CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
KINDERGARTEN: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR PARENTS
A graduate project submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Education, Educational Psychology,
Counseling and Guidance
by
Deborah Cutler-Wolf
June, 1980
The Graduate Project of Deborah Cutler-Wolf is approved:
~Wyeth, Ph.D., Committee Chairman
California State University, Northridge
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT
v
Chapter
1
INTRODUCTION
1
2
KINDERGARTEN: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT .
4
WHAT IS KINDERGARTEN? .
SUMMARY . . . .
. . .
3
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
13
WHAT TO DO AT HOME
GETTING OFF TO SCHOOL WITH A GOOD
16
START . . . . . • . . . . . . .
20
WAYS TO BECOME INVOLVED AT THE
SCHOOL SITE . .
. .•
4
PARENT-CHILD ANXIETY
SUGGESTIONS TO HELP REDUCE PARENTANXIETY . . . . • . . • . . . • .
SUGGESTIONS TO HELP REDUCE CHILDANXIETY .
. . . . . . . .
5
DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS OF READINESS AND
SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS
Physiological . . . . . .
Social Maturity . .
Emotional Maturity
Intelligence . . . . .
Language . . . . .
HELPFUL HINTS TO PARENTS
6
5
11
PREPARING YOUR CHILD FOR LEARNING IN
SCHOOL
. . . . . . . . . .
iii
23
25
28
28
34
37
37
40
41
41
42
42
46
Page
COLOR NAMING . . . . . . . . . . •
. ..
NUMBER CONCEPTS . . . .
. . . •
DISCRIMINATION OF FORM .
. ...
SYMBOL MATCHING . . • .
. ..
SPEAKING VOCABULARY
.. .
LISTENING VOCABULARY .
. .. .
GENERAL INFORMATION . . . . . . .
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
.. .
COORDINATION . . . . . . . . . .
SMALL MUSCLE CONTROL
...•..
BIBLIOGRAPHY
46
47
49
50
52
54
55
56
57
59
61
APPENDICES
A
SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE . . . .
63
B
ANNOTATED READING LIST .
66
iv
ABSTRACT
KINDERGARTEN: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR PARENTS
by
Deborah Cutler-Wolf
Master of Arts in Education, Educational Psychology,
Counseling and Guidance
The focus of this practical guide is to inform and
educate parents as to the important step kindergarten
represents in a child's life.
This guide will help par-
ents discover the instrumental role they play in the
child's first school experience, and how parent involvement
and knowledge will be crucial to the child's school success.
The second chapter takes a close look at what kindergarten is as well as what characteristics comprise a good
kindergarten program.
Parents are able to gain insight as
to what their child will be doing and experiencing in
kindergarten.
Chapter 3 deals with the concept of "parent
v
involvement," explaining what it consists of and why it is
an important ingredient to school success.
Parents will
begin to understand the implications of involvement, and
how they can effectively become involved in their child's
school experience.
Parent-child anxiety is addressed in the fourth
chapter.
A discussion of the commonality of this type of
anxiety and how to deal with it effectively are offered.
Chapter 5 is concerned with developmental areas of
kindergarten readiness.
A detailed explanation of each
developmental area is included, and practical guidelines
are suggested for helping the child become ready.
The final chapter includes suggestions and activities
to help parents prepare their child for learning.
The
activities presented are simple in structure and can be
practiced by parent and child at any given time.
An annotated reading list can be found at the conclusion of this guide with further suggested readings in
related areas.
vi
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The personal experiences I have encountered as a
teacher and counselor have validated my feelings that the
idea of "kindergarten" is not usually viewed as an allimportant step in a child's life.
Teaching kindergarten
in the public schools has greatly expanded my awareness of
the tremendous need to educate parents about the important
role they play in their child's first school experience.
I have found that many parents are genuinely concerned and
interested in becoming instrumental in their child's education, yet lack practical knowledge and information.
I
have also come in contact with many parents who feel their
child's education is solely the responsibility of the
schools.
These parents too are often lacking in proper
perspective and practical information.
It is out of this need to inform and educate that I
have written a practical kindergarten guide for parents.
This guide is written specifically for parents who are
entering their child in school for his first time, and is
an effort to dispell the notion that kindergarten is not
of monumental importance.
This guide is an attempt to
help parents understand why involvement and knowledge is
1
2
critical to their child's successful school experience.
Kindergarten is a long anticipated adventure for a
five or six year old.
No matter what type of school set-
ting your child may be entering, he will be leaving the
home, and you, to spend regular hours outside the family
environment for the first time in his life.
As the big
day approaches, your child will undoubtedly be experiencing feelings of curiosity, anticipation, some anxiety, and
probably a great deal of enthusiasm.
As parents, you will be sensing that your five or six
year old is arriving at the beginning of an end.
The end
of babyhood, and total dependence, and the beginning of
early childhood where the push for independence and
autonomy is initiated.
Sending your child off to school
for the first time is really the start of sending him into
the world for the first time.
As parents, the very idea of a beginning of an end
can cause a certain amount of conflict.
You are proud
your child is ready for school, and looking forward to his
achievements and experiences, yet feel sorry that your
child is growing away and worried about his ability to
learn and take care of himself.
These mixed emotions are
commonly felt by most parents.
If your child's kindergarten experience is a good one
it will probably affect his whole school experience
favorably.
There are many things you can do before and
3
during kindergarten to make the first year at school a
constructive growing and learning experience for your
child.
In the process of writing this guide I have
extensively searched the available literature in an effort
to compile practical knowledge and information in the form
of guidelines, suggestions, and activities.
The reader
can expect to become informed about the following important
issues:
• What a good kindergarten is and is not;
• Why parent involvement is crucial;
• Why parent-child anxiety exists, and how to deal
with it;
• Explanation of developmental areas of kindergarten
readiness and success.
• How to help prepare your child for learning in
school.
Each chapter will offer suggested activities for
parents and/or child.
An annotated book list can be found
at the conclusion of this guide with further suggested
readings in related areas.
Chapter 2
KINDERGARTEN: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT
If the emotions are full, the intellect will look after
itself . . . the cure for the sickness of man does not
lie in politics, religion or humanism; nay, the cure is
freedom for children to be themselves.
A. S. Neill
Kindergartens come in varying sizes, shapes, and formats.
Although what your child will learn is the founda-
tion of future learning and living, kindergarten should
not be considered only as a prelude to education or as
preparation for school.
Kindergarten is education.
It is
school, the kind of school in which children are best able
to work, play, learn, experience, and grow.
Today's children learn about many things, whether or
not they attend kindergarten.
But in kindergarten your
child can be helped to explore more deeply the concepts
growing from his experiences.
He will have his educational
base broadened through the introduction of activities not
readily available to him elsewhere.
Outside the family
circle, your child can experience a measure of independence
and begin to develop a positive self-concept.
If kinder-
garten experiences are challenging and satisfying to him,
he will regard school as a good place to be.
4
5
As parents, you will naturally want to know what to
expect from the kindergarten your child will attend, and
what its purpose, program, and activities will include.
My intent is to offer the following guidelines to help you
formulate a general picture of what a good kindergarten
might be like.
I do not mean to suggest that these guide-
lines are all inclusive, or that your neighborhood kindergarten will not vary in its approach to educating your
child.
WHAT IS KINDERGARTEN?
Kindergarten is not:
• A baby-sitting session.
cated, not tended.
Children come to be edu-
• A copy of first grade for children too young to
legally enroll in elementary school. This type of
set-up would ignore what is known about needs,
interests, and capabilities of young children.
• A supervised recreation center. Children do have
fun learning through guided play experiences, yet
there is educational purpose behind what your
child will do in kindergarten.
• A substitute family. Kindergarten should add to
or supplement what a child experiences in family
living.
• A center of competition among pupils. One of the
basic kindergarten aims is to promote cooperation.
• A showplace where children are exploited for the
amusement or admiration of adults. Suitable,
wholesome activity that meets the needs of
children does not train them as entertaine~s.
• A rigid set of requirements to which all pupils
are expected to conform. The flexible program
enables each child to work toward meeting his
6
personal needs going as rapidly as he can and
accomplishing as much as he is able.
Kindergarten is:
• A roomful of children who keep active and busy
learning through doing what children of their age
should be doing.
• A capable and well-prepared teacher who likes
children, understands their problems, and knows how
to work with them.
A comfortable atmosphere in which teacher and
pupils work together with a minimum of tension or
pressure.
• A group of parents who are truly interested in the
education and welfare of their children, and who
cooperate with the teacher so that they may work
together toward this end.
A good kindergarten is:
• A pleasant place where young children learn to work
and play in groups.
• A philosophy of welcoming each child as he is and
helping him to build up his body, to develop his
mind, to control his feelings, and to behave
acceptably.
• A variety of things, books, toys, playground
apparatus, work materials, child-size furniture,
blocks, tools, science equipment, musical instruments, art supplies . . . etc.
• A well-planned program that encourages every child
to do his best, but that does not push him faster
than he is really ready or able to go.
• A wealth of activities planned to answer children's
questions; to help them express themselves; to
teach them to get along with others; to give them
an opportunity to discover facts for themselves
through observing, experimenting, asking questions
of others, using books and materials.
While your child is working and playing in school he
will be striving toward long-term goals and objectives
7
necessary for his individual growth.
Some of the
goals and objectives a typical kindergarten will offer are:
Positive Self-Concept.
