728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Back to Preschool Headquarters › To Send or Not to Send That's the Question

To Send or Not to Send That's the Question

Is Your Child Ready for Preschool?

By Deborah Boehle

Pages:  1  2  3  

Last year when Justine Neill was 3 years old, her parents sensed that she was ready to explore the world beyond her own living room.

"It was my impression that she was getting bored around the house and needed more stimulation," says her father, Andy Neill, of Joliet, Ill. "She really seemed to like it. She's really doing well." Neill also felt the preschool environment would provide Justine with more structured activities – the family had recently welcomed a pair of twins.

After having such a successful experience two mornings per week last year, Justine will be going three mornings a week starting this fall.

All Children Are Different
Although Justine dealt well with the preschool environment at age 3, not all children do. Some are not quite ready to separate from their parents for extended periods of time, says Dorothy Brown-Brumbaugh, a preschool teacher in the Chicago Heights School District in Illinois.

Brown-Brumbaugh, who has been teaching for 25 years, says it is not unusual for 3-year-olds to begin crying when their parents leave them at preschool. They may also have tantrums and constantly ask when their parents will be returning. "That could last over a period of weeks," says Brown-Brumbaugh. "They do eventually get over it, but my conjecture is that if they had stayed home longer, say another semester or another school year, they would have come and been ready to jump right in and not go through that agony."

What to Consider
Parents need to consider their child's emotional maturity, as well as their intellectual curiosity, when deciding whether or not their little one is ready for preschool.

"If they are used to being left with a sitter or stay in a Sunday school and participate for the duration of time without missing their parent too much and if they're showing comfort in front of strangers, for instance, new family or new neighbors or new people at church," says Brown-Brumbaugh, they might be ready to try preschool.

"Most 4-year-olds are really eager to reach out and explore their world, and if they've been secure at home, they carry that security with them into new situations," says Brown-Brumbaugh. "There might be some cases where a child is clingy because of the nature of the parent-child relationship, and the child is ready to go anyway. If the parent wants to check out whether the child is ready, they can try it on a trial basis with the understanding that if it doesn't work, they'll wait." She says that sometimes the child is more ready for preschool than the parent.

Pages:  1  2  3  


Want to see more?