Is my child too small?

As an educator for 12 years and owner of a preschool I always listen to statements like, “my child is too young for school.”  Or “my elders in the family are saying that this is the age for playing not studying.”

According to research, the appropriate age to enroll your child to the school is when the child starts showing interest in things around them. The first or the entry point for the child is playgroup class. As the name suggest this class should concentrate only on developing basic skills of the child while doing activities and games.

Now the question arises that what is the perfect age?

 According to the government rules in India the child should complete 6 years of age before coming to class 1. So, if we do backward counting and consider 4 years of preschool learning the appropriate age is after 2 years of age.

The children particularly of this age are mini explorers. They want to touch and feel everything near them.  As parents, no matter how much we are involved with the learning of our kids we will always fall short of some or the other!! This is where preschool comes into the picture.

Preschool not only help your child to develop the base of their education but is also the stepping stone for them in terms of learning things like: sharing, making friends, following instructions, respect to others.

Therefore whenever a parent is in doubt if their child is old enough to join preschool, just answer these following questions.

1)      Does he/she show interest in new things?

2)      Is he/she asking “what” questions?? ( eg. What is this?, what is that?)

3)      Is he/she trying to talking to other kids?

4)      Is he/she scribbling?

5)      Is he/she trying to get involve in group playing with other kids?

6)      Is he/she keeps demanding for new toys and activities every day?

 If the answer of most of these questions are yes!! Then your child is giving you the signs that they are ready to learn and this is the perfect time to enroll them in preschool.

Next blog: we will read “how to select a good preschool”

Author

Aishwarya M Khatsuriya

(Founder: Panda Juniors Preschool)