DeVenny: Getting kids ready for kindergarten gets them ready for life

The countdowns have begun. To football season. To Christmas.

But the countdown with the highest return on investment? That would be the countdown to kindergarten.

Research tells us that those first 2,000 days of a child’s life — roughly the time from birth until kindergarten entry — have the greatest impact on that child’s success. Nurturing and supportive early learning experiences during these first four years — at home, with caregivers or at child care, church or at school — can hard wire a child’s brain for later success in school and life. Simple actions that show love to an infant, like talking and singing with a baby, are actually creating the neural connections that strengthen a child’s ability to excel in school later on. Children who are exposed to language-rich environments from birth are starting school ahead of their peers.

My husband calls this affirmation of the talkative mother. So be it. Science is on my side.

Wouldn’t it be great if every “Mother’s Morning Out” volunteer knew that singing and talking to children was a deposit in their future academic success accounts? If older siblings knew that turning off the TV and getting down on the floor to play or read to a younger sister could help her graduate with honors? These simple yet profound activities can help a child at the start of school and for the rest of her life.

Countdown to kindergarten? Absolutely.

Across South Carolina, nearly 1,200 rising kindergarten students have been participating in First Steps’ nationally acclaimed Countdown to Kindergarten program this summer. Designed to introduce students and their families to their 5K teachers, Countdown provides home visits by teachers during the summer before a child enters 5-year-old kindergarten.

Imagine your first school teacher coming to your house all summer long before you even start school, bringing puzzles, books, scissors and crayons, sitting on the floor with you and your parents to work together with these materials. Imagine your teacher and your parents joining forces to help you learn some of the skills you will be required to know during that first year of school. Countdown to Kindergarten is designed to ease the transition to school and create a partnership between parents and teachers at the starting gate.

For the 12th year, our partners at EdVenture Children’s Museum are honoring rising kindergartners statewide by opening the museum to the public at no cost for the Countdown to Kindergarten Celebration from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday. In addition to the museum’s regular attractions, EdVenture will provide special experiences geared toward our new kindergarten students. Children can visit a mock classroom, practice holding a lunch tray, walk on and off a big yellow school bus and meet friendly faces from local school districts. Free vision and dental screenings, information booths, games and more are available at the celebration, courtesy of our many partners.

Plan to be with us as we dedicate this evening to South Carolina’s young children as they start school. The countdown is on.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 7:08 AM.