During your child's kinder-
garten year he will develop attitudes and feelings that
will stay with him throughout his school years.
It is
important that your child gain a positive self-concept as
a learner through his kindergarten experience.
The kinder-
garten program and teacher should be striving to instill
positive self-concepts by encouragement and providing
learning experiences where your child can feel successful.
Each success will help him feel ready for the next learning
experience.
Self-Discipline.
Your child in kindergarten can move
far along the path to self-discipline.
The many things he
will be involved in will interest and stimulate him.
desire to achieve more will come from within him.
not need to be prodded to explore and study.
The
He will
He will move
eagerly from task to task, and as your kindergarten child
matures in his ability to work more steadily, he will stay
longer at each task.
Through freedom to work under the
guidance of a teacher who raises questions, aids when
necessary, and shows genuine interest in what your child
is doing, self-discipline will continue to improve.
Your
child will test himself, learning gradually to refine his
ways of work, and as he does this he will be developing
pride in himself.
8
Social Responsibility.
In his earliest group experi-
ences, your child will probably play by himself.
cling to his own materials.
He will
Later, he may notice what
others are doing and go play beside them, even though he
doesn't play with them.
As your child becomes involved in
various activities he will begin to realize that many
projects (building with blocks, playing house, painting,
playing a game, etc.), can be more successful with many
children working together.
Your child begins to learn to
value the ideas and contributions of others cooperating on
a project.
There may be differences of opinions, or
quarrels, as they work, but your child will learn to become
a contributing member of a group.
In kindergarten your
child will experience social situations in which he can
cope and through which he can grow in social responsibility.
New Meaning of Everyday Experiences.
Undoubtedly,
your child has had experiences in his home and community.
These experiences are full of value, and kindergarten is a
place where these experiences will be intensified.
Your
child will be helped to get a better understanding of the
world around him.
Through exploration, observation, and
active involvement, your child's awareness will be sharpened.
Learning to Communicate.
Kindergarten is a place
where your child will learn to listen and to practice
speaking.
Your child will probably enter kindergarten
9
with some ability to listen and speak, but he will be provided with many opportunities to improve these skills.
Your child will learn to pay attention and listen to
others and to speak more clearly and expressively.
Listen-
ing and speaking are important prerequisites to successful
achievement in reading and writing.
Planning.
In kindergarten your child will have many
opportunities to participate in planning.
Problems and
questions will be posed, and your child will learn to
assume responsibility for planning for himself as well as
for others in his group.
He will learn to think things
through ahead of time and plan carefully for a more
satisfying experience.
Reasoning and Identification.
In kindergarten the
recognition of likenesses and differences, and of relationships between things and ideas is characteristic of learning.
Your child will begin with the simple and concrete,
and move toward the complex and abstract.
Informal
activities in these areas carefully planned to match the
ability of your child will help prepare him for the later
stage of recognizing letters and words.
Creative Expression.
Many opportunities will be pro-
vided in kindergarten for your child's self-expression.
This expression may take various forms such as body movement, artistic endeavors, language experience, role playing, etc.
Your child will interpret how he sees and feels
10
about things as he experiments with these different media.
He will show curiosity, imagination, and enthusiasm, and
learn to value these characteristics in himself as well as
others.
Your child will learn to appreciate his individu-
ality and the unique qualities of his own work.
A Special Place for Your Child.
In a world which is
full of uncertainties, kindergarten will provide an
environment for your child where he can be sure there is a
place for him.
Often there is limited time for your child
at home, and things he does do not always seem of utmost
importance in the whole spectrum of family life.
Kinder-
garten will be a place where everything is tailor-made to
fit your young child's needs.
It is a place where he can
truly be a five or six year old and feel comfortable as
well as special.
Time for Growth and Experience.
An important aim of
kindergarten is planning the provision of enough time for
your child to fully experience the rich offerings of the
kindergarten program.
Your child will need time to
explore, observe, think, and challenge himself.
It is
important to be aware that it is the process your child
goes through, not the final product he produces, that will
foster and enhance his growth and learning experiences.
Use and Care of Property.
The kindergarten environ-
ment provides an enticing spot for your child to be.
There will be all kinds of equipment which could not be
11
accommodated in most homes.
Your child will be learning
how to use and take care of this various equipment, and
gain a sense of care and responsibility.
Relating to Adults.
Kindergarten may be the first
time a child is given a continuing relationship with an
adult other than his parents.
Here, he can develop
enthusiasm for school, and gain a positive experience from
the support of an understanding teacher.
Looking Ahead.
The emphasis of kindergarten will be
on meeting the present needs of your child, yet what he
does there will affect his future school success.
In
kindergarten, it is likely your child will not learn everything about any single subject, skill, or topic.
But he
will get a start and continue to build on his experiences
each year.
The question of kindergarten is not how much
can be learned, but on how solidly the foundation can be
built.
SUMMARY
Now that you have a basic idea of what your child
will be exposed to in a good kindergarten program, you may
be wondering just how he will manage himself.
It is impor-
tant for you to know that your child will learn selfmanagement and control as he experiences the following:
• Feels wanted and needed in kindergarten;
• Makes rules for his activities;
• Is taught acceptable behavior;
12
• Learns to subordinate personal desires to group
interests;
• Cleans up after himself;
• Learns to follow rules;
• Takes turns and waits turns;
• Respects his teacher and classmates;
Shares materials;
• Listens to others;
• Cares for materials;
• Uses equipment carefully;
• Assumes classroom responsibilities;
• Faces and solves his own problems;
• Takes turns as leader and follower;
• Is encouraged to complete what he begins;
• Is encouraged to make choices;
• Is helped to control his temper;
• Uses materials conservatively;
• Learns to use "indoor" voices;
• Learns to respond to "quiet" signals;
• Alternates activity and rest;
• Works with others.
Chapter 3
PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Among the most important influences on the effectiveness
of teaching is the over-all atmosphere of the home. Above
all, children need the genuine concern, guidance, discipline, and affection of their parents. The standards parents set and the attitudes they express have a decisive
influence on a child's progress. . . . Parental cooperation is, therefore, of great importance if the teacher is
to be effective.
An Essay on Quality in Education
Educational Policies Commission,
1959
The development of the human being is the single most
important function of life.
Your role as parents makes it
essential that you be involved in your child's education
and development.
What happens to your young child prior
to age eight will have a life-long impact on his behavior
and achievement.
It follows then, that the time for an
optimal learning environment is early in life.
It is up
to you, the parent, to become the best possible educator
of your child.
Children seem to be far more influenced by
what happens at home, than by what happens at school
(Morrision, 1978).
The informal education that you and
your family provide will make more of an impact on your
child's total educational development than the formal educational system (Morrision, 1978).
13
14
By nature children want to learn.
What they learn
before they enter school depends largely on you.
Your
role as teacher does not end when your child enters school.
You may think of home and school as separate worlds, yet
the influences of home and school are intermingled in your
child's subconscious as he reaches in many directions at
once.
Learning is not confined to the three or four hours
your child will spend in kindergarten.
Each waking hour
has many opportunities for new learning.
What happens at
home is expressed in your child's play and work at school,
just as what happens at school is expressed at home.
Your attitudes and interest are all important to your
child's success in school.
These attitudes are more impor-
tant than the quality of the school or the circumstances of
your home.
It is crucial that there be a close link
between you and the school.
You will need to become an
integral part of your child's educational process by becoming involved.
Five and six year olds are in a period of transition
from the family to the outside world.
Your kindergarten
child will be experiencing need for approval, success, and
acceptance in play and work.
You will still be needed to
comfort, support, and clarify, but remember, the major
thrust will be into the world outside the home.
This is a
critical time for you to be keeping intact your child's
15
feelings of worth.
Your child will need to feel he is
respected for himself, not only what the teacher or school
environment expects.
Through work and play in school and
at home, the young child's awareness and consciousness of
self, others, and his environment are developing.
At this
stage the child begins to exercise self-control and
decision-making responsibilities based on his own value
system.
Your support and help will be needed.
What you
as parents give your child during this active year will
shape his future.
Be aware that your school age child will be continually pushing to get farther and farther away from home, and
parental authority is often challenged.
As a result of
this, the "middle childhood" years may seem more trying
than the previous "preschool" years.
You will be needed
as sensitive, involved parents to nurture your child's
natural outward push toward exploration and the new independence necessary for growth.
By now you may be feeling overwhelmed at the responsibility and prospect of becoming an involved parent.
You
may also be asking yourself if being involved means being
required to spend time in your child's kindergarten class.
Involvement is what you choose to make it.
I will attempt
to offer some very simple guidelines and activities to do
at home with your child to foster his growth and independence.
I will also offer some general ways parents may
16
wish to become involved at the school site.
As mentioned
previously, every kindergarten program is different, and
each school and teacher will have varying philosophies of
how they utilize parent participation.
Because of this,
generals, rather than specifics will be presented.
WHAT TO DO AT HOME
First you must realize that your role as a parent
changes when your child moves from the home to an outside
situation.
You will no longer be immediately available to
sense when he is tired, when his feelings are hurt, or
when he's had enough of a certain activity.
You must now
learn to be a supporter, someone who sets up home life so
it will complement what is going on in school.
You will
become the provider for needs that may not be met in
school.
Adjustments in scheduling and habits may need to
be made at horne:
• For instance, if your child needs to be off by himself, away from people from time to time, you can
provide for this when he comes home from school.
