Many parents, especially moms know the hurdle of waking up kids in the morning and getting them ready for school. Younger kids may be harder to deal with and start more tantrums. Parents don't need to drag their 5 year olds to start schooling early since a study shows that a year of delay in school increases a child's attention and decreases hyper activity.
David Whitebread of Cambridge University stated, "Pushing children into school reception classes from the age of four placed too much pressure on infants before they are ready. In Britain, large numbers of children are being identified as "behind" before they even start school in most other countries."
A survey was conducted in which almost 100,000 parents participated. They were asked regarding the current age of their children and their age when they first started to go to school. It was found that kids in Denmark started their education as early as five years old and even four years old in Northern Ireland.
Those who started late were noticed to be more disciplined and controlled compared to those who began early schooling. One reason is that older children are more expected to act maturely. When children age, their attention span gets longer, hence they are more alert in lessons and attentive.
Delayed starters were also found to excel academically compared to early beginners. Dr. Whitebread explained, "By contrast, a considerable body of evidence clearly indicates the crucial importance of play in young children's development, the value of an extended period of playful learning before the start of formal schooling, and the damaging consequences of starting the formal learning of literacy and numeracy too young.
A New Zealand-based study discovered that children who began formal literacy instruction at five or seven had no overall difference in reading ability level. But the children who started at five developed less positive attitudes to reading, and showed poorer text comprehension than those children who had started later."
