Kindergarten readiness

[sunnydays]

I think the reason that parents are not working with their kids more on school readiness is because they are at work all day and come home, make dinner and put the kids to bed...leaving no time for much more than a bedtime story if they are lucky. That's why it ends up falling on the daycare providers since we have the kids for more hours in the week than the parents. However, I don't think learning these skills should ever come at the expense of the child having time to play and be a kid and learn socially. These are formative years and I would hate to see kids being pressured and stress being put on them at the age of two or three because they don't know their letters or how to hold a pencil. At the same time, you don't want to completely neglect these things and have the kid feel inadequate when they start school because all their peers know these things. It's a difficult balance to strike!