One of the tough decisions parents make when it comes to their child's education is the right age when they will be sending their kids to school. Today, more and more research are proving that aside from starting school days should be done later, children's entire school careers must start later too.
According to Business Insider, a Stanford University has found that children whose parents enrolled them to kindergarten when they were already 6 were found to have better scores on the tests about self-control when they reached 7 and 11.
Psychologists say that self-control is one of the most essential traits that children possess during their early childhood years. This is also called "executive function" by the scientists which help kids stay focused even when they are faced with distractions.
In this research, investigators Thomas Dee and Hans Henrik Sievertsen used the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) to gather their data which included the responses of the parents about their kids' mental health when they were 7 years old and 11 years old. The team discovered that the kids who enrolled to kindergarten a year later achieved better scores on the tests pertaining to hyperactivity and inattention.
Dee also added that it also eliminates the possibility of the child to have an abnormal rating for hyperactivity behavioral measure, according to Kidspot. This implies that if inattention and hyperactivity are reduced, self-regulation is improved, and higher self-regulation is linked to better performance and higher achievement.
The study has shown how the kids who started school late were able to settle in class, pay attention and stay focused for longer periods of time. These behaviors resulted in their better performance in school. Dee said that this is the most convincing result they have found to encourage parents to delay their kids' entry to kindergarten.
