How to Find the Right Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten Program for Your Child

For many of us with preschool-aged children, it can be difficult to determine whether or not we should place them in a preschool or pre-kindergarten program to prepare them for kindergarten and grade school. For many working parents, it is a no-brainer and finding a daycare or learning center to keep the kids in during work hours is a necessity. For many parents that stay at home, the issue becomes where exactly the best, and perhaps most affordable, place is to send the child(ren). No matter your particular situation, searching and finding the most appropriate learning center or school can be difficult and overwhelming, and you may wonder ask yourself "how do I even begin?"

For me, I recently went through this exact issue with my son who is 3 ½ years old. I missed out big time last year when I started calling around to various area preschools and learning centers in April and May (a few months before he turned 3) only to find out that their enrollment was back in January and February. I couldn't believe this - how could these preschools take so seriously the enrollment for a 2 or 3 year old child? It isn't as if I was enrolling him for college or even a prestigious preparatory school, it's only preschool! When I asked my friends and neighbors about this early enrollment and tried to convey how ridiculous I felt it was, they looked at me like I was speaking Greek and said "well, yes, didn't you know that's how it's done?" What? How was I suppose to know all of this without anyone telling me! I started to feel a little insecure that perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention to the educational needs of my child.

As a first time mom going through this, I took lots of notes and decided I would be ready when January of this year rolled around. This time, just after the new year, I called everyone way in advance and got all the information and talked with even the local public school to find out what should be taught and when. I examined curriculum, costs, locations, and then talked to friends, neighbors, and education experts for opinions on various places. Okay, I may have gone a little overboard, but I felt like I couldn't be left behind like last year! It also doesn't help when you have neighbors, family members, and maybe even co-workers constantly badgering you and asking "so what have you decided?"! At the end of the day no matter what you choose, your child will most likely be just fine and excel once in grade school. That doesn't seem to be much comfort though for those of us that feel this need to prepare our kids for it all!

Now that it is all over and we reached a decision on how to move forward (I can't tell you how thankful I am this is over), I feel a lot better and look forward to preparation my little guy will be getting this coming year as he heads closer to kindergarten. It was an emotionally exhausting and time consuming process. Here are some tips I learned from my experience, and that will hopefully help others plan for this process:

1) Plan ahead! Contact the various preschools and centers in your area way before you think you need to just to make sure you are ahead of the curve. Realize that many will have enrollment periods many months in advance. For a 2 year old, enrolling your child 6 months in advance of the actual first day of school may seem silly. After all, that is ¼ of his/her life to go! With all the demand though for early learning now, this is very much the norm. There may even be a waiting list, so get on it now if you can. Ask them about their various programs, timelines for enrollment, registration fees (these hugely vary), and schedules. Get a feel for what each one has to offer and then examine your own situation and child and determine where you may want to concentrate further investigation.

2) Define your goals. What is it that you want to achieve with your little one going off to preschool? Are you more interested in him/her learning their ABCs, reading early, writing, or are you in this simply to help your child gain more social independence with other children? Perhaps their age will impact what you are looking for. Is he/she entering kindergarten soon, or do you have another couple of years? This can weigh heavily on the type of program you should look for and thus can possibly also impact costs.

3) Narrow down your search to a few places and go see them in person. Talk to the school about visitations. Bring your child, visit during classtime (most places will allow this) and see how the other children interact with the teacher. Of course your child may be shy in a brand new environment, but see if you can get him/her to walk around and get a sense for how they may feel about it. This of course can be harder to do in younger children (i.e., age 2 for example), but children 3-5 years of age can take a cue from Mom or Dad and explore a bit on their own. Encourage them to give you feedback - ask them afterwards if they liked the classroom, the other kids, the pictures, etc. they saw there.

4) Weigh all the options. Consider curriculum and how they match up with your own goals here. Think about the costs and what you are getting for those costs (i.e., does the preschool provide all snacks, lunches, etc., or do you need to provide those?). Does your child already have friends at this preschool or know one of the teachers and perhaps that may help him/her with this transition? All of these factors may be important for your decision. No matter how stressed you may feel about making a decision, remember every family has different needs and wants, so don't feel pressured to do something because the Smiths are already doing it.

5) Prepare your child for the first day! I have found it helpful to talk to my son before bedtime, just after we read our books, about what we will be doing the next day. In the case of preparing him for his first day at preschool, I prepare him a couple of weeks ahead of time. I tell him each day that we are getting closer to go to his "new school" and he is very positive and happy about planning it out. This may or may not work for all kids, so be sure you aren't stressing your child out about a new school. Preparation though seems to generally work well.

6) Be prepared for your own insecurities for the first day! This is the hardest for me. Even after researching everything and making a collective decision with my husband, I still always second guess myself and wonder if I have put my son in the best possible situation. It is especially hard when my son seems scared the first day when I leave him! This is totally normal though and of course your child may exhibit a little anxiousness as you leave him/her behind at a new school. One thing I have learned is that no matter what, you and your child are not the only one! Talk to other parents and see how they have handled this. Call the school and ask them to check on your child and give you a report. More times than not, you will likely find that he/she is perfectly fine within 10 minutes after you leave!

7) Last, but certainly not least, be proud of yourself and confident in your choice! Anyone that is willing to spend this much time and energy on worrying about their little one's preschool career deserves some kudos! Even if you decide that the preschool scene is not for your family, be assured that your research and consideration for this issue is what led you to the right decision.