I have read a lot about Pre-school, Nursery, etc. But there is still lot of confusion on what should be the right age to put my kid to school (He is two currently)
Is there a scientific research or something which shows the right age to put the kid to school?
May be teachers among you can throw a light on this subject.
Thanks!
We put our three in nursery from about 6 months up until age 4, then pre-school from 4 to 5, then school from 5.
This was partly so we could both work, but also to give them much more socialising with other kids - and they absolutely loved it. From our perspective, they developed much faster than some of their peers who did less nursery/pre-school - both in social aspects (they have large groups of friends and are confident anywhere) and academically (they find it very easy to concentrate - which some of the kids who didn't socialise early have problems with)
It will be entirely down to the individual at the end of the day, but based on my experience I would heartily recommend it as a way to help children become confident in social situations, and to prepare them for the rough and tumble of life.
There are differing opinions. This is a NYTimes article ("When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?") that appeared in 2007 advocating that children delay starting school as the academic benefits continue with them throughout their scholastic lives. This more recent article offers a counterpoint ("Delay Kindergarten at Your Child’s Peril").
From my personal experience: we started our daughter in school according the the standard cut-offs in Australia as we felt she was ready for it. She was getting bored and restless in kindergarten. One of her friends delayed starting school as his verbal communication was not up to scratch yet.
Had we held her back another year (redshirted is the term used in the above articles) it would have been a disaster. As it is, she is a A-grade student bored with the curriculum. We could not have started her earlier as her emotional maturity did not match her intellectual maturity.
Long and short: it depends upon the child. If they are on either end of the bell curve, you may have a tough choice to make.
I would say it needs to be completely based on the individual child. If your child has siblings or is involved in play groups, it is perhaps less important to have them in preschool until the year before beginning kindergarten. As an elementary teacher, I can see a significant difference in the kindergarteners that have never attended preschool and those that have attended at least one year. Those who have attended at least one year are much better adjusted to the constrains of a classroom. Benefits beyond one year are less marked, so my suggestion is to judge the needs of your child, but minimally try to put them in one year of preschool.
From what I've read (i.e. NOT A TEACHER/PROFESSIONAL), from about two to three, he might be ready for short bursts of socialising, but it's best if a parent/comfortable figure's still available during this, so he has someone safe to go to if he starts getting stressed. It's also helpful for making sure he's not being bullied (or bullying).
A key factor is that if you're not there, then he's gone from a world where he's the primary focus of attention to a world where he's competing for attention with 30 kids, which takes some adjustment.
Once you're sure that he's comfortable in medium-sized groups, that's when you can think about the right age.
What you really shouldn't do is keep him out of those social events until the age where you have to drop him into pre-school on his own.
