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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
matt&steph
member
What's the deal with Pre-school?
matt&steph
member
I was lurking on the SAHM board the other day and some ladies felt very strongly that sending your child to school sooner then the year before kindergarden was not a good idea. Anybody feel this way? and why? I am not trying to start anything I am just curious. In this area it is VERY common to send you child to pre-school for 2 or 3 half days at 2 years old. I never saw anything wrong with it. Thoughts?
Big Brother Joey born 6/30/09
This discussion has been closed.
Re: What's the deal with Pre-school?
I'm the opposite. I'll still be a SAHM with, hopefully, another LO when DS starts pre-school. I'd like to introduce him to diversity, help him become more social and have him learn things I might not be able to teach him as well.
Plus it will give me time with the new LO and to clean during the half day.
ETA: Most everyone in my area is opposed to pre-school. They say it "takes away their ability to be kids" and tries to make them grow up too fast.
a lot of sahms do a 2.9 class b b/c they have been home with LO since birth and a pre-pre school class can help a LO that is not used to a lot of socialization become more social.
i am surprised they did not want to do that. i will be doing that. Sophia is shy and could use the practice.
most of the SAHMs i know plan on it.
Hey I'm in Westchester too and all the little kids I know went to pre/nursery school. I've actually never known any child by the age of 3 who wasn't in preschool at least 3x/week.
Where in Westchester are you, anyway? I'm in Valhalla.
I can see both points ... school is a LONG time and to start as young as 3 or 4 ... the child may not be ready.
however, most kindergartens are all day. So you are going to put a kid who has never been in school in an all day program, 5 days a week? That also does not sound like a great idea.
I agree with you totally! I do not think it takes away their ability to be kids, I think just the opposite because it gives them other children to play with.
What were their reasons for not wanting to send a child to preschool? I can't think of any reasons why you would not want to, other than financial reasons. Why is it bad to expose your child to other kids?
That is unheard of where I am. I do not know any child who did NOT go to pre-school.
MIL watches the girls every day, so to give her & Isabella a break we started sending Isabella to pre-school when she was 18 months old. She went 2 half days a weel. At 2.5 we moved her to 3 full days a week and now she is 4 and goes to the public pre-K program (5 full days a week).
I can't imagine not easing her into a classroom setting. Just expecting her to know how to behave in a school would be setting her up for failure, IMO.
Eastchester.
Agree.
I don't understand the 'preschool not letting kids be kids' part at all. How is learning new songs, making new friends and doing artwork not letting kids be kids? The biggest part of being a kid is playing and learning, both of which you get in a good preschool program. That is ridiculous.
I'm against preschool. I think children need time to be kids and be with family before two decades of school and a lifetime of work.
I grew up in Mass, but I've always lived in more rustic communities, so I feel very comfortable with kids running around outdoors, exploring nature (with adult supervision or accompanied by older cousins or family friends). I really valued that time I had as a child, so I want that for my kids. DH feels even more strongly about it than I do. Schooling is necessary and valued, but at that age, we feel like exploring and discovering the joys of life are more special than doing craft projects in an organized setting.
Why do you have to be in preschool to do all of that? The way preschools are marketed to parents these days is that they help your children be more successful later on in life. That is baloney, unless the parents are too busy to encourage that themselves.
As for socializing, DH doesn't believe in socializing, lol. Seriously though, unless you have a naturally withdrawn child, I don't see how it really helps. We have family friends with children and lots of cousins. There will be plenty of exposure. I don't know anyone who is a charismatic success because of preschool.
K here is 1/2 day, as it was where I grew up. I agree though that throwing them right into 5 days a week might be too much for some.
From my admittedly limited experience with toddlers, it seems like 3-4 is a really social age and they could benefit from the peer interaction. I guess some kids may not be ready though and/or could get interaction in other way.
Isn't that sad that children need to be "prepared" for kindergarten? Seriously? DD has spent days away from me with other adults before. She won't have a nervous breakdown. It'll be fine. If anyone needs to be prepared, it's me. I'll probably bust out in tears.
Unfortunately, there are no mom/kid programs here. It's either pre-school or random camps. The only mom/kid things are religious based and you have to be a member of the church to join.
I'm docking a point against preschool just because of the ignorance shown in this pro-preschool statement.
My child's preschool is not marketed that way. Maybe you just have some crappy preschools in your area. Regardless, my child has no choice but to go to a preschool because I work full-time. I know....the horrors, right?!?
I'm not religious at all. We just have a large extended family that lives in the area. It's Alabama, after all. When I say "socializing," I'm picturing BBQs with a bunch of kids roaming around free catching bugs and frogs and playing with sticks.
HA! I knew that would get a reaction from you.
It's just the reality of school these days that children need to be prepared to focus and interact with peers and teachers. With education being so focused on test scores (not that I agree with this), it is harder for students that come to Kindergarten with very little background knowledge to keep up with the pace of school. It is also important that kids get life experiences through exploration as well, like you said. It's all about balance and the 2-3 days a week a child is going to preschool will leave plenty of time for exploration while still getting the "practice" of being in school.
I don't think preschool is a negative thing. I just don't think it's such a positive thing either. I feel like the preschool pushing is often due to an attempt to convince parents that they are spending money and time away from their kids because it is the "right" thing to do. I think this is false. Preschool and no-preschool are just different paths. I don't think either has a great affect on the child in the end.
DH and I both made perfect scores or 99th percentile in all our standardized testing. I don't think this will be an issue. We encourage learning outside of school. If anything, school was a horrible bore because of the "no kids left behind" snail pace.
(LOL, I'm so obnoxious today)
I will be sending my children to pre-school. I think socialization is very important. Even at 2, 3, and 4 you have some children who are leaders and others that are followers. You have some that are outgoing and some that are shy. And as a child it is important to be exposed to all of that.
Things like playing together, waiting your turn, not taking what is not yours, etc... is learned on a bigger scale at pre-school then at home I think b/c of the dynamics between parent and child are so different then child/teacher or child/child.
Any parent can teach their child flash cards and memorization (colors, shapes, letters, numbers). I think a child needs to learn social interaction by being exposed to it.
M_M?