Further Considerations About Kindergarten Readiness
by Joan Almon, Acorn Hill

In talking with kindergarten teachers from all parts of North America, it has become clear that many schools are wrestling with the question of what age children ought to be when they enter our nurseries or kindergartens. Some schools have resolved the question by allowing young threes to enter into a nursery class where they are separate from the fours and fives, while others integrate them into a mixed age group.

In the book Kindersprechstunde (Urachhaus, 1984), Drs.Michaela Gloeckler and Wolfgang Goebel, look at many aspects of the young child's development as well as many types of childhood diseases. It is our hope that this most valuable book will be printed in English soon, but in the meantime we, summarize here some of their thoughts on when a child is "ripe" for entering kindergarten:

One consideration is that the child should literally be prepared to take some steps away from the home and mother. The child is ready to enter kindergarten when it has already walked away from its home once and found its way back or when it wants to go to a friend's home nearby on its own. For most children these tendencies are so pronounced that one day, to the horror of those present the child has "disappeared". Then the child returns and tells where it has been. As long as the child is still attached to the mother's apron strings, this time of independence has not yet come. In such cases, if the child is over 3½ or 4, the mother must examine herself to see if her behaviour is holding the child back from achieving this important independence. A second milestone of readiness appears when the child can listen to stories from beginning to end. This shows that the child's ability to visualise or conceptualise (the German word vorstellen is used which lacks a good English translation) can be directly reached through the word. The child is therefore ready to follow directions within the group.

In the experience of these two physicians, these signs are seen at the earliest around age 3½. If they do not appear by age 4, the then it may be helpful to speak with the child's paediatrician about this.

Some years ago, when Margret Meyerkort was offering a course at Acorn Hill, we consulted with her about kindergarten readiness. She discussed many of the same considerations offered, above by Drs. Jacobi, Gloeckler and Goebel, and added a few more. Her list included the following:

1. Today the child often says "I" at the age of 2, but the real experience of "I" is later. The "I" consciousness seems to begin early because the child is brought into thinking earlier than before. We need to discern now between the child's saying "I" and really meaning it, for only when it is truly there is the child able to reach others through speech rather than by hitting.



2. The child needs a certain amount of independence from the parent. It should be able to do a certain amount of dressing and undressing on its own. It needs to be toilet trained and independent of the breast.



3. The child needs to show a certain amount of physiological and psychological stamina. The child should:



1. Be able to stay awake for 4 hours without needing a nap;



2. Not be so delicate that he catches every little cold in school;



3. Be sufficiently developed that he can manage childhood diseases and does not get convulsions with high fevers;



4. Be past the first stubborn period of the "terrible twos" which belongs to the period of ego seeking;



5. Have developed the first feeling- for time because the ego is there;



6. Be able to take a good walk without stopping for every little stone or puddle.



4. Until 2 ½ or 3 the child plays by himself. After that he begins to play with others and can initiate activities at the time they are occurring.



5. The child should show the first possibilities of recognising, dangers and thus of not running into the street or pond. He or she should show the first possibility of defending himself rather than crying. This is an indication that the ego is there to ward off difficulties.

All of the above considerations point to a picture of the child who follows an archetypal pattern of development -- speaking around age 2 and thinking around age 3, accompanied by a real statement of "I", also around age 3. This is preceded by the difficult stage of the terrible twos when the child is creating a distance between himself and the world around him through the use of "no". It is only after this new I-awareness has had time to settle in to the child that he or she seems ready to reach out to the broader world of the kindergarten.

One sees these stages of development portrayed in the- child's drawings. In her book Understanding Children's Drawings (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1978), Michaela Strauss shows the circular movements drawn by the child under age 3. It is around age 3 that the circular movement develops into a circle with a clear inside and outside. (Illustration A) On page 24 she describes the process in this way: "In his drawing the child now tries very hard to make a circle and 'close it', 'Join it up'... A little girl is sitting up at the table completely engrossed in drawing circles all over the page. It is her third birthday, and in answer to the question: 'What is your name?' The answer comes: My name is "I" This flash of ego-consciousness is documented in the child's drawing by the form of the circle."

