At what age should a child be sent to school? When is a child ready for school? A child at home goes to school At what age is it better to go to school?

At what age should a child be sent to school? This question worries parents whose children are growing up. There are certain signs by which you can understand whether your baby is ready for school or not.

When to send your child to school

Why do parents want to send their child to school as early as possible? Some consider their child to be a real child prodigy who knows everything and can study in first grade without any problems. Others are afraid that their child will graduate from school at eighteen, which means he will not have time to enter a university, because he will have to join the army. For some, a compelling argument is physical development“My son is tall, he is much taller than his peers! If I send him to school next year, how will he look against their background?”

Psychologists say that you should not rush and send your child to school as quickly as possible. At what age should a child start school? Children who will be 6 years old or 6-plus by September need to wait another year to go to kindergarten. For a six-year-old, play is considered the leading activity.

At the age of 7, another crisis occurs in the child’s development. He becomes a more mature person. At this age, the leading activity is study. This doesn't mean that 7 year olds don't play games, it just becomes educational for them. They are interested in learning something new, they can concentrate their attention longer on the learning process.

How to determine if your child is ready for school

Signs of readiness for school:

1. Intelligent. The child must be able to concentrate his attention, build logical connections, and be able to remember material. Fine motor skills also play a role.

2. Emotional. The child must understand that at the moment he is obliged to sit in class, listen to the teacher, and not do what interests him. If he cannot control his emotions, then he needs to work on it.

3. Social. A child who goes to kindergarten, as a rule, knows how to behave in a group, communicate with peers, and find friends. If he is not accustomed to a group, then it will be much more difficult for him to adapt to school. This is why all parents are recommended to send their children to kindergarten, at least last year before school.

What time should I send my child to school? Our reader Vera is sure that later is better than sooner, and she is ready to prove it

Photo source: www.2dl.com.ua

Preparing for school begins long before September 1 and not at all with buying a beautiful backpack, not with choosing a school, or even with preparatory courses, and with such a simple question at first glance - What time should I send my child to school, at 6 or 7 years old?

Everything is individual

The answer is on the surface, it is easy and complex at the same time: everything is individual, Each child is unique, so there should be no general approaches.

Photo source: www.mg1.liveinternet.ru

But at the forefront of all concerns about their child will be physical and emotional health.

Physical health of a first grader

By the age of 6, the child’s motor sphere is well formed, he masters subtle movements of a complex order, and becomes more dexterous. With these qualities, his performance and endurance also increase.

Photo source: www.doublex.ru

But, nevertheless, he still needs gentle treatment, as he gets tired easily in monotonous school activities.

Therefore, the health of 6-year-old first-graders is at greater risk compared to the health of 7-year-old schoolchildren.

Photo source: www.4.bp.blogspot.com

We're talking about school illnesses

The main “school” diseases are:

• diseases of the musculoskeletal system: posture and flat feet;
• diseases respiratory tract;
• cardiovascular pathologies;
• vision.

Photo source: www.okozaoko.ru

Take, for example, vision. Anatomically, the eye is fully formed only by the age of 7. at 6 years old this process is at the final stage and visual acuity is at the level of 0.8-0.9.

Following the logic, if at this moment the child is exposed to large visual loads (if heredity is also present), the likelihood of vision loss increases.

Psychological and emotional spheres

Not long ago I came across an absolutely wonderful monograph edited by D.B. Elkonina. He is with a group of scientists experimentally showed the difference between 6-year-old and 7-year-old schoolchildren.

Photo source: www.vospitatel.com.ua

• Attitude to school reality

In 1981 in Moscow An experimental class of 6-year-old children was recruited. The program was completed with excellent results, because the cognitive abilities of 6-year-old children are slightly higher than those of 7-year-olds.

Photo source: www.pravdaogrippe.ru

But anxiety level compared to the seven-year-old class was significantly higher.

• Low level of formation of sound-letter analysis of words

6-year-old children do not distinguish between a word and the object behind it. Reasoning about a word is only a form of communication with an adult, masking the child’s real understanding of the subject.

