17 Things Kindergarten Teachers Don’t Expect Their Kids To Do

We know that all children mature on their own timelines and that growing up isn’t a race. But when we look around at what other kids are up to, it’s difficult to avoid comparisons. If the kid next door speaks in full paragraphs at 12 months or reads books at age 4, we’re prone to worry about how our children stack up.

Adding to this anxiety is our society’s intense focus on academic achievement, as measured via standardized testing in our schools. While most students don’t sit for these kinds of tests in kindergarten, the pressure is on from the moment they enter the front door. Teachers are expected to instill literacy and numeracy skills right from the start.

“In recent years, there has been a major push for more academics in kindergarten, leaving less time for play and socializing,” Julie Cusano, a kindergarten teacher in New Hampshire, told HuffPost.

“I often have parents worried that their child is starting kindergarten ‘behind,’ or ‘not ready,’” she said.

All of this can lead to unrealistic expectations for students, especially the littlest ones. While it’s true that some issues are best addressed with haste via early intervention, not every difference between kids is a sign of a delay — and most parents don’t have the training or experience to spot the difference.

Here, two kindergarten teachers describe some of the things that they wouldn’t expect their own children to do at age 5. Cusano has been in the classroom for four years, and Matteo Enna is in his 19th year of teaching kindergarten in California.

Note that some of these skills are kindergarten academic standards, meaning that kids aren’t expected to do them on the first day of kindergarten but should learn them by the end of the school year.

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