School does not allow much private time or space.
Home can.
Set up a special place in the home where your child
can have his privacy.
You will probably be curious about what your child is
doing in the hours he spends away from you at school.
• Plan a regular time when you and he can talk about
things. This time should not be scheduled right as
he gets home from school. He will probably be
filled with energy and not feel like settling down
to talk. A better time may be during a snack or
17
the dinner hour when he is more settled and willing
to talk.
• He will look forward to a definite chance to tell
you all about what school is like for him.
As the first day of school approaches, both you and
your child will probably try to anticipate what it will be
like.
As parents, you may be enjoying the fantasy of how
the teacher will remark about the brightness, competency,
and maturity of your child.
Or you may be worried that
your child may be less than perfect in his behavior or
competency.
• Realize that your child will probably be armed with
limited facts which fill his mental images about
school. He will not be able to see the difference
between the school in his head and the one down the
block.
• You can prepare your child to look forward to
school experiences by your expression of positive
f~elings about kindergarten.
• You may want to initiate talks about your child's
perceptions of what school will be like, and offer
sympathy with his uncertainty.
• It will be impossible to ease all your child's
fears or burdens, but an important thing to remember
is not to set the teacher up as some kind of policeman.
• You should not stress the idea of discipline, but
rather the feeling that school is an interesting
place where a lot of things happen.
• It is important to instill in your child a picture
of school as a place to explore, be curious, and
find out about things.
Now is the time to help your child begin to do things
that he will be expected to do in school, but that he may
not have had to do at home.
18
At times your child will be required to follow directions carefully and quickly.
If this seems difficult for
him, practice by:
• Once or twice a day give him simple instructions or
errands to carry out in the same order as given.
You may want to start with two or three and add on
as he begins to improve. Example: say to your
child, (1) "Pick up the book;" (2) "Bring me the
pencil;" (3) "Close the door." Make this a fun
game rather than a drill or exercise.
Kindergarten requires a great deal of waiting at
times.
Each day your child will probably encounter
experiences where he will have to wait his turn, wait in
line, wait for others to finish up, wait for use of equipment, etc.
• You can help him prepare for this at home by asking
him to wait a few minutes until you finish what you
are doing when he asks for something that he needs
help with. If there are other siblings at home you
can make sure that each waits their turn when they
all want or need something.
• This will provide a good opportunity to talk with
your child about the fact that there will be one
teacher and many children, and often the teacher
will not be able to get to him the minute he wants
her.
• By being aware of how difficult it
young child to wait, you can begin
child learn to be patient, and not
thing to happen at once, just when
can be for a
helping your
expect everyhe wants it to.
You will also have to help your child deal with the
fact that in kindergarten he will be expected to sit
quietly and listen.
For an active five or six year old,
this can be a most difficult thing to do.
• You can help your child by reading stories to him
and having him sit quietly beside you.
19
• Practice having him pay attention to the story by
asking him simple questions, first about each page,
then eventually about the entire story when
finished.
• You can also play a game in which you make softer
and softer sounds until he can no longer hear you.
• Or you can make sounds with household objects or
musical instruments and ask your child to tell you
which is a louder or softer sound.
It is important to talk with your child about how it
feels to listen, sit quietly, wait, and to follow directions.
• Recognize that these are difficult things for your
young child to do, and offer a great deal of support for every attempt he makes to do them.
Your child will have to pick up after himself in
kindergarten.
The teacher will rely on the children's
cooperation, so as to prevent chaos in the classroom.
• Picking up is one of the things you can help with
at home, even if you haven't been unduly concerned
with it up to now.
• There is no need to turn it into a confrontation,
but rather with encouragement, remind, and
patiently wait until it is done.
• This will help create a smooth transition into the
kindergarten scene.
Be aware that children model their parents' behavior.
Your child will need a model for problem solving,
especially where school is concerned.
It is understandable
that you may have fears, doubts or concerns about the particular school setting your child will attend.
Your behavior, the way you deal with your misgivings, will be watched by your child and will influence his reactions to his new environment.
-
-~'---
20
• The manner in which you react will give your child
clues as to the family approved way of handling
problems.
You will have much influence with setting the tone
about school and the str~tegies to cope with it
that your child will use.
• If an issue or problem arises and you find ways to
contribute to a positive change, your child is most
likely to adopt the same coping strategy.
• It is essential to demonstrate to your child that
difficult problems can be dealt with, even if it
takes a long time to solve them.
Parents must develop good communication with their
children.
Your child will come home with many school
experiences and you should not just want to hear the good
or bad, but both.
• A parent should be willing to hear it all in the
beginning, particularly as the child begins to make
his first efforts in learning new tasks.
• A parent who offers an attentive ear encourages
this important avenue of communication which is a
basic foundation for many later learning experiences.
• By listening to your child and becoming aware of
the signals that demonstrate difficulty and success,
strength and weakness, you will be able to provide
the necessary support and help needed at home.
GETTING OFF TO SCHOOL WITH A GOOD START
• Be sure your child is well and strong.
• Before your child enters kindergarten a physical
exam and visit to the dentist are a must.
• Make sure your child gets nourishing food, plenty
of exercise, and undisturbed sleep.
• Help to instill good health habits.
• Help by teaching safety concerns.
21
• Dress your child in sturdy, washable clothing,
appropriate to weather.
At the time your child enters kindergarten he should
be able to:
• Take care of his toilet needs by himself.
• Be away from you for two to three hours (i.e. under
supervision by a neighbor, babysitter, relative,
etc.) .
• Cross a residential street safely.
• Travel alone in the neighborhood (two blocks), to
the store, school, playground, or a friend's home.
Your child should start each school day:
• Rested and well nourished.
• Arising early enough to go to the toilet, wash himself, and dress in clean clothes.
Help your child to:
• Arrive promptly and attend school regularly.
• Leave on time and go straight home.
For your child's safety he should know and be able to
tell:
• His first and last name.
• His street address.
• His parents' name.
• His phone number.
• He should go someplace alone before he goes to
school.
Parent goals are very similar to the aims of the
teacher in helping to promote optimum development of each
child.
This common interest becomes a starting point for
22
a team effort in guidance of the child.
As parents you
will be forming a partnership with your child's teacher,
one in which you will each make different contributions.
Your child's kindergarten teacher will need to know as
much as possible about your child if she is to plan an
effective program to meet his needs.
Your child is what
he is today because of having lived with you and the other
family members.
Only you as parents who have lived with
him through the early years can provide the teacher with
information about his past, about his behavior and interests when he is not in kindergarten.
The teacher may
request information and support in any of several ways,
depending upon current needs.
• You may find yourself asking if so many questions
are necessary, or if the teacher isn't just being
nosey. When the teacher gives you a questionnaire,
you may be sure that there is good reason for every
item. If one or two seem too personal, ask the
teacher's reason. The more completely you fill in
the questionnaire, and the more promptly you return
it, the better the opportunity for planning for
your child.
(See Appendix A for a sample questionnaire which might be used in a typical kindergarten.
• If you have concerns or questions, talk it out with
the teacher. Nothing can take the place of faceto-face conferences about your child's education,
welfare, progress, or problems. Although parents
and teachers are aiming toward the same goals for
the child, the child's progress toward them is
likely to be more steady if the adults in his life
can agree on plans of action.
• Attending kindergarten parent meetings are an important part of your involvement. It is at these meetings that what goes on in kindergarten is explained,
that new ideas will be discussed, and many of your
questions answered. Other specialists or school
personnel may suggest solutions to both school and
23
home problems.
WAYS TO BECOME INVOLVED AT THE SCHOOL SITE
Visit the Kindergarten.
One of the best ways to
become involved and to know and understand what goes on in
kindergarten is to visit and watch the group in action.
As a parent you will want to come see and learn and gain a
clearer perspective of the "hows" and "whys" of kindergarten.
Periodic visits to the kindergarten class will
give both the teacher and your child a sense of your
involvement and concern.
Attend All Individual Parent-Teacher Conferences.
Through conferences with one or both parents, the teacher
can gain insight into many aspects of the child's life.
Conferences need to be scheduled periodically.
Your
child's kindergarten teacher may request that you make
half-hour appointments three times during the school year.
At these conferences the teacher will discuss the progress
of your child in terms of his own needs and abilities.
The teacher's report should be free from competitive or
comparative elements.
Perhaps the teacher will want to
schedule one of the conferences at your home, provided you
are willing.
By becoming an active participant in these
parent-teacher conferences you will be enhancing your
child's growth and developmental process.
Become a Parent-Assistant.
Some kindergartens work
regularly, and even depend upon having parent-assistants
24
or parent-volunteers in the classroom.
Once you have vol-
unteered your services, the teacher will probably have you
attend an orientation meeting which will prepare you to
come into the situation with some knowledge of the
philosophy and purpose of the kindergarten program.
In
these orientation sessions you will gain both practical
skills to help in specific tasks and some perspective concerning the teacher's goals and the way all must work
together to accomplish them.
As part of these meetings
your special talents will be explored and plans may be
made as to how and when you can assist most capably.
Your
role as a parent volunteer or assistant will be rewarding
and gratifying both to you and your child.
I
,
Chapter 4
PARENT-CHILD ANXIETY
You can not teach a child to take care of himself unless
you let him try to take care of himself. He will make
mistakes, and out of these mistakes will come his wisdom.
Henry Ward Beecher
As children take their first step out of the home and
into the school they are venturing into foreign territory
and embarking on a journey to becoming a separate person.