• Poorly formed inner self

Six-year-old children are more likely to play at school - a beautiful uniform and a school bag. It is difficult for them to understand why they study and why the profession of a janitor is so bad.

It becomes clear that the stress a child experiences in first grade is enormous. The older and stronger the child, the more perfect his emotional and psychological sphere, the easier and more painless learning is in first grade.

• Cognitive sphere

A child's cognitive abilities are higher at 6 years old than in seven-year-old children - all researchers note this.

Photo source: www.children-coloring.rf

But the specific perception of symbols by 6-year-old children (gravitates toward enumeration rather than description) plays a cruel joke on them.

External impressions are a strong distraction, so The attention of 6-year-olds is characterized by a small volume and weak concentration.

Photo source: www.profilaktika.tomsk.ru

Why then give it away earlier?

It’s not a fact that if you start earlier, the outcome will be better. Large-scale research conducted by Caroline Sharp and covering 55 countries, did not reveal any relationship between school entry age and academic performance.

Have you ever had any doubts about what time to send your child to school? And did your decision come true?

Soon I need to decide whether I will send my daughter to school in a year or two. Literally in the next two months. Better in the next two weeks. And I naively thought that I still had a year to think...

I came from a parent meeting in kindergarten. My daughter is 5, she will turn 6 in the fall. In September she goes to the preparatory group, from which children are released to school. If I don’t want to send my child to first grade in a year, then I must inform about this before September (but the sooner the better) - she will be “retained for the second year” in senior group. You cannot spend two years in preparatory school - this is graduation, the final station.

I think that my girl is too young to go to school at less than 7 years old. In a year she is unlikely to be ready for first grade. But... change the team to which she is accustomed, where her friends are and where she likes, change the affectionate and kind teachers with whom she has become accustomed, and transfer to another group? Why so much stress?

And I put imaginary scales in front of me. One bowl is for the school in a year, the other is for the school in two years. And I started weighing...

Due to circumstances, I am not considering family education. The school will be a regular one, close to home. I'm a realist - I can't handle a private school or gymnasium where I have to take my child.

Arguments against school after a year (in less than 7 years)

1. The daughter is unlikely to be ready to study not out of interest, but out of compulsion. What can help here? High cognitive activity, my daughter has it. But if the lesson is boring, she will not be able to sit through it.

2. Unpreparedness of the child’s nervous system for a long stay at the desk, the need for movement. If a child is unable to sit almost motionless for 40 minutes, there will be comments (okay, if not scolding) from the teacher or nervous breakdowns.

It is normal and natural for children to stretch, wave their arms, walk, jump, stretch their body, and increase oxygen access to the brain. Alas, our pedagogical system cannot allow children to move as much as they need during lessons.

I’m not sure that in a year my active, lively girl will be able to sit through her lessons without losing attention and without excessive fatigue, and childish overwork will result in tears, screams, fooling around, bad dream or illness.

3. I will have to spend a lot of energy helping my child adapt. If you send her to school after 2 years, she will get used to it easier and faster. The daughter will grow up and with her - frontal lobes brain: voluntary motivation will mature. She will learn to better control her behavior, and her hand will become stronger (and there will be fewer problems with copywriting).

Arguments for school a year after graduating from kindergarten, at 6 years old.

1. The whole year in the preparatory group passes under the sign of preparation for first grade, children are mentally prepared. And suddenly - there is no school. How to explain this to a child?
If she could spend the year between kindergarten and school at home with me, that would be great. But there is no such possibility - I am working.

2. If in the same educational complex as the kindergarten, documents are prepared almost automatically. I will write an application to the kindergarten; honey. The kindergarten takes care of the map and documents. There will be no problems with admission, even if the school has twice as many applications as there are places - this is a minimum of hassle for me.

3. The sooner the child goes to school, the sooner the period when I need to see my daughter off and meet her will end - and the sooner I will have attractive options professional development and growth.

Do you know what I will decide? I will decide what is more convenient for me. Exactly for me.

