What it really takes for your 5 year old to be a success in kindergarten

Does your kindergartener read at a first-grade level? Can she tie her shoe, count to 100 or rattle off state capitals?

These may all be skills that make you proud but for most kindergarten teachers of 5 year olds, these skills are not all that.

In fact, it turns out what makes 5 year olds most ready for kindergarten is if they have learned to regulate their impulses.

Other items on a kindergarten teacher's wish list would be whether the student can follow through on a difficult task and have enough self-control to listen to directions -- for just a few minutes.

These were the top-rated skills for kindergarten teachers who were surveyed for a California study, wrote Lisa Guernsey under the headline "What Kindergarten Readiness Means to Kindergarten Teachers" on The Early Ed Watch Blog.

Guernsey went on to report that most kindergarten teachers interviewed for the study said that to have a successful kindergarten year, children needed to have the ability for self-care, have functioning motor skills followed by the ability of self-regulation.