CONWAY, S.C (WBTW) — For children and their parents, the first day of school can be scary. But the United Way of Horry County is helping to smooth that transition and make sure the kids are ready the minute they set foot in the classroom.
According to the nonprofit, only 27% of children are ready to go into kindergarten. Richard Williams, Jr., director of education for the organization, said that the number has only gone down over the last few years.
“Right now, we are experiencing kids who were born during COVID are now in kindergarten,” Williams said. “And of course, they’ve had devices in their hands for five years. So weaning that child away from the device, understanding that I need to be communicating with an adult and also self-regulate, is something that we found to be important for a kindergartner. When these COVID kids came to kindergarten last year, we saw that there was a dip in kindergarten readiness.”…