What other factors to consider for your kindergarten kid?

Do not ask kindergartens how many years you should put your child in a kindergarten. All kindergartens, except those run by the government, are commercial enterprises and therefore welcome your child’s presence at their places for as many years as you can afford to have him/her there.

Unless you have any specific aim that needs more time to achieve, one year at a kindergarten ought to be sufficient to prepare your child to face formal education. If a child stays too long at a kindergarten, he may find the place and the materials available there too boring and when that happens, your child may have to resort to some kind of mischief to overcome his boredom. He may even lose some of his momentum in learning!

A parent once told me her child could not sit still and learn at a kindergarten. According to her, the teachers complained that her child always disturbed other children and very often ended up fighting with somebody.

In this particular case, we should understand that her child was up to mischief to overcome the unbearable boredom of learning almost the same lessons and about the same things for three long years. The child knew practically everything there was to learn. He was already too familiar with all the playthings at the kindergarten. There was just nothing new he could get himself interested in.

Then again, there are children who may cause some disturbance, not due to disinterest, as a result of being hyperactive. Such children cannot sit still or pay attention for long. Such a child needs an appropriate therapist for expert advice.

Sometimes, parents may have a valid reason for keeping a child in kindergarten for a few years. One of them could be that the child does not have any proficiency in a particular language and needs a longer time to acquire such language skills. So there is a need to catch up with the other children. In such a case it would be necessary and advantageous to have the child attend kindergarten for more than a year. This could be due to parents who are too busy and are forced by circumstances to be absent from the child for a number of years. In that case, parents or guardians must plan to send the children to kindergarten earlier.

Another reason for a longer stint at kindergartens is to learn more than one language. In such a case, it is important to change to another kindergarten where the specific language is the medium of instruction and is the best for that particular language.

So, plan carefully this stage of your child’s development as it can give him/her a head start in the field of language skills and knowledge. Of course, the wrong move could also slacken the pace of your precious child’s progress.