Abstract

A child's entry into compulsory primary education is an important milestone in a child's life, where not only his or her maturity plays an important role and readiness, both physical and mental, but also social. The child is thus better prepared to cope with the new role, i.e. that of a schoolchild, and to deal with the demands and changes that entering the first grade brings. This paper focuses on social skills in preschool children attending a traditional kindergarten during the COVID pandemic, which has significantly affected the development of social skills. In the introduction of the text, the author focuses on the issue of children's social readiness to start compulsory schooling in theoretical terms. She then presents research on children's social readiness to start compulsory schooling in the context of factors significantly affecting the development of social skills, including the COVID pandemic, when children did not attend kindergarten, were isolated from their friends, and family life changed. The research has a qualitative design built on a systematic description and evaluation of individual cases. The results are described in a logical context and are reflected upon with theoretical underpinnings.  For the purposes of this paper, we have put the partial results of the research into relational networks.