This is the time of the year when parents scramble to get necessary supplies before the start of a new school year. White school shoes and socks, school uniforms, school badge, text books, exercise books, stationary, water bottle, snack box, a study desk for the bedroom…. and the list goes on. Excitement is in the air as parents go through the to-do list and once everything is bought, there is that question of ‘did I miss out anything?’. The answer is certainly a ‘Yes’. There is still much to do with regards to school readiness.

 

Before we begin our discussion, let’s take a look at the meaning of the term ‘school readiness’. In other words, is your child ready for school?

 

Some parents may think of getting their child ready by buying just about everything that he needs for school and to create some excitement, they would even bring their child along to shop for the items which they need. Then there are those (overly excited parents) who would have started this preparation for school readiness’ process way in advance by making sure that their child has all the basic skills which parents feel is required to excel in formal schooling.

 

A friend of mine went all out to make sure that her son was able to read, do mental arithmetic, speak in three different languages by sending him to a highly competitive kindergarten, enrolling him in extra classes and disciplining herself to do flashcards with him on a daily basis…and he isn’t even due for formal schooling for another year!

 

For those of you who are starting to feel nervous, fret not! There’re still lots more that you can do to help your child cope well in school, which many parents tend to overlook.

 

 

 

Develop internal motivation and self-discipline

To do well at school (or in life for that matter!) internal motivation and self-discipline are very important as a driving force for our achievements. However, young children do not develop these skills by listening to their parents lecturing them for days on end about it. They learn it from doing things that interest them.

 

 

Have you ever observed how young children spend hours playing with a toy or flipping through picture books or running around in the playground? When doing activities that interest them (or us for that matter), they tend to be self-motivated and disciplined to carry on and to persevere to the extent of sometimes overlooking their basic needs like hunger, thirst, or need to use the bathroom. With this in mind, parents can help their children to develop an interest in books.

 

Children who enjoy the company of their parents when being read bedtime stories tend to be more interested in books and children who love books are more likely to have a higher awareness for print and to understand that the written words carry meaning, very much like the spoken word. In addition to that, children who have high awareness of print tend to be more willing to have a go at writing and spelling. This willingness and interest to write and spell will drive and discipline them internally to practise and practise until they are completely happy with it. Do you see how internal motivation and self-discipline is totally reliant on child-initiated learning as compared to teacher/parent-directed learning?

 

 

 

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

1a) Try to develop a reading routine with your child.  Make it fun and interesting and a session to look forward to. If you can, try to ask him questions after the book or to get him to predict the ending of the story. These activities develop language skills like none other (reading, writing, spelling, phonetic awareness, comprehension and composition skills etc),

 

1b) Find out what your child is interested in (toy cars, girly dolls, balls, trucks) and use this as a source of motivation for teaching him other skills. For example, if your child doesn’t particularly like math, use toy cars (or whatever he is interested in) to teach him basic math skills such as counting, sequencing, addition, subtraction, division or multiplication.

 

2) Increase attention span

Concentration is required for learning. Without it, no learning takes place. Even when children play, they are completely focused on their play process. In order to increase children’s concentration skills and attention span, it is important for them to get enough sleep, a balanced diet, plenty of water and a good dose of exercise.

 

 

Sleep is essential for growth, especially for young children. Many parents in the western culture put their children to bed by 7 pm, allowing them to get a good stretch of sleep until around 6 am. Aside from sleep, children also need frequent rest periods where they can lie down for short naps or just to do some quiet activities during the day so that their bodies are able to recharge for the next activity. With sufficient sleep, your child is less likely to fall asleep or daydream in class. However, if you have difficulties putting your child to sleep early, it may be because they lack sufficient physical activity during the day. When allowed even just one hour of exercise everyday (like kicking a ball, running around in a field, dancing to music) you will find that your child will start to sleep better, eat better and perform better at school.

 

Have you ever heard of the term ‘you are what you eat’? This is especially true for young children who are constantly on the move and are learning all the time. Make sure that your child gets plenty of healthy snacks which are high in fibre, complex carbohydrates and protein which promote a consistent supply of energy. Snacks full of simple carbohydrates and sugars are unhealthy and will give children a rush of energy, causing him to be hyper and compromise his concentration skills. However, energy derived from unhealthy food gets burned off quickly. This causes children to be tired, lethargic, moody and longing for more unhealthy food as soon as their energy runs out. This radical surge and plunge in energy when consuming unhealthy foods causes children to move back and forth between being restless, edgy, hyper and emotional – all of which are not a good combination for sustaining attention span in school. Try to stick to a healthy breakfast and three square meals (complete and balanced) a day supplemented by a healthy snack between meals.

