Believe it or not, preparing a child for school starts the day you bring them home from the hospital. The term “school readiness” has become a hot topic in recent years- creating a flurry of media interest, “how to” guide books, websites, scholarly debates, and academic research. Fortunately, the best things you can do for your child to prepare them for school are also the simplest and most natural.
The research suggests that there are four key dimensions of readiness: language and literacy, thinking skills, self-control, and self-confidence. These capacities develop during the earliest years of a child's life and provide a solid foundation for kindergarten readiness and later academic success. There is much that parents and other caregivers can do to support the development of school readiness skills.
There was a recent headline in The Commercial Appeal that said, “Fewer two-parent homes in Memphis,” and it reported on a trend that has existed here for more than a decade. The article reported recently-released 2010 U.S. Census information: two out of three children younger than 18 in Memphis are being raised in one-parent families.
By age 2, children in immigrant families are likely to have significantly lower levels of language and cognitive development than are children of native-born parents. Differences in early development, in turn, lead to achievement gaps when children reach school.
Research identifies key similarities in parenting practices across cultures that help to promote optimal early childhood social, emotional and cognitive development, leading to school readiness and child well-being. Regardless of country of origin, socio-economic status or culture, primary responsive parenting proves to be one of the most important factors in establishing healthy child development.
