How Young is Too Young for Pre-school?!

[wdmmom]

I'm hoping Michael will put up a poll!

I'm curious to find out what age you feel is acceptable to enroll a child in pre-school.

Age 2, 3, 4

How many years of pre-school/pre-K do you feel are necessary for children?

1 year 2 years or more than 2 years

I found out that a center in my area is advertising for 2 year old pre-school! Am I the only person that thinks putting a 2 year old in pre-school is outrageous?! 2 year old pre-school is 1 or 2 days per week for 1.75 hours each day. Children do not need to be potty trained although they will not change diapers either. And a quick calculation of rate shows it is equivalent to paying $9.00 an hour!!!

Any one else find this to be ridiculous?!

[DaycareMama]

Part of me thinks its silly and part of me would enroll my dd. My DD has her daddys smarts and would do very well in something like that. Wish we had it here. However i do believe that it should be based on the childs abilities. If they are just going to run around its silly. But if at 2 or 3 the child is able to sit and focus and interact, I think it would be great!!!

I even like how short the day is. JMO

[Cat Herder]

Here the Standard is 4, so my opinion is irrelevant.

The current push is now to secure funding to open it up to 3 year olds as well.

This is part of the public school system.

[kathiemarie]

My older two went to pre-school at 2. 2 days a week 3 hours a day. Did they need it? No. Did I need it YES! It's just good daycare in a pre-school setting that is part time.

[VTMom]

Our town offers preschool twice a week for 3 hours each for 3 year olds, and three times a week for 3 hours each for 4 year olds. Both my kids have or are going through preschool. I think the 3 year old class is probably unnecessary, but the 4 year old class was very helpful with kindergarten prep. It was a great opportunity for the kids to become familiar with the school and their classmates early on.

[youretooloud]

I think the year before Kindergarten is appropriate. But, I also believe kids should learn to paint and draw before they learn to write... others believe the complete opposite. So, I think it's all in what the parents wants for their kids.

[BusyBee]

I put my daughter in when she was just about to turn 3. She was one of the youngest, but she was smart as a whip so I knew she would do great. And she did! It all depends on the kid, imo. I was a SAHM and wanted to give her that social exposure and a litte time away from me. I am so glad I did it.

It was two days a week for about 3 hours. And we didn't have to pay for it or we probably never would have done it. My parents paid b/c they had paid for my nieces to go.

[youretooloud]

I was a SAHM and wanted to give her that social exposure and a litte time away from me. I am so glad I did it.

For that reason alone, I'd put a social child in preschool so they could play and make friends. But, I wouldn't do it so they would "learn" preschool things.

[Blackcat31]

Poll added. Do you want different questions or is that what you were asking?

[Crazy8]

the norm here is 2 years of preschool before kindy. Personally, I think one year is enough for the kids who go to the 50 hour a week daycare/preschools. But for my child who I sent 2 days a week for 3 hours I did 2 years of that. Mostly for him to get away from ME being the "teacher" and our house being the "school".
So in general I think between ages 3-4 are ok, I think 2 is way too young.

[BusyBee]

For that reason alone, I'd put a social child in preschool so they could play and make friends. But, I wouldn't do it so they would "learn" preschool things.

She did learn a lot from them actually. It was a great place. It was play based. The teachers were awesome. BUT I also worked with her everyday. We just built it into our day.

[Christian Mother]

My daughter started preschool at age 3 for 3 days a wk for 3 hrs. This yr she is 4 and is now in the afternoon class but is also 3 hrs 3 days a wk. Next yr she will be in K. She is in the preschool though bc she is delayed in her speech.

[kendallina]

As a preschool teacher, I think enrolling your child in preschool at 4 is plenty sufficient (well, I don't actually think children NEED preschool, but anyways...)

But, as a mom, I think my 2-year old would love a program like that for a few hours a week and I would love the break as well. I have preschoolers here only 3 hours a day and then I'm technically a stay-at home mom, but I have so much prep to do and cleaning that I don't feel like I give her enough of my time. So, I would send her to something like that as long as it was completely play-based.

[PitterPatter]

I enrolled my son when he was 3 and I went to school with him everyday and stayed all day. I worried I may be starting my son too early but with him being so hyper and having trouble making friends I thought it was the best place to start. I had already taught him all over his ABC's and numbers, colors, shapes etc even his address and phone number so I didn't care if he just played all day as I already have him on track at this point but he really needed social skills, I thought they could help.

He has extreme ADHD at the time we didn't know that of course but knew he was way to hyper to just drop in someones lap. So I became an assistant. The bus picked us up everyday and I was responsible for strapping kids in seats and taking them home same thing then the bus dropped us off at home. During my time at the preschool (4 hr days, 4 days per week) I learned a lot in that year as I helped with basically everything including field trips and designing things for the center, and teacher trainings. When I 1st started I was overwhelmed with learning all 25 kids names and by the end of the year I about cried when I had to say goodbye to all the kids. I not only knew volumes of info about each but I also had grown so attached to them. That's where the spark was made for me to start my own home daycare so the next year my son attended preschool alone 1/2 day and I opened my home to children. It was perfect because I wanted to be a stay at home Mom for my child and this allowed me to do so. 5 years later here I am.

Some of the children still remember me thru the years and hug me when they see me and that warms my heart! I think age 3 is apropriate. Sorry rambled a bit

[AfterSchoolMom]

Both of mine went 2x/week at 2, and went for 2.5 years (half the year at 2, all year at 3 and 4). However, my oldest was saying words like "fascinating" and "doubtful" and speaking in full sentences by the time he was that age. He did very well and learned a lot. My youngest just wanted to do what his older sibling did and go to "big kid" school. He had a really good time, and I got a break for a couple of hours twice a week.