Getting Ready for Kindergarten Early (and Forgetting about Redshirting)

These days, getting ready for kindergarten can take forever for children. And it's kind of fashionable to allow this to happen too. That's the way it is with one out of ten kindergarten-age children in America. Apparently, with some parents, it's even a kind of sneaky strategy. They feel that if they do this, their children will be older and more mature than the other children and they'll do very well in school. Actually, delaying getting ready for kindergarten is so popular it even has a name – they call it redshirting (borrowed from sports).

It isn't just parents alone who do this. Teachers often think this is a good idea too. In the beginning, young redshirted children in kindergarten can really seem to perform better. But that's an illusion and it really fades quickly by the time they reach the end of elementary school. Actually, as research tells us, redshirted kids are often less motivated than regular kids, and they don't do any better in life in general. All that happens through all of this is that they are worse off by a year’s salary by the time they retire.

So for a child to take his time getting ready for kindergarten is a bad idea, and redshirting doesn't work. So what does work?

A large-scale study done in Canada on dozens schools found that children who are young for their class are the ones who do best. They make more progress more quickly because there are motivated. Even a child who is a month younger can often be at an advantage. Why would this be?

How about this for an explanation – school makes kids smarter. And so, the sooner you send a kid to school, the earlier his going to feel the heat of competition and gear up all smart and motivated? For instance, a high achieving kid who skips a grade often has the incentive to do even better. They usually get farther ahead in school and in life. They also have better emotional lives overall. Basically, the rule is clear – the more challenged a child feels, the better he's going to perform.

And there is science behind it too that really supports this. The first six years of a child's life, his brain goes through some major growth and development. At no other point in life does the brain grow and organize itself at that speed. This is the time that children need to be really challenged and be put in stimulating environments.

Basically, the idea that starting a child off in school too early is some kind of silly modern-day competitive parenting thing, is just plain wrong. Send your child off to school as early as possible, and you child will thank you for it one day.

What you need to know about Oak Wood Flooring

Oak happens to be among one of the best materials for making things like furniture and now more people are choosing it for their floors. This is because they have discovered that for one to have stunning surroundings in regards to their floor then the best floor to use is oak wood flooring. Another reason why most home owners will be seen scrambling for oak wood flooring is that it often compliments all of the other things that are in the home. These can be things like the furnishings, rags and curtains. When compared to materials such as Cherry and Maple the flooring is more pocket friendly and this is good news to anyone who is looking for the right floor to use. Maintaining oak wood floors is not difficult a well and neither is its cleaning. The only thing one has to do is to do some brushing and mop it from time to time. Also touted great investments in some quarters, oak floors are not known to break bank as because of its log staying power. Apart from the home, oak wood can be placed in restaurants, malls and offices as well.

Unless one is a professional, installing oak wood flooring can be quite difficult. When professionals install the wood flooring, the finishing is usually so elegant and it is mostly done in time as long as one has good and efficient workers. Oak wood floors are known to be prone to moisture in the air as well as changes in the room temperatures. During the humid and hot days associated with summer, the pieces of wood will swell causing it to expand. During winter it is usually colder ad the air found indoors is usually so much drier compared to the summer which leads to contraction of the floor. This movements are often not easily noticeable and this requires the person doing the installation to be an expert in the field and hence the need for a professional.

When looking for a professional to install the oak wood floors it is important that one only deals with one who is credible. This will be the only assurance that the floor will be done in time and that only the bet materials will be used. The cost of installing the floor is another thing that one should consider as there is little point in hiring a very expensive person to do a job that another is willing to do at half the price. As a precautionary measure, on should always ask for referrals when dealing with the professionals to avoid disappointments when the project is over. Most professionals who can aid in installing oak wood flooring can be found from the yellow pages, or from building and construction magazines. The internet is a credible source as well.