Alphabet at 4 years old. Is it really that important?

My son is about to be 4 years old. He's been in daycare since he was 6 weeks old, and the daycare has a preschool element to it. Because he's a December birthday and our district's cut off is December 1st, he won't start kindergarten until he's almost 6 years old, so he's currently in the "pre-school" room, and then next year he'll move up to the "pre-K" room.My son likes playing, and he has little to no interest in "learning." He knows his numbers, his colors, and most of his shapes, but he doesn't know his letters. His teacher acts like this is concerning, and something we should be proactively working on at home, in addition to the 8 hours a day he is in daycare. I'm not really concerned that my 3, almost 4, year old, isn't academically inclined. He still has almost two years before kindergarten, and I don't think the world will end if he can't perfectly recite his alphabet.We read books every night, which he loves, and he shows interest in learning about things - doing things, seeing things, experiencing things, but he just had no interest in sitting down to learn through repetition. Honestly, I'd rather take him to the playground to run around with other kids, then do flash cards until he knows what A is. Am I wrong? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2KLtajy