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To Send or Not to Send That's the Question
Is Your Child Ready for Preschool? By Deborah Boehle
"The parent and the teacher should have regular check-ins to see how things are going, and if the child is out-and-out refusing to go, there is probably a reason for that," says Brown-Brumbaugh.
Lois Pedersen, a retired Montessori directress with 29 years of experience, says many 3-year-olds are looking for a wider world than the home environment and if they are spending too much time in front of the television, it is time for parents to look into preschool.
Pedersen says parents should not assume how any classroom will be run, because they will all be different, depending upon the individual teacher. Even Montessori classrooms will vary from one to another. "There are people who will come away from Montessori saying it is very rigid because they were in a classroom where the teacher was very rigid," says Pedersen. On the other hand, some teachers are much more relaxed.
Brown-Brumbaugh suggests parents visit by themselves first, so they can observe interactions between the parents and teachers, then take the child for a separate visit.
If the child cannot sit still for more than a few minutes, he or she would not succeed in a classroom where the teacher expects the students to sit at desks to complete worksheets or listen to a story. As children get older their attention span increases naturally. In the meantime, parents can take the child to a library story time or similar structured activity.