 

Another important tip to remember is that children need sufficient water as much as they need a healthy diet. When children do not drink enough water, they will feel lethargic and often start to get ‘cranky’. After all, our body primarily comprises of water (about 60%) and young children need around five glasses of water a day (refer water.org.uk). However, parents need to remember that providing their children with sugary drinks in replacement to water will do more harm than good as this causes a fluctuation in their body sugar system, causing them to be all hyped up one moment and grumpy afterwards. This also contributes to childhood obesity, diabetes and gives rise to a whole lot of other health risks.

 

With all this in mind, parents should start giving their children a balance in their life. Help them get into a regular schedule with sufficient meals, healthy snacks, plenty of water, enough sleep and rest, exercise, time to play or to engage in a good hobby and not forgetting, a time for shared book reading. These simple, often overlooked routines play a huge part in the lives of young children as their main occupation is to learn as much as they can, as effortlessly as possible.

 

3) Develop independence

Another valuable tool that parents can give to their children is ‘independence’. Parents can teach young children to take care of and be responsible for themselves so that they are able to manage on their own.

 

 

Before they start school, your child should be able to feed himself, clean up after himself, manage toileting independently, take care of their belongings, make some decisions on his own (like what he would like to eat for snack and lunch), understand the value of money and be able to do simple transactions with money, learn how to cross the road safely, be aware of stranger-danger and to have memorised your mobile number for emergency purposes, just to name a few.

 

In case your child doesn’t know these things yet, this would probably be the best time to start. Draw out a daily schedule of events and go through it with your child. Ask him what he needs to do for every event and what he needs to do to get prepared. In doing so, your child gets to take ownership for all his activities and will slowly learn to be responsible for himself by being independent.

 

With all this in mind, parents should start giving their children a balance in their life. Help them get into a regular schedule with sufficient meals, healthy snacks, plenty of water, enough sleep and rest, exercise, time to play or to engage in a good hobby and not forgetting, a time for shared book reading. These simple, often overlooked routines play a huge part in the lives of young children as their main occupation is to learn as much as they can, as effortlessly as possible.

 

COMMON CONCERNS

 

• My son stutters. Will this be an issue when he goes to school? Some children stutter because they are nervous, have difficulties organising their thoughts or need more time to select their words. This can sometimes be easily rectified by reminding the child to think about what he wants to say, speaking slowly and giving him more time to compose himself before he responds to any question. However, if the stuttering persists despite all our efforts to guide them, then we may need to have them looked at by a speech therapist just to rule out potential problems.

 

• My daughter has difficulty holding and controlling her pencil well. What can we do for her? In order for a child to hold and manipulate a pencil or pen well, she needs to have good pincer grip which consists of the thumb, index finger and middle finger (also known as fine motor skills). In the olden days, young children quickly develop fine motor skills when they help their parent/grandparents to sort out beans in the kitchen or buttons in the sewing box or collecting small pebbles in the garden or seashells on the beach or to engage in hours of needle work activities. These days, a change in entertainment activities in our children has caused them to experience many difficulties with writing. To improve children’s fine motor skills, parents can start by letting children take up hobbies which will encourage the use of their fine motor skills. Examples include threading beads to make necklaces, playing marbles, scrapbooking, stamp collecting etc. Also, it would be a good idea to make sure that your child practices writing with thick triangular pencils, intended for beginners. This structure allows small hands to grip it and to manipulate it with little effort. Also, books with fun tracing activities provide children with lots of opportunities to entertain themselves while improving their pincer grip.

 

• My child doesn’t know a lot of Malay. Will he be able to catch up in school? Young children are extremely quick in learning languages compared to adults. The trick is ‘immersion’. When learning a language, children need to be immersed in an environment where he is constantly exposed to a particular language. To start off, try getting some music CD’s with children’s Malay songs and let them listen to it at home. Young children respond very positively to music which helps them to relax and at the same time exposes them to a wide vocabulary and increases phonetic awareness. On top of that, try reading Malay story books to your child on a daily basis. This is a great opportunity for parents to scaffold their children’s language development by explaining, varying the speed of the story being read and elaborating where needed – all of which he may not experience at school with a huge class size.