It is a tribute to the resiliency of the young child that
a large percentage of them adjust to school with little
degree of difficulty.
As parents, you play a major role
in this drama and will need guidelines to help you and
your child handle this new experience effectively.
When a child leaves home comfortably and is excited
for the new experiences school will bring, everything is
wonderful.
But when a child becomes anxious and fearful
or refuses to go to school, or perhaps throws tantrums
where parent and child become physically and emotionally
drained, then something has gone wrong.
This type of
situation must receive immediate attention so as to prevent
a temporary crisis from becoming a chronic problem.
There
are several concepts parents will need to understand in
order to help their child take this developmental step
25
26
forward.
Every child will have to perform certain tasks at
certain levels of growth and development.
A five or six
year old has a major task, to go to school.
In order to
perform this task, a child must have successfully mastered
three earlier tasks.
The first involves making the shift
from dependency upon parents and the home to dependency
upon peers and other adults.
The school-age child must
now allow other people to meet many of his needs and relate
to him in a meaningful way.
How easily this task is
mastered will depend to a great extent upon how trusting
and secure the child's early relationships have been, and
whether or not his parents are ambivalent about supporting
his new venture.
The second task of the school-age child is to learn
to accept the authority of other adults (i.e. the teacher,
principal, and other school personnel).
This acceptance
is made easier if the child has had trusting relationships
with other helping adults.
The final task of the child entering school is the
management of separation anxiety.
Separation anxiety can
be one of the most painful experiences a child can have.
There are several reasons for the presence of this fear
which causes anxiety in children.
A child's sense of his
own identity still depends on many externals.
Everything
that is familiar to him at home defines for him who he is
27
and what he is like.
Parents are the crucial resource to
a child before he is able to form an internalized sense of
his own identity.
Without the presence of a parent, the
child may feel "not himself."
Because of this, a five or
six year old will feel anxious as he separates from his
main source of security and embarks on an experience which
will hold for him a noisy, unfamiliar place, strange
people, and few objects which belong to him.
Without any-
thing to support his identity a child can be in as much
fear of losing himself as of losing a parent.
Parents will
need to provide a mixture of sympathy, information, and
dependability to reassure the child that they will be
reunited each day after school has ended.
Not all of the anxiety associated with a child's
entry into school is the child's.
Parents, especially
mothers, may experience anxiety of their own over their
child's moving into a new experience.
A child's going off
to school represents a developmental phase for parents as
well as children.
Parents should be aware that sending a
child off to school can be anxiety provoking for them.
This is understandable, for parents have to give up some
of their control of the child to school authorities, and
to share their child's teaching and upbringing with
others.
Many times parents, especially mothers, will have
to make readjustments in their lives once the child begins
kindergarten.
Parents need to separate their own anxiety
28
from that of the child's.
Parents' worry and tension are
highly contagious, and the young child quickly perceives
and responds to them.
SUGGESTIONS TO HELP REDUCE PARENT-ANXIETY
• Parents must acknowledge and accept their own feelings and reactions. Sharing these feelings with
other parents will help to foster anxiety-reduction.
• Each parent maintains both positive and negative
childhood memories about school. Some of these
memories may be reactivated when a child starts
school (especially negative ones), and parents
might find themselves experiencing ambivalence concerning their child's new experience. Since the
·parents' reactions to the child's early school
experience is of critical importance to school
adjustment, it is important that they review and
become aware of their own anxieties and satisfactions regarding their school entry experiences, and
curtail any ambivalent feelings which may be transmitted to the child.
• By the time their first child begins school, parents
have been away from the educational system for some
time. When the child enters kindergarten the
parents will see a school that has probably changed
considerably from what they remember. It will be
helpful to reduce anxiety if parents view this as a
positive opportunity to reacquaint themselves with
the educational system, and to get to know the
school personnel and other involved parents.
SUGGESTIONS TO HELP REDUCE CHILD-ANXIETY
Parents will want to do everything they can to make
it possible for their child to deal effectively with his
new experiences.
The following practical suggestions will
help make the transition from home to school less anxiety
producing for the child.
• The beginning of school should not be made the topic
29
of daily conversation during the summer months.
Don't belabor the issue.
Going to school should be treated as part of the
normal course of events, and as something that is
expected (along with giving the child support and
encouragement).
• Try to keep older children from teasing or frightening the younger child with tales of how awful
school is. If it becomes necessary, speak with the
older children privately about their responsibility
in helping the younger child go to school without
fear. Make the older children your allies.
• All questions the child asks about school and what
to expect should be answered honestly. A child may
be made anxious by uncertainty, and knowing details
will help him master his anxiety. Therefore, knowing the number of days he will attend, the length
of time he will be away from home, and how he will
get back and forth to school is important information for the child. Working parents will also want
to make certain that the child knows the arrangements for before and after school care.
• It is important to help make the unfamiliar more
familiar by taking your child to school beforehand
and showing him around, so that when the big day
arrives the child will feel more secure about what
he will be experiencing. Many schools hold orientation sessions for parents and children to acquaint
them with the teacher, the classroom, and school
procedures.
Do not give the impression that there is any choice
about whether or not to attend school. Children
will sometimes say, "I'in not going to school," or
"You can't make me." These comments should be
responded to calmly and reassuringly. Let your
child know that you understand his concerns about
this new situation, but that you know he will be
able to handle it and that all children have to go
to school. The parent will not want to waiver and
offer a choice which he cannot or will not honor.
Do not argue the issue of school attendance. A
matter-of-fact, calm, and positive attitude is your
goal.
• It is important to communicate to the child your
support and appreciation of his efforts to do what
is being asked of him. Possibilities for
30
communicating this support may be: "What type of
new shoes would you like for the first day of
school?" "What kind of snack would you like to
take with you?" "Think of something special you'd
like to do when you get home from school." The
idea is to find ways of acknowledging the child's
efforts and to give him some control over the situation whenever possible.
• Transportation plans must be made clear to the
child. If the child will be walking to school, make
sure to walk the route together once or twice before
school begins. You may also want to walk him to
school and meet him after class has ended for the
first few days. Find out if there are other
neighborhood children the same age with whom your
child can walk to school together with. It is
important to not set a pattern of walking into the
classroom and standing around while your child gets
sea.ted. This may lead to clingy behavior or tears,
which gets the child off to the wrong start with
other children, who then may tease him, thus adding
to the problem. Goodbyes are best said at home or
in the school yard.
• If your child is going to be taking the bus to
school help him identify the type of vehicle and,
if possible, take a bus ride with the child prior
to the first day of school in order to alleviate
some anxiety. If there happens to be other children
you know waiting for the bus, introduce your child
to them. When the bus arrives be direct; say goodbye and allow the child to board by himself. If
there are tears, be assured that they will usually
disappear before the bus is out of sight.
• Resist from trying to force your child to be
exuberant about going to school. It is natural for
a child to not be estatic about giving up a comfortable and secure relationship at home for the
uncertain territory of school. Allow and encourage
the child to express all his feelings about school.
Sometimes just being able to say whatever is on the
child's mind and to discover that the words are
heard and the feelings accepted, is both calming as
well as reassuring.
• As a non-working parent you may be looking forward
to the free time you will have once your child
enters school. Don't tell the child how much fun
you are going to have while he is in school, but do
let the child know that while he is doing his job
31
at school you will be doing yours. The mentioning
of concrete tasks can be very reassuring to the
child. "While you're in school today, I will be
doing the laundry." "When you come home from
school we'll spend some time together."
• As a working parent you might want to make special
arrangements which would allow you to be home the
first day or two when your child returns from
school. However, if this is not possible, other
ways of giving a little extra attention can be
found, such as a telephone call from work to the
child who has just completed his first day of
school, or plans to do something special with the
child later in the day when the parent returns from
work.
• It will be important to create a normal routine
atmosphere at home the first few days of school.
Don't avoid or deny the uniqueness of the first day
of school, yet don't give your child the impression
that cleaving for his first day of school has
tremendous magnitude. As parents, it is your
responsibility to provide reassuring support when
needed, but not to go overboard with concern.
What happens if the big day arrives and the child
begins to cry or complain of being sick in spite of all
this good planning and careful handling?
Children often
express their fear of going to school as a tummy ache or a
sore throat.
When a child complains that he can't go to
school because this or that hurts, his distress is real.
This does not mean that the child should be kept home from
school.
Parents will need to grit their teeth and push.
The child is to go to school even if tears flow and aches
and pains persist.
The fear of school is made even worse
by not going there.
The more a child can stay home and
imagine how awful school is, the more he dreads going back.
The more he goes to school (even if it's only 15 or 20
f
'
32
minutes a day in the beginning), the more he discovers
it's not so bad after all.
Your firmness will tell your
child that you yourself believe school to be the best
place for him.
The point of separation is usually the moment of
truth.
The child usually recovers quickly and has a sue-
cessful day once the separation is made.
days of school are critical.
The first few
The fearful, tearful
behavior usually disappears within a few days with
patience, firmness, and reassurance by parents and
teachers.
By then the child has learned to feel more
secure in his new environment and has become more comfortable with being away from home.
He has learned to trust
his teacher and has made some new friends.
He has learned
that some exciting and interesting things go on in his
classroom.
Most important for the child's emotional health
is that he has learned, with support, to master a fear,
and in the process has learned to feel good inside about
himself and secure in his world.