It's more convenient for me to do nothing. Don't look for a school, don't wait until midnight before the day when the electronic registration opens. Do not collect documents. It’s more convenient for me, at the teacher’s signal, to simply sign the necessary papers, and then take my daughter not to the kindergarten, but to the school, which is next to the kindergarten - the same road that we are used to.

I understand that experienced mothers will now say that I am naive and there will still be a lot of worries, which is why I want to minimize at least some of them.

What about preparation for first grade?

I’m lucky, my girl is neurotypical and learns everything on her own when the time comes. She does not require any special preparation for school. It is enough that we read a lot, count, talk about everything, play - we have a large arsenal of educational games.

What is still important to pay attention to?

In the spring we visited Zhenya Katz’s mathematical play library and her open lesson. There are many game stations, tasks of varying complexity and completely diverse, each station has its own presenters, many children.

I was watching my daughter, and this is what caught my eye.

At Zhenya Katz's open lesson, my daughter only lasted 30 minutes out of 40, despite the fact that the lesson was not held at a desk. The children switched from calm math games to the mobile ones and back, they had the opportunity to concentrate, and run, and even make some noise.

The girl was clearly interested, but she was still tired, began to play around and come up to me every now and then.

I watched as the child entered the office with the gaming station: did he find the adult presenter, could he turn to him, could he take the gaming materials on his own? It’s different for my daughter, but the skill can be developed in a year.

Can a child stay in the office without me and not get lost or be afraid? Can he ask for help?

I stayed. But when she needed something, she was too embarrassed to ask the presenters for help, left the office, walked to the registration desk and asked to call her mother. Also an option. But not exactly what you need for school. But this can also be improved over the course of a year; after all, the child will grow up.

Does the child forget or lose his things?

My girl is not doing well here. And this is important. A briefcase with a bunch of accessories, replacement shoes, sports uniform - you need to be able to assemble all this yourself. And for some reason I’m not sure that she will be able to grow up to this in a year. So... We must prepare for the fact that she will lose her shift and sneakers, as well as pens, pencils, etc.

Today it is believed that it is better to send a child to school later than earlier. But here's what I want to say. The main burden of entering school and adapting lies with parents. And if you call a spade a spade, then most often it’s the mother. Therefore, you should do what is most convenient for your parents (you) - based on your capabilities.

I choose the path of least hassle, and will take the child to school directly from kindergarten, in the same educational complex. Even despite the girl’s unpreparedness for first grade. It's easier for me.

I don’t know what you will do.

But, you know, your decision will be correct in any case, because it is optimal for your family and for you personally.

Parents of children born in the winter-spring period often ask the question: “When is the best time to send their child to school?” If the child was born in March, at the beginning of the next academic year his age will “overstep” the recommended age mark of 7 years for admission by 6 months. Maybe it would have been worth sending such a child to school the previous September? Can a child who is only 6.5 cope with the workload required for students?

The age at which a child is sent to school will determine his future performance, so this issue needs to be carefully considered

At what age is it better to send a child to school?

Some parents, trying to realize their ambitions, send their children to study as early as possible. Others want to prolong their child’s carefree childhood and postpone the child’s enrollment in school. In fact, there are no universal recommendations on this matter. The decision must be made by parents individually after a thorough analysis of all the characteristics of the child.

What factors should you pay attention to first? Of course, the decision made by the parents about the education of the child cannot go against the current legislation of the country. At what age can a child be sent to study in accordance with the standards adopted in the Russian Federation?

By law

According to Article 67 of the Law “On Education in Russian Federation» Enrollment of a child in first grade must occur at a strictly defined age: from 6 years and 6 months to 8 years exactly. It is these time frames that parents will have to focus on when deciding how soon to send their child to school.

However, there are cases when, at the written request of the guardians, the child was admitted to school before the required age. This is possible, for example, in private educational institutions, where classes of younger children are specially formed. If we're talking about about a regular comprehensive school, then in order to enroll a child under 6.5 years old there, parents will first have to show their child to a psychologist. It is on the basis of a specialist’s conclusion about the level of emotional and social development of the baby that a decision will be made whether the baby is ready to study in the first grade.

