From the moment your baby arrives in the world, your priorities will change. You will be trying constantly to offer round the clock attention for your kid. But as soon as they reach their 3 years of a milestone, parents, being busy with their works might look for the preschool for their kids.
Age and the environment are the two essential factors that parents will look at while searching for preschool. Have you ever think of to what extent preschool will be beneficial for your child? Is it really essential for your child? Check out to know more about the pros and cons of sending your child to preschool.
Benefits of Sending Your Child To Preschool:
Kids especially between the ages of 3 and 6 can take in more than you think. How the preschool at this age can benefit your child. Preschools are not just designed for babysitting and the baby. Here are a few potential benefits of preschool for kids and families.
1. A great foundation for learning:
Curiousness and observation are the two important skills that young children hold. They need some platform to nurture and show up their abilities effectively in the social and family setting. Preschool can be the best platform where the kids get a chance to learn some basic things like assembly instructions of a toy, selecting the correct bills and coins while buying something. Kids are exposed to various games and activities to foster the major pillars of their creativity.
The preschool environment gives the head start for your child.
2. Teaches kids to explore their emotions:
Emotions are something that should come from the grounds of the heart and cannot be taught in words. Kids will get a chance to interact with their peers and teachers in the preschool. Observing others is a great way to develop their emotions. Observing others is good exercise for the kids to express their emotions. The emotional skills kids learn at the early stage of their life will be carried in the long run impacting the positive behavior.
Kids who have a lack of emotional skills may struggle to express what they feel. These stucked feelings may lead to anxiety and depression.
3. Prepares your child ready for their school journey:
This is one of the best advantages of sending your child to preschool. A strong foundation plays an important role in the academic life of your child. Just like learning the letters, words, and then sentences, preschool is the entry stage to step into school life. Preschool trains the brain of your child to accept the academic stuff. Without any prior intimation and the preparation, it will be difficult for the kids to invite academic elements.
Preschools use various techniques to offer a demo about their school year. It helps the kids to explore the joy of learning the new. The setting that is much similar to primary school is the helpful stage for the kids to build and strengthen their learning abilities.
4. Offers opportunity for growth:
In preschool, kids experience a structured setting where they find their friends and teachers. It is a great opportunity to learn, share, follow the instruction, and begin the foundation of learning which actually starts in their elementary school.
5. Kids will come to explore their thoughts in a structured environment:
A well structured environment helps kids to learn, make friends, and play with each other. A structured environment does not mean that there are structured rules and adult supervision to constantly review their activities. The preschool structure is invisible to the kids as their immature brains are not tailored to observe the surroundings with keen interest. The preschool structure is organized in such a way to foster social interaction and minimize the conflicts and congestion.
6. Child can make the choices:
Usually, kids have a wandering mindset and cannot focus on the same thing or the activity for longer hours. They need lots of activities to keep them engaged. Preschool offers them the same. It is a place where they can get access to the multiple activities of their choice. Teachers are the guides for the kids who can’t enter into the activity or game on their own; they need some guidance to get the things done.
7. Kids learn to take care of themselves and others:
The in-built competence and the self-growth of the kids grow with the age that allows them to take care of themselves and the others. Teachers will offer many opportunities for the children to put out their desires in the real work. their personal care is improved when they are asked to wash their hands before snack time and place their belongings in their cupboard. Kids are also asked to put their toys properly before moving to the other activity.
Teachers put their efforts to make child view themselves as the resource for the others. For instance, a teacher might plan some co-operative games for the kids where they learn to coordinate and help each other. Teachers also show the kids how to offer a warm welcome to a newcomer in their classroom and help them to know everything about the classroom.
Most of the children will learn the things under the guidance and support of their peers throughout their academic year. In a high-quality preschool setting, kids are encouraged to build the qualities and the behaviors for the smooth progress of their kindergarten life. it will allow the kids to learn many important things like listen and taking turns to speak.
8. Preschool setting promotes their language and the cognitive skills:
In preschool setting, kids are encouraged to nurture their skills in the language rich environment. Between the ages of 3 and 5, kids will come to grow their vocabulary from 900 to 2500 and they learn to build the complex and the longer sentences. Children will come across the thought provoking questions where they are encouraged to stretch their language skills. Children get introduced to the new vocabulary during the arts, crafts, snack time, and the other activities. Children will get a chance to showcase their skills by singing, talking about the books and stories, and acting out the stories. A wide range of the hands on activities and exposure to many challenges will help the kids to foster their skills.
Teachers understand the innocent world of the kids who have the thinking of their own and they are so small to get introduced to the logical things which comes from the practical observation and analysis of the situation.
