When I started kindergarten, I was already reading. I knew nearly everything in the kindergarten curriculum (except I couldn't walk on a balance beam...which I learned pretty quickly...and I couldn't skip...which took me a lot of time to learn). The school asked my parents if they wanted to either move me to first grade or send me to first grade in the morning and then I could be in the afternoon kindergarten class. My parents talked to me about the options and asked what I wanted to do. I said something along the lines of...I like my teacher, I like school but why should I go all day when I can go part of the day and then come home and play? And my parents listened to my opinion and decided to just have me go to kindergarten for a half day and then come home. I was pretty young and they could easily have made the decision for me, but I appreciate that they consulted me and listened to my opinion. (There might be times when parents need to make a decision for their children but I love that in this case--where there wasn't a clear right or wrong choice--they listened to my opinion.)
My sister Suzy was born in September. When we were little, the cutoff date to begin kindergarten was September 1...but if you were born near then you could take a test and still go to kindergarten if you did well on the test. So again, my parents consulted with my sister...did she want to start kindergarten just before her 5th birthday...or did she want to wait a year? She chose to wait a year.
LESSONS LEARNED: It is valuable to give children choices and to listen to and validate their opinions.
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