Is there a chance to send a child to school at 8.5 years old or later? Normally, if a child of this age does not yet attend an educational institution, the guardianship authorities will certainly be interested in his family. What is happening will be regarded by government agencies as a violation of the young citizen’s right to receive primary education. The child's parents will be held administratively liable. This will not happen only if the preschooler is officially recognized as not ready for education due to health reasons.

For health reasons

If the child has chronic diseases, the question of when to send him to study should be decided with the direct participation of the doctor observing the baby.

If a child has chronic diseases, the issue of admission to school should be decided together with the attending physician

• with the musculoskeletal system;
• with digestion;
• with vision.

When a preschooler switches to an unusual daily routine with added stress, it is the listed groups of organs that suffer the most. In order not to aggravate the child’s existing health problems, doctors may recommend that parents treat the child first and postpone his education until a later age.

Doctors also have a number of tips for those whose children do not suffer from chronic diseases and have strong immunity. Before sending an apparently healthy child to school, he should, in any case, be shown to some specialists:

• pediatrician;
• immunologist;
• otolaryngologist;
• ophthalmologist;
• dentist;
• neurologist;
• psychiatrist.

Before entering school, every child must undergo a medical examination.

If at least one of the doctors listed above decides that the baby has some problems, parents should seriously think about postponing the baby’s enrollment in an educational institution until he is 7.5-8 years old. The remaining time can be used for wellness procedures. It would be great if, in the last year before school, parents manage to take their offspring to a good medical sanatorium.

Child's readiness for school

The legislative norms mentioned above are based primarily on statistical data on the principles physiological development people, according to which the age from 6 to 8 years is optimal for starting education. By this time, the baby’s memory is already sufficiently developed to assimilate a large amount of new material, and his body can easily get used to gradually increasing loads.

However, when talking about a child’s readiness for school, one cannot take into account only physiological factors. How comfortable a child will feel in an educational institution depends on many parameters. Last but not least, it depends on the level of intellectual, emotional and social development of the baby.

Intellectual development

By the term “intellectual development,” experts usually understand not so much the knowledge base with which a child comes to first grade, but rather the child’s readiness to learn new educational material. If a child has memorized the multiplication tables, but is not able to build simple logical chains, sending him to school is clearly the same. What intellectual skills should a future first grader have? The most important among them are the following:

• ability to analyze information and highlight the main thing;
• ability to make logical conclusions and synthesize cause-and-effect relationships;
• free orientation in the concepts of “space” and “time”;
• sufficient development of the speech apparatus and a rich vocabulary.

Emotional background and maturity of the nervous system

In many ways, it is the degree of development of the nervous system that determines how easily a person copes with stress and learns new information. Only a specialist can understand whether a child has problems in this area. That is why visiting a neurologist is a mandatory step before preparing for school.

In order to understand whether a child is ready for school, all future first-graders are recommended to be tested

Problems with nervous system also influence behavior. Because of her immaturity, some children are inhibited; others show hyperactivity. Both can have a negative impact on your studies. Parents will be able to understand how best to act specifically in their situation after consulting a child psychologist. The specialist will analyze whether the child’s behavior will change over time and tell you whether it makes sense to delay the child’s entry into first grade.

Communication skills and degree of independence

If a child attended kindergarten before school, he, as a rule, does not have problems with socialization and development of independence. Otherwise, parents will have to pay attention to such aspects as:

• teaching the baby the simplest self-care skills;
• development in the child of attentiveness to the feelings of others;
• developing a tolerant attitude towards the shortcomings of other children.

When should you think about registering your child for school?

Unfortunately, in modern realities it is not enough to simply decide when to send a child to school. You will have to take care of enrolling your child in an educational institution in advance. Practice shows that the minimum time required to complete all necessary documents is 6-9 months.

Clinical and perinatal psychologist, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Perinatal Psychology and Psychology of the Reproductive Sphere and the Volgograd State Medical University clinical psychologist by specialty

The holidays are over. Registration of children for school is in full swing, and many parents are thinking about sending their child to school early. Most often, this question arises before those whose children on September 1 will be over six and a half, but under seven years old, that is, before the parents of preschoolers born in the fall, winter, or early spring. And poor mothers and fathers are racking their brains: should they give it away now, or should they give it away at seven and a half, or even almost eight years old?

