A XNUMX year old doesn’t want to go to school? This is how it should be, says the candidate of pedagogical sciences Marina Aromshtam*. Studying at this age cannot be the main activity.
“When a child of 5-6 years old refuses to study, it irritates and alarms parents: is he worse than others? How will he study at school? There is also parental ambition: all budding children should start reading as early as possible … If your child does not want to pore over the primer, try to understand: what does he want? If his favorite thing is to play, if he easily comes up with a plot, knows how to negotiate with his friends about the course of the game, then everything is fine with him. A playing child, as a rule, learns to read on his own. A little earlier or later. Age can vary from 5,5 to 7 years. He learns about letters in passing: it is enough to read him fairy tales and poems, the characters of which are letters, while walking, pay attention to the “city alphabet” – the “M” sign above the entrance to the subway, the huge words of advertising posters.
Perhaps you are impatient and believe that your child needs targeted reading sessions. In this case, they need to be properly organized. A five-year-old child is arranged completely differently than a seven-year-old child, and therefore it needs to be taught in a different way – through the game. Use lotto with short captions under the pictures, homemade books: picture + letter or picture + word, play “school”, “mail”, “art gallery” together. Many children are fascinated by the game of “signs”. For example, you are expecting guests from another country. Write and hang signs around the house with the names of objects unknown to them: “table”, “cabinet”, “lamp” … And when the wind rips off and confuses all the signs, some (the shortest ones) will have to be written again … Play with your child for your pleasure and have in mind: there is no rigid connection between early learning to read and future brilliant achievements. The milestone that really gives rise to unrest occurs at the age of 8-9 years. And it is connected not with the ability to put letters into words, but with the desire or unwillingness of the child to read books on his own.
* AUTHOR OF THE BOOK “CHILD AND ADULT IN THE PEDAGOGY OF EXPERIENCE” (LINCO-PRESS, 1998).