Michaela Strauss also describes the more linear form of crayon movement which the one and, two year old will also do. By age three this has generally evolved into a clear cross. (Illustration B) On page 27 she gives an example of David, who just turned three and preferred drawing with a hard pencil, letting "a mass of lines of the finest filigree arise on the paper, without, however, achieving the cross corresponding to his age. Then the family take, David and his younger brother to stay with friends who have five children. They are all older than David. David, the eldest up to now, the 'big' brother, cannot cope at the outset with his new role of 'little one'. So he escapes into illness, has a high temperature and lets himself be spoilt. Three days later he gets up and is well. As though to demonstrate that he can now master the new situation, he takes a thick coloured crayon and, for the first time, he draws, one after another, on several sheets of paper, a large perpendicular cross that fills a whole page."

Next the child, after the third year, begins to bring the circle and the cross together and continues to do so in a wide variety of ways "until the fifth year and beyond." The child will put a point or a cross into the middle of the circle, describing a new stage of self-development (Illustration C). "He uses these to show his relation to inner and outer space, and he puts a point or a cross in the centre of the inner space to represent himself. In both these symbols he illustrates for the first time his experience of the ego and of the world about him. The point and the cross within a circle represent the 'I-form'." (Page 29)

On page 30 Michaela Strauss gives a picture of the next and perhaps final stage in terms of Kindergarten readiness: "Towards the fourth year a new orientation is on its way. The point and the crossing having crystallized as I-symbols, this concentration now gradually begins to loosen. The paths of movement lead from inside outwards. To begin with they radiate out from the centre as far as the periphery of the circle and remain within this boundary; this soon becomes more free, however, and groping feelers reach out beyond." (Illustration D)

The remarks by Drs. Jacobi, Gloeckler and Goebel, as well as Margret Meyerkort and Michaela Strauss all seem to point towards children not being inwardly ready for nursery or mixed age kindergarten until between 3 ½ and 4. We are then left with the question of why is the trend developing in American education, including in Waldorf kindergartens, towards bringing the young 3's or, in some cases, even 2½ year olds into school programs? Perhaps the situation is comparable to why American education has brought academic studies to children age 5 and younger. On one level the children' seem ready. The 5 year old is often asking about how to write, read or do arithmetic. The parent or educator can easily mistake this as a sign of true readiness for the more laboured instruction that goes on in teaching academics, whereas in my experience most 5 year olds are content to learn to write and read a few words, just enough to feel "grown up." Now they can announce that they can read or write, just as they announce to their parents that they can speak German after they have done one or two verses in that language in the kindergarten. In other words, a little bit goes a long way.

With the two year old who is precociously saying 'I' the same may be true. Parents and educators may be easily mistaking, this as a true ego-conscious experience and begin creating an educational experience for the child which is not yet appropriate. Even when the 'I' is more fully established at age 3. The above Indications point to the child needing another 6-12 months in order to be inwardly ready to take steps out into the world.

What then are the possibilities for the child before the age of 3½ or 4? Many children stay at home with their mothers until this age with perhaps a morning or two a week when mother and child may visit another family or host a family. This puts little strain, on the child who, at the same tune, has a social experience with another child of its age. There are also many families where the mother needs to work or feels she cannot be at home so much with her young child, or feels the child is especially hungry for social contact. Some of the alternatives being explored in Waldorf settings for younger children are home-based playgroups or day care centres, ranging in size from 3 or 4 children to 6 or 8. We have also heard of some play groups in Europe where the mothers are present with the young children. - making toys while the children play, and learning songs, verses and stories along with their children. In such a program mothers can also receive much, help with their basic questions about parenting a young child.

As Waldorf educators in North America we are just beginning to explore these questions of kindergarten readiness and we recognize a certain urgency as more and more mothers of children under 3are going back to work or are seeking a nursery program for children. The Newsletter would welcome hearing- from you about your experiences with this question of kindergarten readiness and the needs of the family and child under the age of 3 ½ or 4.

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