Battle of the arguments

Supporters of each option have their own arguments. Those who believe that a child should be sent to first grade earlier cite the following:

• It takes eleven years to study, and if you go to school at eight (or almost) you will finish at nineteen! Nightmare!
• The child is already ready for school, but he is not interested in kindergarten.
• If he goes later, everyone will laugh at him.
• It is better to follow the elders than to study among the younger ones.

Supporters of the opinion that school is not a wolf and will not run away into the forest, and therefore it is better to send the child to school later, counter-argument in response:

• May your carefree childhood last longer.
• Being able to read and write does not mean being ready for school.
• The little one will be teased.
• A six-year-old will simply be trampled underfoot at school.

These are the main statements of representatives of each side, but there are a great many arguments both for and against. What do teachers, psychologists and other specialists think about all this? Let's try to find out.

The agony of choice

Let's not lie, dear parents, and honestly admit to ourselves that often in children we realize our dreams and ambitions. After all, it is much more pleasant to inform all relatives, friends and colleagues that a six-year-old has gone to school than to explain to them why the child is already seven and still goes to kindergarten. However, experts are extremely unanimous in their conclusions. According to most of them, there is no need to rush and send children to school too early.

Parents must remember that no two children are the same. Even if all your child’s peers are already preparing for first grade, this does not mean at all that you should certainly strive for this. Preparatory group kindergarten, where your preschooler goes, and already turning six years old does not at all guarantee that the child is ready for school. By the way, fluent reading and the ability to add two-digit numbers in your head also do not guarantee anything like that. Because psychological readiness and physiological maturity are also necessary.

Ready or not ready?

How can you tell if your child is ready for school?

If we have already started speaking frankly and doing soul-searching, then let’s continue in the same spirit. Most modern parents are fairly educated people who have read several (a couple, many - underline as necessary) books on child psychology, and therefore they can themselves quite clearly understand what their child is like. Unless, of course, blind parental love blinds you. Therefore, first, honestly answer yourself whether this particular child, in your opinion, is ready for school. If you have even the slightest doubt, if there was a second’s hesitation before the life-affirming “yes!”, then do not rely only on your opinion, consult with specialists.

First, talk to the teachers, they see our children often and for a long time, have the opportunity to observe them in different situations, and if we add to this impartiality (blind love does not blind them) and experience, then their point of view will be very important .

Do you doubt objectivity or want to hear the opinions of other experts? Then you have a direct path to psychologists, neurologists and neuropsychologists. Ask them to run a diagnostic. Perhaps its results will be unexpected or even unpleasant for you. But in this case it’s worth listening.

We took one of our sons to see a neuropsychologist. They were visited by a girl who was six years old at that time; in September her mother was going to send her to school. Watching the girl and mother, I came to two conclusions. First: the baby is not ready for school. Second: the mother understands this, but is afraid that it will be too late to send her daughter to first grade at almost eight years old (the girl’s birthday is in October).

During the conversation, we somehow touched on this topic, and in response to the interlocutor’s request, I gently expressed my position. And to my surprise I saw in the woman’s eyes not resentment, but relief. It turned out that she also thought so, but she did not find support either from her husband or among her family and friends. Everyone insisted that the girl urgently needed to go to school. After all, she is not sick, there is no developmental delay, she can read and count. And no one understood that, despite these indisputable facts, the girl was not ready for school. I became the first person to understand what my attentive mother intuitively guessed.

The neuropsychologist, after conducting the diagnosis, also agreed with us. On my advice, my mother talked to the teachers, their conclusions were the same: learn early, period. As a result, the child went to school at almost eight years old. What parents (including dad, who insisted on his point of view before the conversation with the neuropsychologist) are now only happy about.

Don't have the opportunity to consult with specialists? Take advantage of tests that determine school maturity; they can be found in specialized literature or even on the Internet. There are comprehensively prepared for school. Don’t be lazy, study them carefully and honestly admit to yourself whether your child can do everything.

