I agree with the PPs about the co-op schools. That's where I made my friends as well as my kids making their friends. It was wonderful for me since I was new to the area.

Yes. At NCRC.

One thing that really helped with building community in our preschool was that some of us got together and created a playgroup that met regularly on one of the mornings when we didn't have class. Since you only have school two mornings a week, you can expect that at least some other parents will be available other mornings and can meet. I highly suggest doing this -- good for the kids and for you.

Like one of the PPs, we also had our child in a coop preschool, so that meant that we were very involved in the classroom and the school. I think this helped a lot with meeting people. However, all preschools need active parental involvement, and I think you will likely find that you bond with other parents as you volunteer, help with committees/events, etc.

Whether your particular school will be super conducive to building community or not will depend on whether you actively seek out opportunities and how cohesive it is overall. If it draws people who have fairly similar parenting philosophies and styles, you may find a lot of people who are similar to you and who you want to spend time with. If not, you might not find that you WANT to be friends with everyone. And that's okay. But I will say that as your kid gets more social (at school or outside of school), you'll definitely start to meet more people and see more people more regularly.

Yes. We continue to be very good friends with the majority of DC's 2s class in a neighborhood coop nursery school.

A decade later.

I really feel like that's when our social life as a family began.

Anonymous wrote:Only if he preschool feeds to the local public school.

Otherwise the few years for preschool are too short-lived and transient.

yes, or other relationship to the preschool. None of my kids' preschool classmates go to ouR ES but the preschool is at our church so we've continued to be friends via that relationship. But, even without the kids continuing to be friends I've kept up friendships with some of the moms, although it definitely takes more effort.

Not until we were in our charter preschool. Nobody committed before then.

Yes! My son is in a coop preschool and it is awesome. I have become friends with the moms and I am so glad we ended up there, even though I initially just wanted a drop off. I only coop once a month but made friends thru committees and the whole school just had a great community feel to it.

Yes I agree that it depends on the school. The first preschool my daughter attended was all about drop off and pick up, no time for convo. I felt like everyone knew each other and there was no room for newbies. But then the next school we went to was totally different. Moms were friendly and there was time in the hallway to chat before pickup. Those are still some of my best friends because we were all in the same stage of life together! Maybe step out of your comfort zone and invite one of the moms to lunch or a play date and maybe a friendship will develop. Praying for you mama! It's not easy to do this thing alone! We are here for you.

mommato2lilmonkeys

Anonymous wrote:Only if he preschool feeds to the local public school.

Otherwise the few years for preschool are too short-lived and transient.

This

Only if he preschool feeds to the local public school.

Otherwise the few years for preschool are too short-lived and transient.

Yes, we definitely had a strong community via the preschool and volunteering with the board is a good way to get to know people. We had social activities for the parents and would have playdates for our kids and their friends (which at 2-3 also means hanging out with the other parent).

As PP noted, this will be the case more with a part-time preschool where most of the families have a SAHM.

I'm the single mom of a fourteen year old. I still consider the parents of his daycare classmates some of my closest friends. I hope you find the same thing.

Yes! We were at Quality Time in Silver Spring for years and loved it!

This is 100% dependent on the school. It's probably more likely with a part-time, 2-day/week program because the other parents likely also SAH.

When my oldest was in pre-k, about half the class was in half-day and half the class was in full day. It was a nice preschool, but I didn't make friends or really have a sense of community.

In another pre-k that we used, ALL of the kids were half-day, so we were all picking up at the same time and had the afternoon to kill, so it was not at all unusual to go to the park with another family.

That school also had a picnic in the fall and spring, though, so there was a focus on building community.

I'm a first time SAHM with a toddler. So far I've been SAH, but he will be going to preschool at age 2 for 2 mornings per week. I am hoping to find a sense of community when he is in preschool, by volunteering at the school, joining the parents committee, trying to get to know other moms there, etc. I have joined several moms groups so far and have not been able to really make friends. I've always heard that it becomes easier to find a sense of community when kids are in school. Do you think that is true? I'm a pretty lonely SAHM despite being in a number of moms groups and doing activities with these groups almost every day, such as playgroups, etc.