Is My Child Emotionally Ready for Kindergarden?

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She'll be ready by the end of the summer!

I think what you can 'do to encourage emotional maturity for this child' is to LET HER GO MOM!

There is no specific day or age in children's lives where they all magically pass a milestone. Yours will do just fine. If she is a solitary person by nature, why is that a bad thing? Let her be who she is. If she is academically up to par and able to LEARN as a member of a group, I see no problems. Not all children are social butterflies.

Enjoy her!

:)

I wouldn't delay putting her in kindergarten because of the issue, since she is already 5 and will be 6 in Dec. (Not the oldest in the class probably, but far from the youngest; if you wait another year she will be much older than other kids).

There may be some underlying issue, or it may just be that she is developing in other areas first, and emotional development will come later. My daughter was very sensitive in Kindergarten and first grade. She has a Sep birthday, so she WAS the oldest in her class (she missed the cutoff by a couple of weeks). I remember having to pick her up from kindergarten early one day because she couldn't cope with the fact that there was a substitute. But now, she's finishing 6th grade and quite mature, emotionally, socially, and academically. She learned how to manage herself, and I think being in school with same-age peers helped (and she had 3 years of preschool before K, so it wasn't that it was a new thing).

My son had other emotional issues, melt-downs and such, and we put him in Kindergarten on time as well. His issues are from other sources (still trying to understand them all), but being with same-age peers again helps him see what is normal and acceptable and helps him work toward that (and he's made good progress, now in 4th grade). It also helps us see where he needs extra help, and we are in the process of getting an IEP to accommodate his special needs. In my opinion, it is easier when they are in the grade that their age places them in (he's in 4th now, I'm not saying look into an IEP right away by any means).

My point is that, whatever the cause of her emotional distresses, I would recommend putting her in Kindergarten next year. I think it will benefit her either way. And, a lot can happen between now and August (it's still almost 4 months away) and you might be surprised at how ready she is then!

My child cried every day except the last two months of 4K. He clung on to me and wouldn't let me leave infront of everyone. I had to pry him off of me and the teacher took him and I left. She always said he was fine once I was gone. This year in kindergarten he only cried the first day and really likes his teacher so that helps. She is very structured which keeps the kids going from one thing to the next.

Keep doing exactly what you have been doing. But you can only change your daughter's personality so much. She may never be an extrovert, or have a zillion friends. But she will be fine.

Let her cry if she wants to. And kindergarten is typically half day anyway. Most kindergarteners are not ready for a full day.

I would carry on with your plans for K in the fall.
Kindergarten teachers are a special breed (usually)! They are kind of half teacher, half mommy, loving and structured all at the same time. They deal with this all the time! heck, my 2nd grader has a boy in his class that cries about something almost every day!
This may be a baptism of fire, of sorts but I think it would be a bad idea to wait another year.

It is much easier to socialize with one friend then a group? Have you invited one child at a time to come to your home for a playdate? Also be sure she is getting enough sleep mine cries more when tired. She may need a full 12 hours of sleep. I agree with sending her to K. WE had a student who cried over everything in the Fall went to full day K and was fine by spring.

My son was also an older Kinder (October birthday) and he was mister sensitive. He would cry and have high drama in preschool and at home. I worked a lot with him on a "typical" reaction to a situation vs an "extreme" reaction to the same situation.

When he started kinder the teacher had a form we could fill out describing things our children did and how we handled them at home so she could be prepared. I went to great length describing his over reactions/crying/and high drama.

He came home each day with perfect behavior and I waited and waited for the phone call...that never came...

At our first parent teacher conference she told me he never displayed the behavior I mentioned on the sheet and she was even a bit confused as to why I had even written about it. He still tried it at home but we were still using the typical vs extreme labels and it had toned down a lot.

So, your daughter might just surprise you and leave the crying at preschool and soar in Kindergarten. Mine did much to my surprise.

You have a good plan in place.
She'll grow in a lot of ways in kindergarten and first grade.
When my son went to day care, he'd cry every morning I dropped him off, but he'd be playing happily 10 min later (they had a window where parents could peek in unobserved). And then at the end of the day he'd complain when I came to pick him up because he wanted to play longer.
Sometimes it's the transitions from one activity to the next that causes them some problems.
Other times they take criticism/correction from the teacher too personally. My son thought his kindergarten teacher didn't like him and she had no idea he felt that way. Once I explained he needed a brief 'make up and we're still friends' period after correction - they got along wonderfully the rest of the year and he out grew that phase fairly quickly.