kids who start school

Well I've got about five mins so I`ll just sneak this in

Too many children are starting school without basic skills, including knowing how to hold a pencil and washing their hands, educators say.

Principals in rural areas and small towns say some parents are not giving their children enough support to develop key literacy and life skills.

Horowhenua Mayor Brendan Duffy who is on the district's education forum said he had surveyed principals and new entrant teachers at eight local schools. He asked them to rate the readiness of their new entrants on a scale of one to 10 10 being the most prepared. The average score was just four, a figure he described as "sad".

The factors schools considered included a child's ability to recognise colours and their own name, knowing how to hold a book the right way up, and being able to hold a pencil.

Knowing how to swear was not rated.

I have a daughter who has just turned four. Like most kids she knows how to turn on the TV and load the DVD - but she can recognise her own name when it is written down; and has been able to hold a book up the right way, start from the front when reading and and hold a pencil for at least a year. Yes, she knows how to wash her hands and pick out her clothes to get dressed. It sounds like too many parents are working full time, not reading to their kids at night or helping them to draw - and expecting preschooling to do it for them.

It's about time parents started parenting their kids - not dragging them up after they get home from work, the pub,the cafe - or from the all day childcare centre. Nor should they be letting their unlicensed kids drop their younger brothers and sisters to school in the family car.