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Parents Help Children Get Ready For Kindergarten

How can you help your child get ready for kindergarten?  Barbara Allisen has the answer.  I had a chance to chat with Barbara, a kindergarten teacher, author, and speaker.  She helps parents and care givers support children ages 0-6 years old to be powerful learners.

We had a wonderful conversation about how kids can get ready for kindergarten, and I came home with an autographed copy of her book, 123 Kindergarten.  Thank you, Barbara, for your generosity!

What Does It Take To Be Ready For Kindergarten?

It turns out that being ready for kindergarten is not about knowing your letters and numbers.  It is about inspiring a love of learning, curiosity, and confidence in our children.  The heavy push for academics and scholarly settings for preschool may have some fans, but remember that success and being ready for kindergarten, and then eventually college, is most closely correlated with a love of learning, knowing how to learn, and confidence in their ability to learn.

In her book, Barbara talks about self-help skills and emotional readiness, communication skills and language readiness, social skills, physical development, and academic readiness.  There is quite a bit involved in being ready for kindergarten.

Barbara has a host of resources to help parents help children to be ready for kindergarten.  Her website is 123Kindergarten.com, and every day on her blog, she posts a “Play of the Day”.  For those of us (meaning me) who are play-challenged, the “Play of the Day” is a great head start.  She also has a Radio Show on Mondays at noon Eastern called “Learn and Play with Mrs. A” on the Rockstar Radio Network.

I recorded a short video with Barbara so you can get a sense of her passion and spirit.  She wears her mission on her sleeve, literally.  Well, actually it’s not on her sleeve, but on her clothing.  You will see ABCs and 123s on her apparel because she is a living, breathing testament to success and being ready for kindergarten.  Those letters and numbers are also an invitation to parents to engage her in conversation about this topic which is so important to her.  She wants every child to succeed and is giving parents and care givers the tools to support them.

The tools are there for you.  Give your children what they need to be ready for kindergarten.

To get access to parenting resources, to find out how to be ready for kindergarten or to increase your presence as a parent, just fill in the box in the upper right corner.  We wish you all the best in your journey as a parent.