Preschool field trip on metro
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Anonymous
| +1 to 00:47. My elementary-aged child still talks about the field trips he took in preschool, when he was just three and four--they were very lasting memories (train rides and all!) The teachers chose just a couple of trips each year beyond the neighborhood, but they were powerful moments, and part of that was going together and having a shared experience to bring back to the classroom. |
Anonymous
| Our preschool took a field trip using Metro, and a parent was required to go along. I was fine with that. |
Anonymous
| If my kid was going on a metro trip, I would definitely go along. Three is too young to have to deal with Metro. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Responding to the last two PPs. I think that's a great idea and was already thinking of taking leave to go on this one. They have another metro trip scheduled so maybe going on this one will set my mind at ease. |
Anonymous
| OP-if you do go on a metro trip with a bunch of preschoolers, please report back as to how you felt about the whole process. |
Anonymous
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Frankly, I'm having trouble seeing the benefit to a trip like this. The planning and execution of a 2:1 ratio means almost half the kids' parents will have to take off work to escort. Sure the museums are neat, but how much is a 3 year old really going to get out of it? I'd rather just take my kid and a friend on the weekend.
Or you could have some guy come to the daycare and do magic tricks and science experiments or bring some live animals for a show. The kids would be equally entertained and it's way less complicated. |
Anonymous
I did a bunch of these trips with both of my kids. And they weren't complicated. But we use public transportation all the time so there is nothing exotic or scary or hard about it. IIRC my kids had a 4:1 teacher to student ratio at 3 so only a couple of parents were required. But usually more parents came than were required. Because the field trips were fun. But keep on being intimidated by standard things. |
Anonymous
| Maybe the distinction is just whether this is a group of kids (and parents) who regularly ride transit. Our preschool is walking distance to the train station, and many kids ride that or a bus to get to school. They aren't especially fazed by it, so it's not that big a deal to plan a few trips using it. The school does stagger the class so that they travel in two groups when possible to minimize the impact on other riders and to keep the crazy to a minimum. But otherwise it's just not a big issue one way or the other. |
Anonymous
| Why is a 2 year old going on a field trip while in daycare? It does not make any sense. Parents put their kids in care so that they can work. What would be the point of of taking off time from work to go on a trip? 2 year olds do not need field trips I a daycare group. |
Anonymous
At the preschool where I work, we take 18-month-olds on field trips. Though we rent school buses. Last year, I took the 2-3-year-olds to the zoo, we rode the metro and our ratio was 1:2. |
Anonymous
Why are so many posters on here baffled about this? Kids are in daycare to develop and to have fun. Field Trips advance both goals. Do you think/want your kids to just be warehoused all day? I agree that there are other ways to get kids out and advance their development and get that some people can't get their heads around taking kids out of preschool and onto public transit which seems scary and foreign to some parents on here (trust me the kids are fine with it) but field trips are fun and preschool is a fun age. My kids are years out of preschool now but DW and I both fondly recall these field trips. |
Anonymous
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+1. Field trips are fun and enriching for young kids. Is that the only way preschoolers can have fun and enriching experiences? No, of course not--but it's one that some schools choose.
The notion that kids that young don't need any enriching experiences is kind of mind-boggling. Most of the field trips my kids did in preschool are the same kinds of things that kids who had a stay-at-home parent did with mom or dad. I'm grateful that my kids didn't miss out on that just because their parents worked full-time. |
Anonymous
| Only if there are enough adult hands to match every single child’s hand. Even when I metro with just my kids, getting on and off trains always has me worried we’ll get separated at the doors somehow. |
Anonymous
People are baffled because many on this site believe daycares are nothing more than sterile institutions where kids are, yes, warehoused while indifferent parents pursue their careers. That daycares could have enriching, educational activities and that parents would be willing to take time away from work for a special activity are impossible to fathom. |
Anonymous
Ugh, 18 month olds? I visited a preschool that used to take the young 2s and 3s on field trips. They also had a reputation in the neighborhood for incidents of losing kids. I felt much better about the school where we enrolled where the director straight up said “no field trips, not worth it.” |