Kindergarten Readiness
by Dr. Elisabeth Jacobi, Stuttgart

The following article appeared in the book Von Der Würde des Kindes, a collection of articles originally published in the Waldorf journal, Erziehungskunst. It was translated by Paula Lane DeLorrne of the Merriconcag School in Freeport, Maine.

The question of whether there is a time of "kindergarten readiness" has become an urgent question in Europe only in the last few years. Not long ago, in our experience, a child came into the kindergarten before the end of its fourth year. There was no room. With the decline of the birth rate, however, an increasing number of kindergarten spaces became available, and the younger children entered to fill them. The kindergartens want to fill their places, and the mothers are glad to be able to bring their children into the kindergarten early. Thus, the age of the children who come into the kindergarten is now lowered to such a point that it is necessary to become clear about what constitutes kindergarten readiness in a child.

We want to disregard external necessities for bringing children into the kindergarten early. Whether it be that the mother must go to work or that the atmosphere in the home is such that one would like to remove the child as soon as possible. The central question remains before us: How do I recognize whether a child is really ready for kindergarten?

In its speech, today's child often says "I" as early as two years old. In the etheric body, the child's head becomes independent around the age of two and a half. and it begins to think. But the "I" experience still does not fully happen today until the child is three years old. Only after this step has been fully accomplished does the child begin slowly to make verbal contact with other children. This is achieved at about four years of age. At this age. the remaining speech development is often already complete, but not always. Children who cannot yet pronounce g-k-ch sounds have difficulties their will development-.while children who have difficulty pronouncing s-sch-st are behind in their intellectual development - in certain cases.

Much depends upon the parents' home when one considers the independence of the children. Whether a child can dress himself, whether he is clean, whether he can use the toilet independently is, to be sure, essential for the kindergartner, but these factors alone do not determine if the child has reached kindergarten readiness.

One must pay attention to the mental and physical stamina of the child. Can a child last four hours (the time of the normal kindergarten in Germany) without actually needing a nap? Is the child so susceptible that he would catch every sniffle in the kindergarten and become sick? Is the child already far enough along to handle the childhood diseases, or would it mean a premature exposure in certain cases? The child should already have developed a beginning sense of time. She must also have already overcome the first phase of defiance which still belongs to the 1-discovery. And she must be able to tolerate other children, in particular, many other children.

A small child plays by himself, runs to the others, watches, perhaps takes something away and continues to play alone again even when, many other children are in the room. The child is very imitative, but the imitation appears mostly. from hours to days later rather than right away. Only when a child can imitate spontaneously and can play with other children, do I consider him ready for the kindergarten.

The Painting and drawing depend again very strongly on how the child has been introduced to them at home. Recognizing kindergarten readiness is little agreed upon in this area unless one knows. exactly the rules of how the development of a child is mirrored in the "language of drawing".' (See the following article which refers to Michaela Strauss' book, Understanding Children's Drawings.) But it is important for the kindergarten child to recognise danger. The child needs this ability, among other things, for the kindergarten walk. Also, a kindergarten. child should generally already be able to go for a walk uninterruptedly - without stopping at every little stone. A child should be able to refrain from fighting with another child as well.

When one examines the kindergarten child as a physician, one experiences a certain inner independence or even boldness in the child, and one has the impression that, yes, this child is in his place. A three year old or a younger child has almost a protective covering over himself, which preserves him in his world. If one brings such a child into the kindergarten, then this covering rips open in about three, weeks and a "plucked, featherless little bird" stands before us. This can happen even if the child visits the kindergarten on an hourly basis, and the torn covering cannot be repaired simply by removing the child from the kindergarten, this unveiling of the protective covering occurs naturally between three and a half and four years old. Only then is the child really ready for the kindergarten. Whenever we cause this process to advance prematurely we are doing something similar to the early learning of reading. Of course, a protected. veiled child brings a great deal of heavenly forces and warmth of soul to the kindergarten teachers. This leads to the latter expressing quite a-special affection for the very young, ones. But this is an area that naturally weaves itself between parent and child and, in particular, between mother and child. No one else ought to interfere directly with this. It is emphasized here once again that this is spoken from a physician's point of view, and that the social and social-pedagogical duties toward emergencies and families in stress have not been addressed.

So the question of kindergarten readiness is to be examined very earnestly each time. Neither commercial nor emotional points of view ought to play a role here, and, in itself, that the child is being urged into kindergarten should not be a decisive factor. This article is meant to sharpen the perception of the problem from the point of view of our study of man. The teacher shares especially in the responsibility for the child's health in the first seven years.

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