Preschool at age 3 or wait until 4?
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Anonymous
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For preschool is fine at 3 or 4 years old.
Babies, toddlers young at 2 don't need many academics. Small daycare has providers who are preschool teachers already teaching academics, ABCs, 1 2 3s, good manners to infants and toddlers like 2 years old. Young kids needs to learn to socialize, play, engage, be creative. Later on there's no much play and kids are tired from school when they're bigger. |
Anonymous
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I’d start at 3. Many kids start at 2 nowadays and there is always an ajdustment period.
There is a ton of germs no matter when you start preschool and on what basis. Yes, in a part time preschool people arent usually using it for 50 hours a week of childcare, but people absolutely still send their kids with runny noses and disgusting coughs. and besides, many viruses are contagious before kids are symptomatic. My firstborn was out sick a lot in the 3s and 4s because he’d never been in group childcare before. Our toddler got most of what he brought home. Now firstborn in jr. K and second is in 2s a few mornings a week. They don’t get sick as often (knock on wood) - so I’d start getting the adjustment and germs over with, and whatever your toddler catches will ultimately mean they probably miss less school when they start which is a silver lining. Plus I think socializing and getting used to structure is good at 3 |
Anonymous
| I agree, we started my son at 2 and he absolutely loves it. I will note though, he is in 3 mornings a week and he has been sick tons. Maybe it is just my experience with his class, but a lot of his other classmates are the younger siblings of older kids and they seem to get sent to school with a lot of cold symptoms. I'm hoping we are at least building his immune system... even despite all the sicknesses, he adores school and I honestly can't imagine him not being in school right now. |
Anonymous
A lot of the above is why we wished we had sent our kid closer to 3 and not 4. A variety of factors led to it (a move, late birthday, parent with flexible schedule) so it’s not like we actively chose going at 4 over 3, but I did wish for a time that we had been motivated enough to make the choice to go earlier. It felt like he was quite behind and struggling (at first) in terms of independence, flexibility, following instructions, social skills, etc. compared to the other kids, many of whom started at 2 or 3 for group care. He just wasn’t getting all those social skills enough while being cared for at home. And we were part of a playgroup and in several weekly classes, with an active schedule. He did catch up. Obviously kids all over the place don’t go to any sort of school until 5 or 6. But I did really see the value of preschool from our experience— and why some countries (and cities) start at age 3. |
Anonymous
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Yes send your kid so many developmental skills to be learned in early childhood. Good preschools are play based and don't require children to sit still. It is hard to get into quality preschools, so I doubt you'd be able to start in the spring, but if your paying for your spot in the fall why not?
To avoid germs teach your child good hygiene skills like sneezing/ couching into arm, not put hands in nose and how to wash hands. |
Anonymous
DD is currently not quite 2.5, so she’ll barely be 3 in September. But thank you for your comments! I had the impression that preschool admissions are strict about timing, but I do know of one near me that will enroll later if there’s an opening. I’d been imagining that joining mid year would be a difficult transition like it would be for an older child. But perhaps it’s not that big of a deal. I do like the idea of DS having the nanny to himself a few hours a week while DD is in preschool. That way, our nanny can give him her full attention for stuff like swim lessons. |