Does your toddler like daycare/Montessori/toddler preschool?

[Anonymous]

We are looking to put our 2 year old DS into a preschool that takes toddlers or a Montessori? For those of you with toddlers in a school, do you feel your child really enjoys it and is benefitting? Does your child look forward to it? Has he/she made actual friends? Any regrets?

[Anonymous]

My very social DS started preschool at age 2.5. He enjoyed it and went happily, but he didn't really make any friends until the following year, when he was 3.5. He and his classmates didn't have the social skills to make individual friendships at 2, although I'm sure they enjoyed playing together then.

[Anonymous]

My first son started at 2- he loved it from day one and made friends (as much as a 2 year old can)- he loved it when we met his class mates out of preschool at play dates. This really depends on you though. My second son also started at school, never really loved it but it was a different school. depends on the preschool and the child.

[Anonymous]

My 2 year old loves it. Has "friends", or at least he plays with all the kids in his class

[Anonymous]

My DD is almost 2 and in day care and she absolutely loves it. She knows all of the kids names and talks about them non stop. When we run into them at the park she squeals with delight and gives them big hugs. She is excited to go every morning. She does all kinds of art activities that she loves that I just would never do at home. She really thrives with the structure at day care and we have really benefitted from day care's approach to positive discipline at home.

[Anonymous]

Started my DD in school last year at 2.5 and she had a pretty rough transition and used to say she didn't want to go to school... but it was hugely beneficial to her development. By the end of the year we could really see the difference in terms of social skills and independence.

If your child doesn't have a ton of social interactions I think it's 100% worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

We put our twins in preschool at 2.5. It was great, they learned a ton, did projects that would never occur to me.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. Mine definitely developed strong friendships, enjoyed activities, and looked forward to attending.

[Anonymous]

My 3.5 year old started at the toddler program at her montessori school. She loved the toddler class! They had so much fun and she seemed to make friends.

[Anonymous]

Yep. By the time she was three, she had particular friends, and really enjoyed playing with the other kids generally. She talks about her friends at daycare all the time and wants to invite them over to our house every day. She loves circle time and plays "school" all the time at home. It's been really great for her in terms of social skills and self-care skills.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids did 2 mornings a week at 2. Different schools. Neither seemed to really love it. Play based preschool FWIW.

DS is now at a monteasori, having started at 3. I would not recommend it for 2 as I think they just need more individual attention still and snuggles at that age. That has not matched the montessoris I have visited which are good for 3 and up.

[Anonymous]

My 2 year old didn't really get much out of it at age 2, but he's now 3 and is clearly getting more out of it. We changed schools, so that might be part of it, but I think the major thing is just that he wasn't ready for the social aspect yet. Most 2 year olds are doing almost entirely parallel play, at least until they get close to turning 3. My DS noticed the other kids in the class but wasn't really attached to them and didn't really "play" with them. The other kids were the same. They basically wanted adults' attention more than anything else.

I'm not sure what your alternative is -- do you SAH, does your kid have a nanny, is your kid in a home daycare? My kid was in morning preschool only, and it was fine, but I don't really feel it provided anything he "needed" at age 2. Age 3 is a very different ballgame. He talks about friends in the class, really seems to be learning substantial things in school (like counting -- even though it's a play-based school entirely), and is clearly excited to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. By the time she was three, she had particular friends, and really enjoyed playing with the other kids generally. She talks about her friends at daycare all the time and wants to invite them over to our house every day. She loves circle time and plays "school" all the time at home. It's been really great for her in terms of social skills and self-care skills.

Yep, my DS started preschool right at 2 and loved it from Day 1. That being said, last year he would talk about the kids on his class, but it's only this year (at age 3) that he clearly has "friends" that he prefers to hang out with. But it's kind of neither here nor there as he absolutely loved preschool last year too.

[Anonymous]

We tried a Mommy and Me Montessori program when DD was 2. She absolutely loved it, wanted to do all the work, songs and games, and asked to go there every day, when it was only a few days a week.
We were planning on sending her to a full day Montessori preschool starting at 3 anyway, just like her older siblings, so this was just confirmation that she was ready for it.