In rare instances when this smooth transition does
not occur, when anxiety does not lessen after a few days,
and the child's fearfulness and distressed feelings continue to mount, the child may be developing a more serious
problem.
At this point, it is suggested that parents seek
professional advice.
• Ask for consultation with the school guidance counselor, or other school personnel.
33
• A consultation with the family doctor or pediatrician might also be considered.
• A child guidance counselor might be consulted if
the problem warrants this type of professional help.
For most children who have experienced somewhat stable
and supportive relationships prior to entering school, and
whose parents have dealt successfully with their own
ambivalent feelings about the child's entry into school,
the upset, if obvious at all, usually disappears quickly,
particularly if the guidelines and suggestions mentioned
are used consistently by parents and other supportive
persons.
Chapter 5
DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS OF READINESS AND SUCCESS
Education is not something the teacher does, it is a natural
process which develops spontaneously.
Maria Montessori
The concept of school readiness may be viewed as the
sum total of all characteristics involved in learning.
School readiness emphasizes the interrelationship of many
important learning factors.
School is one of the most important steps a child will
make toward future success or failure.
As a parent, you
are justifiably concerned about the future of your child.
Both you and your child are enthusiastic and optimistic,
but equally perplexed and anxious concerning the uncertainty that awaits at the doorstep of school.
You have
the right to be aware of your child's readiness for school
and future success.
The information in this chapter will
prepare you to better understand your child and help him
to become ready for a successful school experience.
In
addition, you will learn that chronological age is not a
guaranteed method of predicting school readiness.
Chronological age is the time period measured in years and
months from birth.
34
35
There is a great need for parents to become more aware
of their child's readiness so that they might help him make
more appropriate decisions regarding his future.
It is
well known that our schools contain a significant number of
educational casualties.
Many of these casualties are the
direct result of limited readiness.
Most of these problems
could be resolved through remedial help, parent understanding, and cooperation.
Parents who can recognize inadequate
readiness are better able to assist their child's growth
by following some simple procedures and recommendations.
Parents must become aware, alert, helpful, and most
importantly, preventative in their approach, intervening
before rather than after the damage has been done.
Children are growing in all directions at all times.
A child grows physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually, and communicatively every day of his existence.
Children do not grow or develop at the same rate in all of
the above areas.
Children are individuals with different
experiences and unique developmental patterns.
The
uniqueness of each pattern creates strengths and weaknesses as well as particular modes of learning.
Some
children need extra time to develop certain readiness
skills.
Most developmental areas are learned.
With
proper training and understanding, parents could offer
help in areas that can be easily corrected.
Your child's
education includes the cooperative efforts of home and
36
school, and as parents you can assist this crucial process.
The school readiness of children in certain areas has
changed dramatically in recent years.
What was formerly
considered to be adequate school skills are no longer
applicable.
Kindergarten is becoming almost as academic
as first grade was one generation ago, and is no
long~r
a
place where children play, nap, and snack on milk and
crackers.
Because of this, parents may find themselves at
a loss as how to gauge their child's development.
In most states schools continue to use age as the
only means of measure.
Yet there is not total agreement
among the different states as to the age they will admit
children to kindergarten.
It would appear to follow then,
that chronological age is not an absolute measure for
readiness or success.
To arrive at conclusive evidence of
school readiness, all developmental areas require careful
consideration.
I.
These developmental areas include:
Physiological- development of all the senses and
normal physical growth.
A.
Chronological age
B.
Height and weight
C.
Sex
D.
Visual Perception- visual memory, discrimination
and association.
E.
Auditory Perception
auditory memory, discrimination, and association.
F.
Motor Perception- large and small muscle development and coordination.
37
G.
II.
Other Body Functions -glandular, neurological,
hormonal, etc.
Social~
ability to relate successfully with other
people.
III.
Emotional- ability to relate independently with one's
environment.
IV.
Intellectual - ability to gain understanding and
utilize information in everyday experiences.
V.
Language - ability to communicate coherently with
others.
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS
Physiological
Chronological Age.
If your child is five years and
six months of age at the time he enters kindergarten, he
will have had adequate time to develop most skills.
How-
ever, as mentioned earlier, age does not guarantee readiness.
It has been found that kindergarten children who
are five years and six months or older, tend to do better
than the younger ones and have fewer retentions, are better
adjusted, and have higher achievement scores.
To a parent,
a four to six month age difference appears to be very
small, but to the child it may represent more than 10 percent· of his total life.
Height and Weight.
Your child's height and weight
alone may not tell a great deal, but used in conjunction
with other readiness factors may add further understanding.
The following tables provide information on average height
and weight for 5 and
5~
year old children of each sex.
38
Boys
Girls
5 YEARSz 0 MONTHS:
Height: 43 inches
Weight: 40!-z pounds
Height: 43 inches
Weight: 40!-z pounds
5 YEARS, 6 MONTHS:
Height: 44!-z inches
Weight: 44 pounds
Height: 43!-z inches
Weight: 43 pounds
If your child is different from the average, it simply
means that he is above or below the average height and
weight.
In addition, height and weight (like most physical
processes), are related to hereditary traits.
Sex.
It has been found that learning difficulties
and behavior disorders are more frequent in males than in
females of the same chronological age.
In kindergarten
boys tend to be behind girls in their rate of maturation
and are generally at a disadvantage because they may have
difficulty identifying with female teachers.
Later they
will catch up and perhaps even pass girls.
Visual Perception.
Vision itself is important, but
other equally critical factors such as visual memory,
visual discrimination and visual association are extremely
essential to learning.
• Visual memory is the ability to remember what has
been seen. Example: to remember the way to walk to
school.
• Visual discrimination is the ability to tell the
difference between similar looking things. Example:
the letters M and W or was and saw.
39
Visual association is the ability to associate what
one sees with another sense. Example: seeing and
hearing, seeing and writing, etc.
Research data suggests that visual discrimination is
the best predictor of first grade reading success, and
that visual perceptive scores have greater predictive
value for reading success than intelligence scores.
Auditory (Sound) Perception.
Hearing is necessary to
develop adequate speech, pronunciation, and overall language.
The other areas of auditory skills include:
• Auditory memory - the ability to remember and
repeat spoken words or instructions.
• Auditory discrimination - the ability to tell the
difference between similar sounding letters, words
or phrases.
• Auditory association
the ability to relate spoken
sounds and words with other senses. Example:.
auditory-visual association, auditory-motor association.
If a young child cannot hear, differentiate, remember,
or associate what is spoken, he will not be able to follow
given directions in school.
Auditory skills are an impor-
tant part of phonics, the sounding out process associated
with seeing and reading printed words.
Motor Perception.
Important keys to successful
development are the large (gross motor) and small muscle
(fine motor) coordination.
A young child who is restricted
from practicing the use of his large and small muscles will
develop more slowly than a youngster who has a lot of
practice.
40
Large muscle skills such as crawling, walking, jumping, skipping, and hopping develop sooner than
small muscle skills such as coloring, drawing, copying, printing, and writing.
• If a youngster cannot run, throw~ draw, tie a knot,
fasten buttons, copy, cut or do the things which
are considered key skills for kindergarten, he will
need special help.
Coordination of the visual, auditory, and motor
senses is the ultimate goal.
Such coordination will be
necessary for adequate educational functioning, but it is
the last step in a child's development.
Other Body Functions.
Body functions such as neuro-
logical processes, glandular activity, hormonal balance,
and body metabolism are all important to promotion of
smooth, healthy development.
All children should have a
complete physical examination by the family physician
before entering kindergarten.
The physician can also
provide health information such as immunizations which the
school may require.
A physically healthy child will be
able to make the most out of his learning opportunities.
Social Maturity
A child's social maturity will depend mostly upon his
experiences with youngsters his own age.
At this point in
his development the child is thrust from the home and into
the peer group.
Every child has a strong need and desire
to belong and feel accepted by his peers.
Generally, the
more experiences your child has had in dealing with and
adjusting to his peer group, the better his social
41
adjustment.
Social maturity can be gauged by how well a
child is able to adapt to other youngsters in playful and
serious activities.
Emotional Maturity
Social and emotional maturity are interrelated.
A
young child's emotional maturity is dependent upon how he
feels about himself.
A child who has unreasonable fears,
who is unable to care for his toilet needs, or cannot be
away from horne for short periods of time will have much
more difficulty developing adequate readiness skills.
Emotional maturity can be measured by how well a child can
function independently, i. e. without his parents in a
supervised environment.
Intelligence
Your child's ability to gain, understand and utilize
information provided by his senses is defined as intelligence.
There are several sub-categories of development
included in intellectual ability.
They are:
• Recognition or awar~ness of concepts such as an
idea, word, or thought;
Remembering past experiences or previous concepts;
• Categorizing or classifying concepts - putting them
in some logical order; and
·
• Finally, the process is completed through analyzing,
judging, deciding, assessing or selecting.
Although intelligence may not be the best predictor
of school readiness, it is of utmost concern for a child
to understand his environment and learn from his experiences.
42
Language
A child beginning kindergarten must be able to understand normal use and comprehension of language to be even
slightly successful.
He must be able to speak clearly to
make himself understood to others.
Some sound errors in pronouncing the "t," "r," "ch,"
"sh," "th," "z," "s," and "v" sounds are perfectly normal
for
5~
year old children.
However, if the child cannot make his wishes known or
understand the desires of others, his success in school
will be substantially reduced.
