goes for both respecting the individual teacher and the profession of education. If they learn at an early age that their parents don’t consider teachers a respectable profession, they will be less willing to believe a teacher’s knowledge or give them respect when they get older. Respecting the individual teacher’s opinion is also important, as they spend a good deal of time with the students during the day. Disregarding a teacher’s concern about behavior or academic progress at the preschool level can lead to many problems as the child gets older.
While continuous reinforcement with these positive habits will be necessary throughout elementary, middle and senior high school, laying the ground work in preschool will allow children to focus on learning the academics and not learning how to operate in school.
Suzanne McDonough - I graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in English and a minor in secondary education. I worked in Miami-Dade public ...
