Wazuans,

Please advise.

I was thinking of taking my baby girl who is turning 3 in April 2013 to baby class in January.
However, on consultation with her grandmother(on her dad's side) who is very experienced with children, she advised me to put it off for a while as she is still too young, reasons being:

1. She will come to dislike school earlier on which will have a negative effect on her performance in later years.

2. Her mind is not mature enough to hold onto information i.e. one day she may be able to recite the alphabet and the following day, she will be unable to do so therefore leading to frustration.

What is your take on this? Anyone willing to offer their advise.

Points to note:
1.she is quite tall(big) for her age.
2. I think it would be good for her to start interacting with other kids as the neighbourhood in which we live at the moment has very few kids therefore she talks to birds, insects etc.

Don't have much clue on this. Shall cross that bridge around November 2013 like you are doing now. On the second point raised by your grandmother, my opinion is that at that age learning is not really the focus of the school so there would be no pressure for your girl to hold onto information.

My baby girl & yours are of the same age.i have also struggled with the same question for a long time.But it all depends on the circustances.If she is in a good environment with no Househelp headache then let her stay at home.But if not she is betteroff in an instituition than be introduced to wickedness/nonestop TV screen at a tender age.

But if you decide to take her to school,make sure its a good one where teachers knows what they are doing instead of trying to please you through child's performance ending up giving her more than she can chew coz she will definately hate school.At that age they need to learn at their own spead.Thats my opinion and wish you the best

I think 4 - 5 yrs is the right time to introduce formal learning. Before that, learning should be experiential- through play. Unfortunately, many of our so called kindergatens are just formal schools and this sucks. Also, Kenya has no system that supports play groups where kids 5yrs and below meet with other kids in the estate and just play under supervision while their mums or carers catch up on vybe. We grabbed all the plots that would have become estate parks and now we are suffering for it.

I have always wondered what kids go to school to do at 2.5 years or even 3. And as someone has pointed out,kids should play....that is the main occupation of children. I see kids just being introduced to formal learning at such an early age,and then they have to be on top of the class because they are given exams,then after that,they start cramming and going for tuition on holidays and the cycle continues.@ mapozi,why do you want your kid to recite anything now :(



Or am I missing a point here?

There is a widespread problem in Kenya, somehow parents want their kids to learn so much that they're willing to put their kids to school as early as 3. 5yrs is the right age to start school, I know in US kids are not allowed in school until they are 5yrs old.

5 yearz...

Well said,but it would be important to consider all children may not follow the same equation. Times ve changed too not to mention the school system. You may not want to chance with the kid's education, ask yourselve how many children underwent a similar system and languishing in the village? and what is the probability?

I think most parents ar taking their school at an early age coz of also keeping up with the "Jones syndrome"wheere you think my kid might look/be backward if i don't take them to school early like my neighbour did.
I mean i have a rela who's taking her kids to "play-group" and they are not yet even 2!! ati it wil help them talk faster....watcha mtoto ake nyumbani!

with what househelps are teaching young kids, they are better of in a play group