A Gift of Time
(School Readiness – a Kindergarten Teacher’s Perspective)
Billy was four years old when he entered my kindergarten class. He would be turning five in September. Billy was always going home and talking with his parents about the older boys in the class and what they were doing at school. It was obvious that he was trying his best to keep up with the older boys and comparing himself to them. Some of those boys were a year older than Billy.
In November his parents and I made a decision Billy needed to wait a year before going to first grade. His parents wanted him to stay in my class the remainder of the year and then be in my class again the following year. This was fine with me. However, by January, we were seeing some signs of stress in Billy. In February, at my suggestion, his parents withdrew him from school for the remainder of the year. The signs of stress disappeared.
The next school year Billy’s parents and I witnessed a miracle. Billy was comfortable with everything that was happening in our classroom. He interacted well with his peers, and he had an adult-like sense of humor that had not even surfaced the year before. Billy stayed at my school through the eighth grade. He did well both socially and academically.
One day during his senior year in high school, his mother left a message on my answering machine. The family had just opened a letter from Chapel Hill telling Billy he had been awarded a Morehead Scholarship. His mother said she and Billy’s father immediately thought about kindergarten when they read the letter. She said they knew if he had not been given that “gift of time,” this would never have happened to their son. During Billy’s high school years, he was valedictorian of his class, president of the National Honor Society, president of the French club, goalie for the varsity boys’ soccer team, and captain of the varsity boys’ basketball team.
I tell Billy’s story to illustrate the important role social and emotional maturity plays in a student’s success in school. Through experience and research, I have learned that ideally a child needs to be five years old developmentally by September 1 when entering kindergarten. Most boys are developmentally six months younger than their chronological ages, and most girls are right on their chronological ages developmentally. When one uses this standard as a guide, March 1st would be ideal cut-off date for boys. Of course, there are always exceptions, but every year we have students, girls as well as boys, who benefit from waiting a year before beginning school. They may not turn out to be Morehead scholars, but they will be more comfortable with their school experience. The younger the child is when this decision is made, the easier it is for everyone concerned, most importantly, the child.
Judith Kuhn, Kindergarten Teacher and
Assistant Director of Lower School
Forsyth country Day School
Lewisville, NC
July 2002