If your child has unintel-
ligible speech or inadequate language comprehension he
should be brought to the immediate attention of the family
physician, school speech therapist, and/or other school
personnel.
Without appropriate language skills, progress
in other developmental areas will become delayed.
One cannot help but see the interrelation of the
developmental areas discussed here and their importance
for school readiness and success.
The child who is ready
for kindergarten:
• Will be in proper sequence with school curriculum;
• Will feel confident about himself and his accomplishments;
Will reflect a well-balanced individual who is
filled with enthusiasm and curiosity; and
• Will be awaiting a challenge, be able to solve
problems, and be ready for success.
HELPFUL HINTS TO PARENTS
There are many ways that you, as parents, can guide
43
your child toward success while at the same time begin to
understand him better.
Some of these ways include:
• Of utmost importance -don't panic if your child
does not meet your expectations as outlined in
these developmental areas. Time and patience, along
with his feeling that he is succeeding, are what he
needs most.
• Parents cannot expect a child to grow beyond his own
rate. Too much or too little focus or nurturance
can be harmful to the young child.
• Children can make dramatic and important changes in
a short period of time (even six months). Although
your child may not be able to master many of the
developmental tasks now, he has the entire school
year to mature at his own rate without undue
pressure.
• Learning how to work with your child to help guide
his development may not be a natural skill which
comes easy to you. Many parents' efforts to help
their children with school work are useless.
But
this skill can be learned.
Some of the principles
are as follows:
1.
Respect the Child. Each child needs to experience the world for himself, to develop selfdirection, independence, and responsibility for
his own actions.
Recognize this and allow your
child to grow from and take the consequences of
his mistakes. Within safe limits let the real
world teach your child rather than try to do it
by preaching, accusing, or forcing your will
through power.
2.
Pay for Honest Work. Do not always expect your
child to respond to doing what someone else
decides is their natural obligation. Your
child will respond to the choice of earning
rather than simply being told what to do. Making progress charts or letting tokens earned
lead to a desired activity or material reward
is responding to children the way we respond to
the world of work.
3.
State Rules Only Once. Having to restate rules
or nag is a sure sign that a game is being
played based on a power struggle, one you as
the parent can't win.
44
4.
Do Not Do for a Child What He Can Do For Himself.
Each new task a child can do for himself is a
source of pride both for himself and for his
parents. Children can do a surprising number of
things if they are given an opportunity to try,
fail, get picked up and encouraged to try again
without interference from anxious adults.
Encouragement is the key to fostering selfconfidence and pride.
5.
Be Consistent.
Being consistent is much easier
when a child's mistakes, failure, carelessness,
or irresponsibilities are understood as necessary positive acts and their logical consequences (punishment) are allowed to happen. But
when one is imposing one's will on another, this
can lead to guilt, uncertainty, uncontrolled
anger, or softening of the punishment. Consistency is the most important key to a child
rearing and learning experience.
Your experience in helping your child can be a suecessful and rewarding one if the relationship is based on
mutual respect and cooperation.
However, you will need to
understand some simple concepts of how a child learns.
• Learning proceeds from the concrete to the abstract.
Children learn numbers from having things to count
such as apples or oranges. Later a number symbol
can stand for this experience. Use material objects
in place of abstract words as a beginning point.
• Start at a point where success is easy and rewards
can come quickly.
Success is a better teacher than
failure and defeat. Develop confidence and offer
encouragement.
If he begins to fail more than
succeed in the task you are teaching, always go
back to a point where the child can be successful.
• Provide a variety of experiences on the same theme.
The more variation a child has the longer his attention span.
• Move slowly and review frequently.
Learning does
not occur as smooth forward steps.
It involves
backward movement, and at times plateaus where
little or no progress may be observed. Do not
become discouraged. Your child will need time for
reorganization and assimilation of the learned
45
material.
• Children change. Their behavior moves through
periods of growth and smoothing out, followed by a
breakup and reorganization in preparation for the
next stage. These cycles can be as short as six
months for the young child. Be aware and take into
account that the cooperative child of today can
become the independent, testing, uncooperative
child of tomorrow as a result of growth alone.
Through understanding, and a minimum of assessment
techniques, as well as keeping these learning principles
in mind, you can guide your child's development and
increase his chances of a successful school experience.
Chapter 6
PREPARING YOUR CHILD FOR LEARNING IN SCHOOL
Children are the world's most valuable resource and its
best hope for the future.
J. F. Kennedy
The aim of this chapter is to present information,
guidelines, and activities which will help you prepare
your child for learning in kindergarten.
The areas of
concern to be discussed will include: color naming, number
concepts, discrimination of form, symbol matching, speaking vocabulary, listening vocabulary, general information,
intellectual development, coordination, and small muscle
control.
COLOR NAMING
It is important for every child to learn his colors.
There are very few children who cannot learn to distinguish colors.
Very few girls and only about 4 percent to
5 percent of the boys may have trouble.
The eye develops
the ability to distinguish color as it matures.
The dif-
ference between red and green is usually distinguished
first, then the difference between yellow and blue.
By
the time a child enters kindergarten, his eyes are usually
sufficiently mature to make these distinctions.
46
47
Parents must provide the basic training for formal
learning.
Having a child choose a red shirt or blue
sweater is helpful both in color naming and in developing
self-reliance as well.
Every child needs a collection of
objects in the home, consisting of the primary and secondary colors in their pure form.
The color game can be
played using this collection of colored materials, and then
later extended to household objects.
Gradually, your child
will learn other colors such as lavender and avocado.
A
trip to the supermarket provides a wealth of colors which
your child will delight in identifying.
Fine color distinctions need not be made.
few larger categories is enough at this age.
Knowing the
Some practice
should be given in developing a color sense by selecting
colors that go together, yet don't be too conventional as
tastes change with the generations.
NUMBER CONCEPTS
The idea of "how many" fascinates children.
to count should be part of their daily activity.
Learning
For
example, counting the number of cars that are passed or
the telephone poles beside the road.
Learning to read numbers can be practiced by reading
the license plates of cars.
Playing commercial games such
as Parchisi or Backgammon where one counts the number of
steps taken are fun and provide good practice.
48
The number of places at the table and the number of
knives, forks, and spoons needed to set it are preliminary
lessons to those your child will get in school in one-toone matching of numbers.
Other number ideas that must be
practiced extensively are related to size and quantity.
Big and little, wide and narrow, short and tall, light and
heavy, are all estimates of things that can be determined
accurately by measurement.
The identification of values
as well as the names of coins, and grasping the ideas
involved with commonly used fractions contribute to his
general knowledge of numbers.
Equally important is a very complicated way of measuring the passage of time.
The days of the week and the
names of the months are very difficult for the kindergartener.
Knowing the day of the week, the date and the
month is repeated daily at school.
needed at home.
Much more practice is
Such poems as "Monday, Wash Day,"
"Monday's Child is Fair of Face," etc., and other nursery
rhymes help establish the calendar concept.
Naming the
days of the week, and the months of the year in order is
usually not accomplished for a year or two, but having an
idea of the passage of time through the seasons is ready
to be developed.
Books and poems about the seasons are a
good way to introduce your child to this concept.
Using the clock helps a child develop a sense of
rhythm and organization.
We get up when the hands point
49
to . . . we eat when the hands point to . . . we go to
school when the hands point to
we come home when the
hands point to . . . we go to bed when the hands point to
. develop time awareness.
Skill will develop in tell-
ing time beginning with the hour, then the half hour, the
quarter hour and then the five-minute intervals.
It will
be some time before a child will be ready to divide time
into minutes.
Children enjoy having an old clock which
they can turn and set themselves.
Many time-telling
activities will not be learned until the end of the first
grade, so your child will need a lot of practice with timetelling for quite a while.
DISCRIMINATION OF FORM
Children delight in exploring the world of touch without the stimulation of vision interfering.
Before this
can take place the child will need visual experiences with
many common objects that will help him become familiar with
them in many different ways.
The size, shape, color,
textural quality and material of which things are made are
as important in "knowing" an object as its name.
Sorting games are good preliminary training for the
time, somewhat later, when a child is beginning to distinguish between words as he starts to learn to read.
A
collection of small objects is needed to play a sorting
game.
They can be sorted by color, size, shape, composi-
tion, or texture, or any special quality.
The variations
so
are almost endless.
Placing the objects in groups of three, four, or five
and then determining those that go together and those that
do not is another way the sorting game can be played.
Often the same objects can be grouped in different ways.
By making these comparisons children can determine how
things are different, and by generalizing, they can find
out how they have some characteristic in common.
In this
way a child can be given invaluable training in how to
think.
A number of things may be placed in a large paper bag
and the child is asked to produce the one that is asked
for by touch alone.
The game is made hard or easy by
selecting objects that feel alike or quite different.
For
example, distinguishing between coins or a collection of
marbles, blocks, balls and fruit.
Children who come to school without these experiences
often have trouble in writing and manipulating materials
as well as in reading.
Getting a good foundation well in
advance of learning these important skills, gets a child
off to a good start.
SYMBOL MATCHING
When a child learns to read and write, he must learn
a complicated process of decoding and encoding a set of
symbols that stand for the sound of words.
This process
51
is very complex.
To do it successfully he must have a good
foundation in the many steps in perception that lead to
the recognition and reproduction of words.
Learning the important facts of position involved in
over, under, in, out, in front of, behind, and so forth
are fun for young children.
