You are right, it is only May. Why should we be talking about starting school? The reason to think about getting your child ready for school is because it is even well past the time you should be thinking about ways to help him be ready.

Getting ready for school needs to begin when your child is born.

Getting your child ready for school is more than learning a set of facts. It involves skills that have to do with both intellectual and social-emotional development. To become eager learners, children need to develop skills in several primary areas.

Language and literacy — Your daily activities with your child are the areas covered in this group. The sounds you make, the gestures you make and the words you use each day with your child from birth are what encourages his ability to learn to read.

Thinking skills — Counting, sorting, and problem-solving are all ways your little one learns how the world works. Being able to call out and mom comes to help encourages your child’s thinking skills.

Self-control — A critical skill your child needs to develop is learning to express and even to manage his emotions appropriately. This skill helps your child learn about cooperating, coping, and resolving conflict which are critical to learning self-control.

Self-confidence — Your child needs to believe that he can be successful at taking on new challenges. This skill is essential for intellectual development as well as learning to share, engaging in healthy competition and making new friends.

These learning skills start on the child’s first days. Every story you read, each time you count the stairs or locate items that are a specific color, sing a song, pick up toys together, talk about what you see and just interact with your little once is adding to his readiness to be a good student when he begins kindergarten.

When your baby is ready to play and explore the world around him your everyday routines set the foundation for love and trust that enables him to be ready to learn and ready for school.

There is an old saying about school: “If you want your child to be successful in school, help him learn to succeed at home.”

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and former executive director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which published newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents.