Going Beyond the ABC's for School Readiness

I had a few extra minutes this morning (thank goodness!) and sat down to drink my coffee in front of the TV. What a luxury! I'm usually one to go straight to my recordings, my ADD kicks in with all those commercials, but today I decided to watch Good Morning America. Cookie monster was on the screen and they were talking about the next season of "Sesame Street". At first, I was attracted to the familiarity of cookie monster, but then the content was really interesting and like always, it brought me back to Tips and Toys.

As per usual, I tuned in just as the segment was coming to an end. The spokeswoman was talking about how important the skills gained from watching "Sesame Street" are for school readiness. So what do we need for school readiness? If my child knows his ABC's, is he ready? Should she be able to count to 10? I heard my friends kid was already reading some words, is my kid behind because he's not doing that? He doesn't hold his pencil right. Should he be able to write his name? All these and so many more questions run through parents minds every day. And yes, these questions are very important and ones that I will talk about at a different time. But today, I want to mention the ones that were brought up by the spokeswoman from "Sesame Street". The very important skills like:

1. Attention
2. Cooperation
3. Being part of a group-- sharing, telling the truth and keeping our hands to ourselves.
4. Self Control
5. The importance of being a good friend and accepting differences in others
6. Turn taking
And so many more....

We sometimes focus so much on the "educational skills" that we forget how important all these other skills are for forming the foundation for higher level learning and executive functioning. The next time you're picking out an activity with your child, perhaps pick one where cooperation and working together matters. Something as simple as saving a large box and inviting a friend over to turn it into a castle, house or dinosaur cave can work on so many skills that get your child ready for leadership and success. They'll have to work together to decide on colors and how they want it to look. They'll have to listen to their friends ideas and learn about compromise and respecting others. And in the end, they'll see that having many ideas helps create something very special.

Have fun and enjoy your weekend! It's supposed to be beautiful here so I'm heading out to walk my dog!