Stepping on or off a crack in
the sidewalk, in or out of a circle while saying what he
is doing or even shouting it out loud gives him a real
feeling for these concepts.
Repeatedly describing things as near or far, tall or
short, fat or thin, big or little, helps a child recognize
the relationship of things to space.
You need to be very
patient with his questions about these subjects because
these relationships are very complicated.
(balls) have no sides.
Others (blocks) do.
Some things
A child may
move his finger slowly down a pencil asking what is the
part he is touching, because he is not sure that different
parts of the shaft may not have different names.
He has
already discovered that a part that looks very much like
the rest of the shaft, the eraser, does have a different
name.
We need to play the space game with him, and to
play it over and over again with the same things as well
as with many things.
Everyone as a child has lain on the grass on a lazy
afternoon and seen the rabbits and the camel and the little
poodle dogs in the clouds.
This is a fine exercise in
52
making patterns with meanings out of a jumble of material.
The basic forms of the circle, the square, the rectangle
and the triangle are associated with the many objects in a
child's life.
Learning to distinguish these forms and
many others precedes learning the forms of letters.
Training in visual recall is a good exercise in perception and awareness.
Two or three objects are put on a
table, the child closes his eyes and one object is hidden.
He then opens his eyes and identifies the missing one.
He
will enjoy the game where several objects are put on a
tray and he looks at them for a minute and after it is
covered, he tells what was there.
Later, he may even be
able to tell you where each object was placed.
SPEAKING VOCABULARY
A child must be able to say words as well as to
understand them in order to communicate his thoughts.
The intelligibility of his speech is closely correlated
with his ability to imitate sounds.
He must know the name
of many objects and processes as well as the linking words
which help to make up sentences.
As his communication
becomes more refined, he will begin to use descriptive
words--adjectives, adverbs, and more colorful nouns and
verbs.
Some of the reasons why a child may not be able to
communicate adequately are:
f'
53
1.
The object may be unfamiliar;
2.
He may not know the object's name;
3.
He may have heard the name, but never understood
it;
4.
He may know the name but be afraid he will be
criticized if he is wrong.
If parents don't take special pains to help a child
develop a growing vocabulary, he will always have trouble
communicating.
Parents can help by playing word games with children.
A ride in the car can be changed from a boring or a hectic
ordeal into a fascinating experience if, while riding, all
the objects on the trip are named.
A bonus is gained by
the development of alertness and awareness of what is going
on around him.
The kitchen, the service room, the closet,
even a dresser drawer will contain many mysterious items
for a game of "What is it?"
Patience is the key to helping your child communicate.
Parents often supply a word too quickly when a child is
searching for a word to tell them something.
It sometimes
takes a long time for him to communicate a complicated
thought.
Too often parents will not take the time to hear
him through.
They impatiently tell them "later" or to
think out what he wants to say before he talks.
If you
take the time to listen patiently, the child will increase
his skill, and you will have a chance to enjoy your child
while he is growing up.
54
Teaching a child to say nursery rhymes and poems is
an effective way to increase vocabulary.
In this way three
things can be learned; speech continuity, word meaning and
retention.
The hours spent in this activity may pay
dividends when the child begins formal learning in school.
LISTENING VOCABULARY
If your child is to learn to read, he must know many
words that he may not use in his daily communication.
It
is important for him to develop understanding of what is
said to him, and it requires your child to have many
experiences with words.
Children often have difficulty with the names of
objects because objects may have more than one name.
For
example, an automobile may be known as a car, an auto, a
sedan, a coupe, or even a hot-rod.
known by the name of their parts.
Some things may be
When you change a
"wheel" you say you are changing the "tire."
Sometimes a
child knows the name of the object and not the parts or
vice versa.
It takes a lot of learning to explore a rich
language and to discover all the words needed.
Activities that increase a child's speaking vocabulary also increase his listening vocabulary.
Giving all
the names for an object such as "woman," "lady," and "girl"
for "mother" or root, trunks, branch or leaf as parts of a
tree are all parts of a learning activity that can become
a delightful game.
Above all, make it fun.
55
There is no substitute for reading to a child if one
wishes to develop his listening vocabulary.
Even as a
child gets older and learns to read for himself, he can
benefit by listening to stories with vocabularies which are
well above his reading level.
It is especially important to expose a child to language when he is very young.
Studies have shown that read-
ing to the child increases the level of his capacity.
Indeed, without these experiences, there seems to be some
retardation of mental development.
In extreme cases where
children have been deprived of all contact with language,
they have been unable to learn at all.
How can a parent get more satisfaction than watching
his child's awakening wonder as he is led through the
fascinating land of literature.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The child's world is very small.
gradually.
It widens very
He is usually only aware of familiar things,
and often only those things that are quite close to him.
Although most children have a strong sense of curiosity
that leads them to explore and investigate, other children
are not so outgoing, and they will need many things called
to their attention.
Each child should learn at an early age to identify
himself.
He needs to know his name, his family name, his
56
address and his telephone number.
It takes a lot of
persistent training by parents to teach this to a kindergarten child.
If they do not do it, he will seldom learn
these things by himself.
In exploring the world about him, he needs to learn
the use of common objects in his daily life like a stove,
a hat or a bicycle.
He needs to learn the qualities of
things in his daily experience.
hot.
Rocks are hard.
Ice is cold.
Pillows are soft.
Fire is
Grass is green.
These associations enrich his knowledge of the world about
him, giving it form and substance that he cannot get
otherwise.
The number of these concepts is almost endless
and learning in this area will continue for many years.
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
You can help your child reach his maximum mental
development if you expose him to many interesting experiences when he is young.
Children need an opportunity to create things and to
do so, they must have some materials and simple tools.
These may be mud, sand, clay, paper, pencil, shovels, old
cookie molds, buckets, pans and sticks, pieces of boards,
cloth, cardboard, nails and a hammer and paste.
To feel
successful they must share their creations and be appreciated as artists.
Never say, "What is it?" because obvi-
ously it's a horse as the artist will impatiently tell
you.
Always say, "That's nice.
Tell me more about it."
57
The young child also needs many opportunities to
understand the world about him; how things work; what goes
where and why; how we do things; what things help him
increase his general understanding.
Knowing the sequence of events of the day and the
week helps him gain a sense of order in his life.
Putting
ideas together in an orderly way in telling a story or
describing what happened on the trip to the park get him
ready to follow the presentation of a lesson at school.
If you had to give a reason for everything you asked
a child to do, perhaps someday he might get run over while
he is asking for the reason why he should jump out of the
way.
It is important for him to know that there are
reasons for everything that you ask him to do, even though
he may not fully understand them at the time.
Learning to
control or defer behavior when he is told the reason
rather than insisting that he do anything that the spirit
moves him to do, when it moves him, is one of the signs of
maturity.
It pays to take the time whenever possible to
explain the reasons for conduct to your child.
He will
develop a sense of logic and reasoning that will serve him
in good stead in his school experiences.
COORDINATION
Handling his body as it grows is an important task
that every child needs to spend some time in learning.
58
From his first tottering steps, he learns to become a
skillful walker, but all of this takes time and practice.
By the time he is seven years old, we should usually
expect him to be able to lie down and get up easily, to
sit with good posture on a chair his size, to walk, run,
hop, jump, and skip with either foot with ease.
Developing a sense of balance is important.
To learn
to swing and use the slides with innovations in ways of
using playground equipment is part of the training necessary in developing his body and skill in the use of his
large muscles.
It takes a lot of practice to develop
smoothness of movement and to overcome clumsiness.
Remem-
ber that a growing body presents a problem in itself.
As
he gets bigger, his arms get longer and the milk gets
closer and easier to spill as he makes an expansive gesture
at the table.
Practice in walking on low walls or a two-
by-four laid on the ground makes this task fun.
A child must learn to perform all of these muscle
activities smoothly and skillfully.
Careful research
shows that learning to skip on alternate feet is an important step in learning the small muscle control in reading
and writing.
Walking, running, hopping and jumping are the training exercises that are used in developing knowledge of the
body position and control of the body in space.
Each
child needs many opportunities to do these things under
f
'
59
many conditions so that he can learn to manage his body
efficiently.
SMALL MUSCLE CONTROL
Kindergarten children need to use things that can be
grasped by the whole hand.
Fat pencils and crayons that
are not too pointed are a must.
These little hands do not
have enough neuro-muscular development to use adult-sized
writing instruments without endangering their later handwriting skill.
Cutting and pasting are skills that take a lot of
practice.
All left-handed children need left-handed
scissors.
Cutting should be done on heavy or stiff paper
or light cardboard that will not turn over in the shears.
Library paste, while messy, will wash out and if eaten,
there is generally little ill effect.
A chance to use
these materials widens the scope of the child's creativity
by permitting more complicated construction with a
material, paper, that is easy for a child to manipulate
and control.
Looking at magazines is a popular pastime with
children.
Learning to take care of books, experiencing
the tearability of paper when the magazine is carried by
one page, and most important, gaining skill in page turning prepares a child to take good care of the expensive
educational
mat~rials
that are provided by the school.
60
Grasping and lifting things of different shapes,
sizes and textures helps him gain control of objects.
Fitting covers on boxes, lids on jars, and corks in bottles
is excellent small-muscle practice.
(See annotated reading
list for additional books referring to learning activities, Appendix B.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Luleen S. "When A Child Begins School."
Children Today (July-August 1976).
