What is the parent's role in school readiness?

The parent's role in preparing a child for school is to create a healthy, safe, supportive, and engaging environment throughout early childhood. This includes several strategies.

Promoting good health

Good physical health is important for learning and participating in school. Make sure your child eats a healthy diet, gets plenty of physical activity, follows a regular sleep schedule and gets his or her recommended vaccinations.

Keeping wellness visits

Wellness visits allow your child's doctor to examine your child and monitor his or her growth, overall health and vision and hearing. The doctor will also check on your child's motor, speech and social development. If there are concerns about developmental delays, the doctor can refer you to state or local programs for early intervention.

Reading aloud

Reading to preschool children can help your child develop literacy. Benefits of reading aloud that promote school readiness include:

• Understanding that printed words have meaning
• Recognizing similar sounds, such as rhymes
• Learning letter and sound associations
• Increasing overall vocabulary
• Understanding that stories have a beginning, middle and end
• Developing social and emotional skills
• Learning numbers, shapes and colors

Encouraging play

Providing your child an opportunity to play and playing with your child is important for healthy child development. Benefits of play that promote school readiness include:

• Improving physical health
• Developing creativity and imagination
• Developing social and emotional skills
• Developing friendships
• Learning to share and solve problems with other children
• Learning to overcome challenges and be resilient
• Exploring worries or fears in imaginative play

Finding learning opportunities

Formal and informal opportunities for early childhood learning experiences in your community can promote your child's school readiness. Check out:

• Preschool or Head Start programs
• Museums or zoos
• City park or community programs
• Neighborhood play groups
• Story time at libraries or bookstores

Preparing for first day

To help your child prepare for the transition to kindergarten, start developing a daily routine a few weeks before school starts. Have your child wake up, eat and go to bed at the same times each day. Talk about your child's new school and listen to any concerns your child expresses. If possible, visit the school. Reading books together about starting school can also help your child know what to expect.