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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

When people say their dc is really ready to start school what do they actually mean?

19 replies

pigswithfludontfly · 04/06/2009 20:35

Just curious really...

OP posts:

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nzshar · 04/06/2009 21:03

Well I can only speak for myself, my ds started reception in Jan and went to nursery 2 and a half hours a day for the year before hand. Ds was getting to the point of needing to be away from me more than anything. As much as we try as mothers to allow freedom according to age we tend to smother a bit (well I know I did PFB and only child syndrome )School allows independence, choice making etc. Also I have never wanted to "teach" my ds (even though NNEB trained, I want to mother him but his need to read, write and learn in a more formal way was starting to show.
It has also allowed me to move on and not be just mummy anymore. 4 years fulltime was enough

fortyplus · 04/06/2009 21:04

That they're fed up to the back teeth with all the 'But WHY?' questions!

FAQinglovely · 04/06/2009 21:06

For me it meant that my September, and more so my November born DS's were ready for the challenges of school and were itching to get there

SoupDragon · 04/06/2009 21:06

DD (3.4) is over confident, extremely social, demanding, inquisitive and could start school tomorrow without a backward glance.

BonsoirAnna · 04/06/2009 21:08

It means that they could do with the structure of school, with the company of other children, the learning opportunities, the chance to be themselves without carers.

Lilyloo · 04/06/2009 21:08

fortyplus
for me it's the fact my 4 year old Jan born dd is really testing my patience...
I find they get less challenged by the usual activities and want more stimulation.

nkf · 04/06/2009 21:09

It means they are ready for something more structured, are able to be comfortable and happy in a larger group. I guess.

TheProfiteroleThief · 04/06/2009 21:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EachPeachPearMum · 04/06/2009 21:12

For me (myself, not my dc) - I could already free-read, and had finished the reading scheme at the school I was going to when I was nursery age. I could also write and do sums, and was getting bored at home with a baby brother whose main interest was eating sand...

Mintyy · 04/06/2009 21:13

I said it about my September born DS. He was 5 on the day he started in Reception. I was absolutely sure he would be fine at school: the 6 hour day, the staying for lunch, the big group of friends, the playground, the phonics, the learning to read and write. And he was.

Also, I was very very keen to have a bit more time to myself .

mumtoone · 04/06/2009 21:20

My ds was 5 in the October after he started school and he was definately ready to go. If nothing else he was fed up with the 3 year olds at nursery not understanding and sticking to rules! He was also reliably toilet trained and ready to start learning to read (knew his phonics and starting to read street signs etc). He's matured since starting school so I definately feel the time was right for him.

Original poster

pigswithfludontfly · 04/06/2009 21:33

That all makes sense. It's just quite a vague statement (note I'm not saying it's bad) so I wondered what people meant by it.

Can very much relate to the idea of the older ones finding the new entrants to nursery who are just turned three a bit 'young'. Ds isn't quite four yet and even I think that.

Think ds will be fine and is ready based on all this. Need to train him up to do buttons and bottom wiping still though!

at the mums being ready for their dcs to go to school. I'm looking forward to getting a bit more work done tbh.

OP posts:

bruffin · 04/06/2009 22:01

Sept born DD standing at the top of the stairs one evening when she was 4.5 shouting

"I want to start school NOW!

golgi · 04/06/2009 22:28

In my case it's possibly more that I'm ready for him to go to let someone else answer the endless questions about things.
He's a Jan birthday. Boy two was born end of August and is due to start pre-school a few days after his third birthday. Not sure he's "ready" - or will be ready for school just after turning four. But we'll see.

MollieO · 04/06/2009 23:05

In ds's case ready for a new challenge and new friendships. Had a lot to do with his level of confidence.

ChasingSquirrels · 05/06/2009 00:36

I never said it about (Sep born so nearly 5 when he started) ds1.
He was bored of play-school from about 4.5y, but would have been happier staying at home, and would probably have got more out of it as long as I had arranged regular meet-ups with other children.

Most of the people I have actually heard saying it (as opposed to online) mean that THEY are ready not to have the child at home all the time.

cory · 05/06/2009 08:03

In dd's case ready to spend more time away from me, make more friends, be more independent and try something new. Didn't have to be formal schooling, something more on the lines of a Scandinavian nursery with lots of outdoor stuff would have done equally well.

RubberDuck · 05/06/2009 08:19

Bruffin: that was pretty much my ds2 at 4

I think it happens more often/earlier with a second child, especially if their older sibling is enjoying school. From the age of about 3, ds2 would occasionally leg it into ds1's class when the bell went - not quite sure what he thought would happen, that we wouldn't notice and would let him stay?! He has never really liked the feeling that he was missing out.

TrillianAstra · 05/06/2009 08:27

I suppos it's the opposite of 'not ready to start school'. My Mum says that I (May birthday) was definitely ready to start at 4-and-a-bit (I even went on the school bus, and she drove behind to check I would be okay ). Whereas my Septmeber-born brother was somehow younger at the same age would not have been ready, and luckily it worked out that he started at age very-nearly-5. So not always a second-child thing.

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