Braga, Laurie and Joseph.
Hall, Inc., 1975.
Learning and Growing.
Prentice-
Baruch, Dorothy Walter. Parents and Children Go To School.
Scott, Foresman and Co., 1939.
Canfield and Wells.
100 Ways to Enchance the Self-Concept
in the Classroom. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1976.
Cohen, Dorothy H.
1972.
The Learning Child.
Pantheon Books,
Cohen and Rudolph. Kindergarten and Early Schooling.
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1977.
Cohen and Rudolph. Kindergarten A Year of Learning.
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964.
Corkille Briggs, Dorothy. Your Child's Self Esteem.
Doubleday and Co., 1970.
Cullen, Kathleen.
1969.
School and Family.
Gill and Macmillan,
Frank, Lawrence K., and Mary. How to Help Your Child in
School. The Viking Press, 1952.
Havinghurst, Robert J. Developmental Tasks and Education.
Longmans, Green and Co., 1943.
Heggernan and Todd. Elementary Teachers Guide to Working
with Parents. Parker Publishing Company, Inc., 1969.
Hereford, Carl F. Changin~ Parental Attitudes Through
Group Discussion. Un1versity of Texas Press, 1963.
Koonce, Ray F.
1963.
Growing With Your Child.
Broadman Press,
Lane, Mary B. Education For Parenting. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1975.
61
62
Morrision, George S. Parent Involvement in the Home,
School, and the Community. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1978.
Nason, Leslie. Help Your Child Succeed in School.
stone Library, 1962.
Palmer, Richard. Starting School.
Press, 1971.
Corner-
University of London
Pererson, Helen Thomas. Kindergarten, The Key to Child
Growth. Exposition Press, 1958.
Pickarts and Fargo.
19 71.
Parent Education.
Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Salk, Lee, Ph.D. What Every Child Would Like His Parents
to Know.
David McKay Company, Inc., 1972.
Satir, Virginia.
Inc., 1972.
Peoplemaking.
Science and Behavior Books,
Smith, Judith M., and Donald E. P. Child Management, Program for Parents and Teachers. Research Press Co.,
19 76.
Wills, Clarice Dechent.
Kindergarten for Todays Children.
Follett Publishing Co., 1967.
63
APPENDIX A
SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
64
APPENDIX A
SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE
Child's Name
________~M~i~d~d~l~e--------~N~i~c~k~n-a_m_e_,--i~f~a-n--y
--~1-a-s~t--------~F~i-r_s_t
Address ___________________________ Telephone_______ Boy__ Girl
Father's Name
Mother's Name
Address
Address
---------------------
(If different from child's)
----------------------------
Occupation
Occupation_________________________
Business Telephone
Business Telephone_______________
Other persons living in the home:
Name___________________________ Relationship_______________ Age____
Name
Relationship________________ Age____
Name
Relationship
---------------------------------------------------------
----------------
Age
----
Pets and their names
---------------------------------------------------
Housing:
Single Dwelling
Apartment___ - Trailer
Tent
Othe_r__
Child sleeps:
Child usually goes to bed at
--------
Child does
------------------- or
In own room
With one other
With two others
With more
and gets up at
does not
---------------take a nap
-------------------Eating time: Breakfast at
------ Lunch at------ Dinner
-----, snacks at----------Appetite:
Good
Poor
Child helps at home by:
Variable
Allergies
Making Bed
Helping Clean
Setting Table--Emptying Wastebaskets
Other
at
--------------------
-----------------------------------------
65
Child prefers to play:
Interests:
Alone
With one other
In groups
With adul~
Favorite TV Programs
---------------------------------------
Favorite Toys __________________________________________________________
Favorite Games
---------------------------------------------------------
Favorite Stories
-------------------------------------------------------
p '
66
APPENDIX B
ANNOTATED READING LIST
67
APPENDIX B
ANNOTATED READING LIST
CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING:
Arnold, Arnold.
Teaching Your Child to Learn: From Birth
to School Age. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1971.
This book deals with complexities of modern life,
and how a parent can use these difficulties to their
advantage.
Developmental stages of growth are discussed, as well as how learning experiences are more
valuable when they grow out of natural or spontaneous
events. Views television as a stimulating educational
aid.
Badger, Earladeen D. Mothers Guide to Early Learning.
McGraw Hill Early Learning Company, 1973.
Contains many activities for parents to use in
helping their young children develop and learn. Such
areas as visual attention, early eye-hand coordination, simple motor skills, interest in objects,
socialization and imitation and matching are included.
Gesell, Arnold, M.D., and Ilg, Frances L., M.D. The Child
From Five to Ten. Harper, 1946.
This book explains the general pattern by which
school age children grow from year to year and what
may be expected of them at each age. Due allowance is
made for the ever present individual differences.
Jenkins, Gladys Gardner, Shacter, Helen, and Bauer, William
W., M.D. These Are Your Children. Scott Foresman,
1966.
Specialists in child development describe the
physical growth, characteristic reactions, and needs
of children from ages five through eleven. Lavishly
illustrated with photographs of busy youngsters.
Marqollo, Jean, and Lloyd, Janice. How to Help Your Child
Learn Through Play.
Scholastic Book Services, 1973.
This book is designed to help parents enhance
their child's natural play activities and encourage
creativity, curiosity, and learning development at
home. The book offers a wealth of simple, but
imaginative activities that can help give your child
the basic learning skills he will need in the school
years ahead.
Radler, Don H., and Kephart, N.C.
Harper, 1960.
Success Through Play.
68
How to prepare your child for school and learning
through play activities, and enjoy yourself in the
process. The first part of the book deals with how
children's motor skills operate. The second part is
about games to develop or improve these skills.
Wolf, Anna W. M. A Parents Manual: A Guide to the Emotional Development of Young Children. New York:
Unger, 1971.
The management of children is discussed in warm,
human terms to help parents understand themselves,
their children, and the hidden needs revealed in a
child's everyday behavior.
CHILD REARING:
Dreikurs, Rudolf, M.D. The Challenge of Child Training:
A Parents Guide.
Hawthorn Books, 1972.
This book provides practical advice on specific
training situations, from weaning to classroom difficulties.
It also deals with an attitude of the heart
and mind toward children and child training. The
author explores "the reasons behind children's
behavior and misbehavior, discusses the three most
effective methods of training, describes the 20 most
common mistakes in child training, and gives specific
advice on handling 20 given pro~lem situations."
Fraiberg, Selma H.
The Magic Years. Scribners, 1959.
The author, a child psychotherapist and professor
of social casework, discusses with humor the problems
of childhood from birth to school age.
Practical suggestions are presented for dealing with issues such
as fears and anxieties, toilet training, feeding, sex
education, and the psychological effects of punishment.
Ginott, Hiam G., Dr. Between Parent and Child. Avon Books,
1965.
Gives practical and sound advice to parents in
their child-rearing tasks.
Deals with topics such as
responsibility and independence, discipline, jealousy,
anxieties and fears, sex, children in need of professional help.
Hostler, Phyllis.· The Childs World,· Penguin Books, 1953.
The needs of children and the reactions of their
parents are vividly and warmly presented. Concrete
suggestions are offered for dealing with children's
adjustments and relationships, their fears, .fantasies
and questions.
69
PSYCHOLOGY:
Chapman, A. H., M.D. The Games Children Play. Berkley
Publishing Co., 1971.
The author's basis for the book is drawn from 25
years of psychiatric work with children, adolescents,
and parents. The material deals with unhealthy childparent relationships and the ways in which they hinder
children's personalities and destroy the comfort of
families.
This book will help you "understand the
harmful patterns that sometimes arise in child-parent
relationships, develop more constructive communication
with your children, learn to cope with the disturbing
implications of the 'games,' and head off adolescent
problems."
Gordon, Thomas.
P.E.T.: Parent Effectiveness Training.
Describes a "No Lose" program for raising
responsible children. Empahsis is on parents acquiring new insights and skills to avoid conflict.
Holt, John. How Children Fail. Pitman, 1964.
Young children are curious about everything they
see, and eager to learn, understand and create. The
question asked by the author of this widely discussed
book was, "What happens to these marvelous capacities
when children get to school?" To answer it, John
Holt spent years in classrooms as a teacher observing
how discouragement, anxiety, boredom, and confusion
turn off the best part of the child's mind.
Holt, John. How Children Learn. Pitman, 1967.
This book is based on the author's day-by-day
observations of children learning to know and do
things from babyhood on. He urges parents and
teachers to encourage each child to follow his own
"natural style" of learning in his enthusiastic quest
for knowledge of the world around him.
Hymes, James L., Jr. Understanding Your Child. Prentice
Hall, 1952.
An informal report on how parents and children
develop together, with excellent suggestions for
better relationships.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Cleveland, A. The Parent From Zero to Ten. Simon and
Schuster, 1957.
A humorous look at the trials of being a parent.
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Larrick, Nancy. A Parents Guide to Childrens Reading.
Doubleday, 1964.
An excellent guide for parents who are eager to
encourage their children to read more widely. Well
illustrated, it covers all phases of childrens reading
development, not neglecting the time they spend on
comics and T.V.
Includes recommended lists of good
books, arranged both by age and by interest.
Missildine, W. H. Your Inner Child of the Past. Simon
and Schuster, 1963.
Discusses how "the child we used to be" can
still be affecting our behavior. Describes through
easy reading how we often continue ourselves the
patterns of parenting that we received as children.