Teacher shares PSA for parents of kindergarten kids and the internet is nodding in agreement

Kindergarten used to be a play-based environment but it has now changed to being more academic-focused. A kindergarten teacher, Ms. Kelli—who goes by @the_wondermint—on TikTok, shares her thoughts on her account. She asked a question about kindergarten children that resonated with several other parents.

In her video, Kelli asks, “So I just gotta ask, as a 20-year kindergarten teacher myself, remember when we went to kindergarten that we just had to be potty trained and not eat the glue?” According to Kelli, the standards that have been set for kindergarten-going kids are now much more demanding than what they were for the older generation. She points out that the kind of preparation videos that are circulated online speak to parents about their kids going to kindergarten and the preparation they might have to do. “My heart breaks when I see all these videos of what do you need to do to prepare your child for kindergarten, and things your child must know before going to kindergarten, and these lists of things that parents need to be working on," she elaborated.

Kindergarten, according to her, should be about games and art activities instead of academics. She believes that kids will be fine if they spend more time on arts, crafts, and play. She highlights, “Human development has not changed, what a five or six-year-old child is physically, mentally and developmentally able to do hasn't changed, in all these years. But for some reason, what we expect from them when they go to school has changed.”

Kelli ends the video by saying, “Love those little babies who are being separated from their parents, some of them for the first time. The learning will come. The development will come, the ABCs, the one, two, threes, writing, all of it, it will come. Curriculum, it will happen. The learning, it will happen. Just let our kids be kids. Let those five and six-year-olds be developmentally what they're supposed to be."

Kelli’s video received tremendous support with many parents agreeing with her. Several parents expressed their fear and their negative experiences with their kids attending kindergarten. @aemmrl2013 commented, "Yes! My son struggled in Kindergarten last year and even had homework! I could not believe what all he had to know. The teacher said he had a hard time paying attention. Yeah, he is 5!." @kelseypark17 wrote, "The expectations have gotten so much higher I feel like my kids are so extremely behind on everything despite being told that they're in target but all of these other kids do better or know more of." 

Kelli posted a part two video in which she replied to a comment about homework given to kindergarten children. She emphasized, "There should not be homework in kindergarten. There should not be homework in pre-school." She suggests parent read to their child before bed for them to develop "a love of reading".

You can follow Ms. Kelli (@the_wondermint) on TikTok for more early childhood and elementary education content.