New study suggests we're sending our kids to school too young - ScienceAlert

New study suggests we're sending our kids to school too young - ScienceAlert: "How old should our children be before they start a formal education? That's the question asked by new research from academics at Stanford University in the US, and it turns out that it might be better for our youngsters if they started school later – a whole year later in the case of the Danish children involved in the study.

Researchers used surveys filled out by tens of thousands of parents in Denmark, where youngsters typically start kindergarten at the age of six. Those who started aged seven showed lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity, factors known to be influential in improving self-regulation, which in turn is linked to academic achievement. The effects persisted up until age 11.

"We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73 percent for an average child at age 11," explained Stanford's Thomas Dee in a press release."



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