Should I Send My Child To Preschool?
It’s very common for childcare centres to incorporate preschool syllabus into their programs. This is one of the reasons why many parents are open to sending their children to preschool or nursery. Not only it functions as a place for the children to stay while the parents are at work, it’s also a preparatory stage for the children before their formal schooling.
Choo Choo Train shares our experience about the decision to send your child to a preschool.
However, there are also many parents who are quite reluctant to send their children to a childcare centre or a preschool. Reports of abuses and neglect can be part of the issue, but there are also other factors such as cost, distance, and personal reasons.
While we understand that sending your child to a preschool is, at the end of the day, a parent’s personal decision, there seems to be more benefits for the children when they’re enrolled to a preschool.
We have observed many children who had preschool experience adapt better into a schooling environment. Preschool presents opportunities for the children to socialise and interact with other children. Even though some children may already have siblings at home, a different social environment benefits them when it comes to communication and socialising. Interacting with children who do not grow up in the same household as them presents a chance to learn about other people in terms of racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, react and adapt to different kinds of behaviours, and also understanding authority figures other than their parents.
It’s undeniable that some children are more sociable than others and there are children who can adapt very well into a schooling environment even without preschool experience, it is, however, an added advantage for children who have had preschool exposure.
Children who are used to other social environments tend to adapt better into schooling environment because they are used to rules and regulations and they won’t be too easily intimidated by crowd. Even though a child may be talkative and interactive, school can be a daunting experience because they’re not used to its scale and the large crowd of students.
We’re not only talking about social and communication skills. Children who have preschool experience also fare better when it comes to general mannerism and behaviours. Parents naturally will teach their children at home, but some children may not feel their parents are serious enough and therefore tend to “test the waters” with their discipline at home.
Have you ever felt that your children don’t really listen to you, but when their aunts or uncles or grandparents tell them something they would suddenly listen to them?
Children are attached to their parents so they know how to push their parents’ buttons. However, in a different environment, children are not used to teachers or instructors, so they naturally tend to listen more willingly and can easily follow instructions. This is a good practice for the children when they enter formal schooling as schools will have many regulations and rules. Not only that, once the children are used to taking instructions from their preschool teachers, many parents find that their children listen more and also more communicative.
Other things that parents find children get better at after being in a preschool is eating habit and general attitude change.
Children naturally want to impress others so when at preschool, they tend not to act up during mealtimes or during lessons because they see everyone else is behaving. After a while, this becomes a habit and they bring this habit home where they eat and behave in a proper way. Parents often tell us that their children even offer to help to clean the table or do the dishes. Preschool experience not only helps children, but also helps parents with their children at home.
Many parents believe in starting their children schooling experience as young as possible, but we believe that any age is a good age. Even for children who have started formal schooling, any additional class or program is beneficial for the children because they can gain different type of experience with a different crowd from their school. When children have many different experiences, they tend and will adapt better in many situations because they’re used to interacting with different kind of people without feeling intimated or scared.
What other benefits do you feel your child has when he or she is in a preschool? Or you can also share with us why you believe it’s not entirely necessary for your child to enroll into a preschool.
We’d love to hear your thoughts!