Is my daughter ready for kindergarten?

My daughter Taylor turns five in two weeks. She is supposed to start kindergarten this coming September. We had a conference with her preschool teacher about a month ago, and she told us that Taylor is doing well with her school work, but sometimes she doesn't listen to directions. For example, "Please put away your crayons and go sit in the circle for story time" sometimes she will go off and play with something else instead. Not all the time, but maybe one in five times. She does this at home sometimes too. so I know she knows better, but perhaps she is just choosing not to follow directions?

The teacher made this sound like it was a problem and that Tay might not be ready for kindergarten this fall, but it's up to us.

I have since talked to Taylor's Sunday school teacher, her daycare, her grandparents, aunts, and no one else thinks she should be held back in preschool for another year. Is this enough to hold her back? And isn't this typical four year old behavior?

Answers:
Oh my gosh no! Don't let her be held back for choosing not to follow the directions sometimes. If it's honestly only 1 in 5 times that she doesn't follow directions it's not that bad. It sounds like she's just being a child and following what interests her. Maybe in kindergarten she will grow out of it.
Now, if it was an academic difficulty then I would say to wait on kindergarten. Well, maybe even then I would say start her in kindergarten because I think 2 years of K would be far more beneficial than staying in Pre-K for 2 years.
Anyways, I think your daughter will be fine. Maybe you can just praise her and offer some positive consequences when you hear she has a really good day.

Other Answers:
Preschools love to hold back kids for an extra year. Remember that they have a financial interest (more preschool, more $$$)

As a general rule, pushing your children ahead will give a smarter, more well-adjusted child than holding them back.

I would send her to kindergarten, there is no need to hold her back just because of that. As long as she has the basics like she can say her abc's and knows her colors and counting, things like that she is ready. Kids are going to test their boundaries if you let them. I tell my 5 yr old that if she doesn't listen to the teacher that she will be grounded and that works. I make sure that she knows that when she is at school the teacher is the boss and she has to do what she says and if I hear from the teacher that she has been bad and not listening to what she says she knows that she is in trouble.
Source(s):
mom of 5 Did you ask the teacher if she thought the problem was serious enough to hold Taylor back?

Work a little bit on her "following directions" skills this summer and she should be fine.

SEND HER TO KINDERGARTEN, IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO HOLD A CHILD BACK ONE MORE YEAR. I COULD UNDERSTAND IF SHE WAS NOT DOING WELL IN HER WORK ALSO. YOU SHOULD TRY TO WORK WITH HER OVER THE SUMMER AND HAVE DAYCARE, SUNDAY SCHOOL, GRANDPARENTS, AUNTS, WHOEVER HELP TOO. YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM AS IN ADD THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT.
BUT IT COULD JUST BE TYPICAL 5 YEAR OLD BEHAVIOR!
GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS! Normal, normal, normal. Let her go ahead. If you *do* discover that it was a mistake, let her do the extra year of kindergarten. But I don't believe it will happen.

Kids are very distractable. Some more than others. Keeping them back a grade won't usually change that.

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Is my daughter ready for kindergarten?

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