Redoing kindergarten
Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice about having my daughter repeat kindergarten. Last week, her teacher asked me to come in for a conference and shared that she is recommending retention. She completed the LIGHTS retention scale, and the results supported that recommendation.
The main concerns are that my daughter is the youngest child in her class, her math scores have dropped the second half of the school year, her motor skills are behind some of the older kids, and her confidence has been decreasing. The biggest struggle has been math, especially subtraction and word problems.
Her teacher said my daughter is genuinely trying her best and pays attention in class, but she has started shutting down during math and telling the teacher that it’s “too hard” and that she “can’t do it.” On the other hand, her reading skills, emotional regulation, and overall behavior are all at grade level.
We talked with my daughter about possibly repeating kindergarten, and surprisingly she seemed completely okay with it. She didn’t seem upset about her classmates moving on without her.
My hesitation comes from hearing stories from people who hated being held back or felt it didn’t help them in the long run. I’d really appreciate hearing from parents or teachers who have experience with this, especially if their child repeated kindergarten. Thank you!