Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

RickyDaytonaJr t1_j9wh1gc wrote

My daughter missed by three weeks last year. I inquired about the cutoff date with the school district just out of curiosity and didn’t get any sense that it was negotiable. The extra year of daycare was expensive, and she was bored as hell (being the oldest kid in pre-school when all of your friends are going to kindergarten sucks). But, it wasn’t all bad. In the end, she was much more ready for kindergarten.

11

NH_603_Family OP t1_j9whthd wrote

Thanks for sharing! I am so worried about the year of boredom. In addition, I have been only like 60% happy with the director / primary teacher at his preschool. She recently told me that my son mostly plays by himself, “where he seems happiest” and otherwise gravitate towards the younger girls. Um…I’m not paying for my son to just be “happy”…I’m paying for him to learn social and academic and life skills. She can be unresponsive at times (admittedly I’m a bit more involved and worried than most parents) and I wish she had told me this earlier / did more to try to engage him with the older kids’ activities. I’m worried he will be so bored or even regress next year playing with three year olds.

−7

RickyDaytonaJr t1_j9wkgv7 wrote

IMO, preschool should involve lots of group activities and dramatic play to encourage creativity and build social skills. Every child is different though, and it’s OK for kids to explore their own interests too. On some days at preschool, my daughter would be “running an ice cream shop” with other kids during dramatic play. On other days, she’d spend time by herself completely focused on doing puzzles.

Good luck to you and your son (whether in preschool or kindergarten this year)!

2

adk35 t1_j9ybilo wrote

This is preschool-happiness is vital to a child’s development and ability to learn. Preschool should be play based. He has 13 years of schooling ahead of him, 4/5 year olds should be playing and having fun. Happiness will set the stage for future successful learning.

2