If your LO doesn't go to daycare, please come in...

Mrs.Greg

Do you plan to start them in an early preschool type thing?

 

My mom and MIL baby sit DD while I work.  I worry about her not knowing how to interact with other children and sharing and stuff like that.  I'd like to start sending her to a daycare/preschool when she's like 18 months old or so, maybe even a year old.  Just wondering if others are planning this too and when you plan to start?

 

TIA!!

JLS0320

My mom watches my son while we work, she has a childhood education degree so she interacts alot w. him. I will most likely do preschool when he's 3, although a friend of mine did that and then when she entered kindergarten was so far ahead since she had already learned that stuff she was bored and started disliking school, so I don't know. My mom plans to start taking him to classes and places he can interact w/ kids when he gets a little older. 

DanielsWife

DD will be interacting with the other little ones at church, but will be starting preschool right when she turns 3. 

SportsLover

I had a nanny until we started daycare at 20 months.  I feel as if it was the right time for them to start.  They go 3x per week and my parents watch them the other two days.  I feel like it's the best of both worlds.

notmommyoftheyear

Right now my MIL babysits while we work. Sometime in the next few months (or definitely by the fall) I want to put DD in daycare at least a day or two per week so A) that she learns about socialization and to give my MIL a break. 

SFAug07

We have an Au Pair who takes care of DD. I am so glad DD gets all the attention she needs at that early age. We are looking into Au Pair share in a year or so, so that DD can learn to interact with others.

BizEB

My son does a pre-nursery program now, one morning/week- he started that in January.  He'll do 2 mornings/week starting in September when he's 2.  He's well-socialized in other ways- playgroups, playdates, mommy and me classes, etc. so I don't really see any reason to put him in daycare- it just seems like such a long day for him and offers me alot less flexibility and control.

oct11bride03

That's our plan. We have a nanny and are planning to use her until DD is a year - 18 months and then switch her to a preschool-type daycare so she can interact with other kids. We also plan to start enrolling her in classes (like music, baby yoga, etc.) when she's a little older so she starts seeing other kids.

suzymarie

DS went to DC for awhile, and is currently at home with DH.

I feel like the right time to start preschool is abetween 2.5 and 4, depending on the kid.  For a 1-2 year old, I think going to the park and library story time and such is plenty of interaction.  (Not that it would hurt- I just don't think it is needed).

For DS, we are looking to start him in a play-based preschool this fall, when he turns 3.  We aren't looking for anything that "teaches" him anything- we are just looking for playtime with other kids, fun activities, etc.  I figure he can learn letters, numbers, shapes whenever he is interested- I am not going to push it one him at a preschool age.

Mjmksb04

My DS is watched by a friend in her home. She has 3 school aged kids (10, 9 and 7), so he is around them for about an hour after school and during all summer vacation and other vacations. But he isn't around other kids his age. There isn't a good 3 year old program in my area for him to atten so he probably won't start preschool until 4 years old. I am not too worried about it, to be honest.

flyer23

DD was with a sitter from 12 to 23 months of age, where she was the only baby. Around this time last year, we started thinking about putting her in a preschool program in the fall. (Most of the preschools in our area do sign-ups in Jan/Feb/Mar for the fall.) The original plan was to put her in preschool maybe 2-3 days/week, and leave her with her sitter the rest of the time.

Then we found out our sitter was pregnant, due right around DD's second birthday last summer, so it worked out to start DD in full-time preschool around that time. Now, having seen how much she loves it, I'll definitely plan to do it with this second baby. The 1:1 attention was great for DD's first 18 months or so, but after that point, she really started to crave more regular interaction with other kids. (The only reason we didn't start her sooner was that the preschool we liked best starts at age 2.)