What should I do?

If experts believe or tests show that the child’s level of knowledge, skills and abilities is more or less comparable to what is required for a first-grader, be sure to pay attention to those points that are still causing difficulties. During that time, you will have time to improve a lot.

Pay more attention not even to reading technique and mental arithmetic speed, but to everyday and psychological readiness. Problems with learning rarely begin due to undeveloped intelligence, much more often due to social problems, insufficient development of fine motor skills, restlessness, inability to concentrate. We can and should work with these difficulties. It is important not to wait for the weather by the sea, but to identify the problem and begin to fight it. Fortunately, if your child is now six years old, there is still time.

Do experts or test results indicate that a preschooler is not ready? Take it for granted and give your child and yourself one more year. Don't give up, work with him. Most likely, a lot will change during this time, and the baby will finally be ready for school. And then years of study will not become an incessant nightmare for him and for you.

And as a final note, two more stories from my practice:

Story one. Amazing pattern

Now children under six and a half years old are not accepted into first grade. In any case, this should be the case, although, of course, anything can happen, but these are still exceptions, not practice, and the majority of preschool children become first-graders no earlier than six and a half years old. However, just a few years ago, teachers had to work with those children whose parents sent them to school at six, or even less than six years old. As a rule, there were only a few of these in each class, two or three.

I first paid attention to these children in my second year of work at school, as soon as I finally got used to it and began to gain experience. A wonderful girl came to one of my classes, let's call her Alya. She was an average student, but was very nice, kind and charming. However, her classmates treated her somewhat condescendingly. The teachers were perplexed, since the class was good; before this, the guys accepted all the new students without any problems. And then suddenly this happens.

The class teacher, a sensitive and caring woman, tried to figure it out. Fortunately, her son studied in the same class, who eventually helped her understand what was what. It turned out the following: classmates, having learned that the new girl was a year younger than most of them, and some almost two, considered her a “small fry” and, although they did not offend her, they considered communicating with her beneath their dignity.

Do you find it funny? Now remember yourself at school. If at the dacha or with a grandmother in the village we could easily communicate without noticing (well, almost not noticing) the difference of several years, then at school, especially in the middle classes, friendship between representatives of different parallels was very rare. At this age, a year or two difference is a whole abyss, and a dismissive “small thing” thrown by one of the older classmates is a label.

After that incident, I began to specifically pay attention to the age of my students. And - incredible! - I have repeatedly noticed that if there is a child in the class who is not only disliked, but shunned, then he is most likely the youngest. Those who are older than most of their classmates are more often respected and considered an authority. Of course, this pattern has its exceptions, but in my practice they did not occur so often, but confirmation of this observation occurred regularly.

The second story. The hard life of a child prodigy

Igor went to school at the age of seven, but studied so well that in the middle of the second grade it was decided to transfer him to the third. The boy was happy at first. His parents and himself were flattered by such obvious recognition of his success, abilities and efforts.

Having jumped from class to class, Igor quickly got used to it and continued to study well. But there was no contact with classmates. As with Alya, he was considered too small. No, no one offended Igor, they were even proud of him and showed off to other classes. But right up until graduation, Igor was friends with the guys from his previous class.

Of course, he made friends at the institute. However, once in a conversation with me, he sadly remarked that he would prefer to study among peers and graduate from school a year later.

So, when deciding to send your child to school at six and a half years old or at over seven, be sure to weigh the pros and cons and do not forget that all children are different.

By the way, my husband and I, having three sons born in winter, were also forced to choose when to send them to school. And each time they took into account everything I wrote about above. As a result, our eldest son entered first grade at seven and a half years old, and our middle son at six years and eight months. So far it seems to me that we were not mistaken in doing just that. My youngest son recently turned five, and now I’m still looking at him. Because I don’t want to make a mistake and complicate life for my child and myself. I’d rather step on the throat of my own ambitions and wait an extra year. Although it definitely won’t become superfluous.

Photo - photobank Lori