9. Child’s curiosity will be nurtured:
Preschool teachers have lots of patience to observe, question, and listen to the ideas of the kids during the activities. They do not rely on the correct answers. Their goal is to nurture the grounds for learning, identify the curiosity of child and encourage their zeal to get involved in the creative activities. Small discoveries often make the child to learn the interesting things. Preschool kids have the wide range of imagination and they strongly rely on the concept of play and learn.
In preschool, teachers are there to help children to understand the fine line between reality and fantasy. The lack of awareness of this boundary may make them more prone to fears. Imagination often leads to learning. In preschool setting, kids will get a chance to plan the imaginative play in the groups. While organizing the imaginative play of their own they come across various terminologies, and the proper planning that help them move through the learning process.
However, the imaginary play area of the preschool setting is well stocked with all the essentials. Children at this age will gain the progress from the group play to the one-to-one play.
10. Kids will get access to the pre-math and the literacy skills:
Young children will get access to learn the pre-math and literacy skills in their preschool setting. They are more curious and observant and want to be more competitive in acquiring the skills. Pre-math and literacy skills are important for the kids at this age to survive in this competitive world with the less support.
Children will build the alphabet letter and the words when they sing through the rhymes. Kids are engaged in some read-aloud stories which are the great platforms to work on their listening, comprehension, and expressive language skills. Children will learn to write the alphabet with the support of their teacher.
Children will get access to the wide range of puzzles, sorting games, matching games that will help them to gain a better understanding and identification of the numbers. To sustain the excitement and the motivation, kids need a high quality pre-school setting where their skills are exercised well.
11. Helps kids to develop the motor skills:
Kids will come to develop their coordination, explore their environment, and the challenges in many ways. Quality preschool settings will help the children to get through various motion activities with each activity focused to promote their cognitive and the motor skills.
12. Children will find the answers to the numerous questions:
Kids between the ages of 3 and 5 start to explore their creative journey with the numerous questions about the world around them. Their question seem to be so imaginative. The fact that learning comes from the questioning is obviously true in the case of kids. Preschool teachers attend to the various kinds of tricky questions of the kids. Preschool teachers are smart at framing the answers in the age-specific manner.
Disadvantages Of Sending Your Child To Preschool :
Along with the above listed advantages, there are certain disadvantages as well.
1. Lack of one-to-one time:
Most of the parents don’t wish to send their kids to the preschool until the formal school age begins. The main reason for this is low teacher-to-student ratio. Teachers attention is divided and there is a very low span of the individualized attention than at the home. Kids need the well focused attention at this age and their attention levels can not be disrupted. It is highly impossible for the kids to get the uninterrupted attention in the preschool setting.
2. They operate in the specific hours/ days:
This is one of the disadvantages of sending your child to preschool. The scheduling of the daycare can offer many advantages and the disadvantages as well. Many preschools may not be operative during the holidays or the summer. There the problem arises, when they fail to coordinate with your work schedule. This makes you to look out for the preschool and it can be challenging for the kids to leave the preschool environment that they are more habituated to. This can in turn make you to invest in some more money.
3. Learning at the early stages:
Some preschools will force the kids to learn the things too early. They fail to move and frame the activities as per their abilities. This may make the kids to feel frustrated and lose the love for the learning. It is more important for the preschools to go with the subjects that kids are interested and ready.
4. Limitations on the creativity and the free exploration:
The concept that teachers are only their sole source of the information may limit the range of thinking and the creativity of the kids. The unconscious narrow thinking of the kids limit them to believe the information provided by their teachers.
5. They are not designed to accommodate the children with the developmental delays:
It is hard to adjust to the preschool setting for the kids with the developmental delays. The nature of the activities may be more typical for the children who are slow at the development of the cognitive skills and the physical growth. Not all the preschools are provisioned to fulfill the demands of the slow learners. This may make the child difficult to survive and express in the group setting.
6. Lack of productivity:
Some of the preschools just behave like the daycare centers and they do not focus on any kind of activities for the improvement of the kids. A right preschool can bring the positive attitude and the skills to the life of your child. It is the responsibility of the parents to choose the preschool that can accommodate the developmental needs of your child. Do not force if your toddler refuses to go the preschool.
7. Hotspots for various allergies:
Kids do not have the mature immature system at this age. if children did not get the vaccinations on time, they are at the risk of getting flu and other infection from other kids. If the food allergies of the kids are not informed to the teachers they may lead to various complications.
8. Separation anxiety:
It will be difficult for your little one to leave you and spend the entire day in the preschool. It is more common for the children to feel anxious when you say goodbye. Crying, tantrums, and clinginess are the signs of the separation anxiety in your child.
In conclusion, before sending your child to the preschool know whether they are ready or not for the preschool setting. Don’t let your needs to demand your child to go to the preschool. Children need to be trained well before entering into the new environment.
