8 Skills To Have Before Children Enter Elementary School

Illustration of skills that children need to have before elementary school (Freepik/rawpixel.com)

YOGYAKARTA Before children enter elementary school, it is important for parents to prepare skills that their children have. More specifically, you need to ask schools that enter the wish list about entry requirements. In addition, general skills also need to be prepared from the start. What basic skills are common that children need before elementary school? Here's an explanation.

At the age of four, most children are able to be independent when urinating, both urinating and defecating. Although in educating these skills parents should not force them, but need to be taught from an early age. According to Lois Haultain, parenting educators are reported by Bounty Parents, Tuesday, June 13, parents must be very natural in educating children. In the sense that parents should not force and make children when learning skills to feel happy. Avoid teaching them as a task so that the learning situation remains fun.

"Making your child able to talk about their feelings is a great way to prepare them for the social interactions they will do at school," Haultain said.

The best way to teach it is to set an example through the behavior of parents on a daily basis. Parents need to say they feel happy, sad, or worried in response to certain situations. But it's important to note, don't talk about things that are too heavy. That is, adjust it to the context of issues equivalent to the age of the child.

While many parents are worried about their favorite child who can't spell their name before school, Haultain says that what's important is the ability to recognize it. This is related to a sense of ownership and responsibility. Simple ways you can do, teach them to spell their own name. Then label the bag, hat, or lunch box. That way they will recognize it, gain a sense of ownership, and take care of it as responsibility.

It is important for parents to have realistic expectations. This includes implementing a rotating concept to be socially ready for school later. This concept of turning and queuing strengthens children's skills in interacting with their peers.

Creative skills in children before elementary school are related to fine motor skills. They will learn to cut, stick, write, and draw or color. So it's good to hone their creative skills at home. Haultain's message, children must have space at home where they can be creative using their imaginations.

Most schools run a very tight schedule, which can scare some young people if they are not used to it. Haultain says the best way to prepare your child is to introduce the idea of having a routine at home. That doesn't mean you have to run a tight household.

'Have a routine for every day, or even just a sequence where you do something before bed. Once the routine is completely known, children can do it on their own without being directed, which once again helps their independent skills,' Haultain said.

This skill may never come to mind. But according to Haultain, being able to recognize similar and different are skills that need to be developed. That way children can easily include types of learning, such as the same color, larger or smaller sizes, and so on.

Learning to tell stories is one thing that children need to do before they learn to spell letters. How to teach this skill is quite simple. Try to invite them to put together stories by helping to develop the number of new vocabularys. Listen to their stories and help formulate sentences so that they are easy to understand. Their story responses sincerely and expressively so that they understand the content of the story.

In addition to general skills that children need to have before entering elementary school above, their little ones also need to recognize numbers. It is important for them to be able to count. You can teach simply, such as calculating the number of cars in the parking lot. Or counting the surrounding interesting objects.