I then found out that although she can recite all the Alphabet clearly, she can’t identify them all. At first I was really worried that she can’t identify most of them and when I tried to teach her, it seems that she forgets easily. I tried pushing her to learn but I felt like it was a bad idea when I saw how hard it was for her. I hurried and researched what a 3-year old should know and found out that most can not identify letters. I also found out that they do not learn to write until 4 or 5 years old. God, so my daughter’s normal! And I’m like panicking and pushing her to become more than what she is. I feel so bad. So here’s what I have learned from my research: 


3-year olds are mostly getting prepped for playschool/prepschool (although on some cases playschool starts early, as with our case). Think of preschool as prep for school and you shouldn’t have to prep for what is, essentially, prep. What you need to teach your 3-year old is basically the 3 S’s : Sitting still, Sharing and self-care. 
Sitting still is a skill you need to teach your kid because she will need to do that when she starts school. Usually the teacher asks the kids to sit in a circle and listen to a story (which is commonly known as circle time). It was said that sitting in a circle calms them and make them re-focus after a physical activity like dancing and playing. 


At three, a child is not ready for academics (at least not the serious one). Learning socialization skills is her first order of business – learning how to share, how to play and use her imagination (using blocks to make “garages” for cars….), how to hand out napkins at snack time, etc. She also will learn how to properly hold a pencil or a crayon, how to put on her jacket or coat and zip/button, how to work with the group to make simple snacks, how to do simple art projects, how to sit still and listen, how to follow directions, how to sing with others, how to safely play on a playground, perhaps learn basic colors and shapes, how to stand in front of the group without being silly and present something like “show and tell”, and how to act when stories are told and books are read. Reading is key. The child can pretend she’s reading too!  


Now, teaching your kid the alphabet is not a bad thing but pushing her to know ALL is. 


Please watch out for my next post which is about how to teach your 3-year olds the Alphabet and the numbers. 


You might also be interested to read, Developmental Stages of a 3-year old.