No gross motor play

[Anonymous]

I need a sanity check here. My child goes to a preschool, not a daycare, three mornings a week. It’s a small program in a small building and I recently realized that on days where there is poor weather, they don’t go outside. Even on days with good weather they are probably only outside for 30 minutes out of the three hours. This is not ideal but I can get over it. The part I have a problem with is that they don’t have anywhere inside to do gross motor play. Is this a normal set up for a smaller preschool? I feel bad for him that he is inside for three hours a day sometimes with no option to run out energy. I am considering pulling him.

[Anonymous]

Did you ask what they do in lieu of outside play?
30 mins in 3 hours is decent imo.

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty rare for a preschool or daycare to have both inside and outside play space. If it’s something you wanted, I think you need to specifically look for it.

3 hours, as long as the program has plenty of play and things like block building and dramatic play isn’t an unreasonable amount of time for a 3 year old to be inside. Is he coming home stressed? Are you able to supplement with gross motor play when he is with you?

[Anonymous]

This does not seem like a real concern to me.

How frequently is your child in your home or another place for three hours? I would guess a lot.

The purpose of pre-school, particularly distinct from daycare, is for a child to learn socialization and skills. The "gross motor play" can happen in any of the other 21 hours of the day...

[Anonymous]

Do you provide gross motor play at home?

[Anonymous]

Is he unhappy? I would not pull a kid out of a preschool where they are happy without a really good reason.

[Anonymous]

That’s not a lot of time for a preschool program. I wouldn’t prioritize outdoor play at that preschool either, because presumably the kids are with stay at home parents or Nannies the other half of the week with lots of unstructured outdoor time?

[Anonymous]

Op here. I am used to a preschool that has a multipurpose room where there is some tricycles and things like that for the kids to play with either in addition to going outside or instead of it.

I would not say he is unhappy, but the school is a co-op so I have had the chance to eat in the classroom multiple times. I observe a good deal of boredom and frustration on the part of the kids. The teachers are excellent though aside from this.

It feels like there’s a lot of time elsewhere in the day but there isnt for us. He comes home and naps, and then his older siblings are home, and the focus goes off of him and onto them.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Voice to text did not work so great for me in that last message but I think you get the idea.

[Anonymous]

So this issue is only when there’s bad weather outside? And it’s not really an issue.

[Anonymous]

That wouldn’t bother me in the least. I’d be mad if my child was wasting time out of only 3 hours riding a trike in circles inside. Perhaps you could push them on what their policy for going outside is? Our coop goes out daily unless there’s lightening or dangerous winds

[Anonymous]

This is one of the big issues with daycare/preschools and you’ll see it a lot of places. There is a big variety of facilities and philosophies so I would definitely encourage you to keep looking. For me, my redline was daycares with zero natural light. I actually saw one that was in a sub-sub basement. I just could not deprive my baby of sunlight! For that reason we went with a nanny share, then sought out a daycare with windows and a large playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That wouldn’t bother me in the least. I’d be mad if my child was wasting time out of only 3 hours riding a trike in circles inside. Perhaps you could push them on what their policy for going outside is? Our coop goes out daily unless there’s lightening or dangerous winds

a preschooler riding a trike is a waste of time??

man the tiger moms start EARLY

[Anonymous]

I'd look around too. My kid goes to daycare but there are other kids who are there 9-1 and they are out for at least an hour in the morning, unless it's pouring or under 25 degrees. He comes home muddy every single day.

You might be able to find another half day program with more appropriate outdoor play.

[Anonymous]

[list]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I am used to a preschool that has a multipurpose room where there is some tricycles and things like that for the kids to play with either in addition to going outside or instead of it.

I would not say he is unhappy, but the school is a co-op so I have had the chance to eat in the classroom multiple times. I observe a good deal of boredom and frustration on the part of the kids. The teachers are excellent though aside from this.

It feels like there’s a lot of time elsewhere in the day but there isnt for us. He comes home and naps, and then his older siblings are home, and the focus goes off of him and onto them.

What is he doing when the older siblings are home though? Probably playing outside right? If it’s a preK program, they have a lot of curriculum to get through in a compressed time, because most preKs are five days a week. Is your child four or younger?