Right age for a child to enter a school

Hi,

I would like to see views and opinions from few other parents on sending the kids to school (play school) as early as 1.5 to 2 years.

Is there any known positives or negatives? How is your kid, after sending to playschool?

Thanks.

 

Frankly speaking it depends on a number of factors.
Before my son was born i was of the opinion that children as young as 2 could got to a playschool...but my son was a late starter ...he started speaking at the age of 2 and only around 2.7 or so his speech was clear(not very clear but manageable)...so it was then that i sent my son to preschool.And also he was potty trained before going to preschool.
I never sent him to playschool.
But I have seen many of my friends who are working and have sent their kids to playschool as early as 1.5(these days some kindergartens dont take children that young in this part of the world)...and fortunately they are all doing good.mashallah!!!

 

Each kid is different but here were my DD's:

Positives:
Became more social
Started saying more and more words
Eats different kind of foods
sleeps for longer stretches of time.

Negatives:
weight gain problems as she was putting on weight very very slowly
They tend to fall sick slightly more often but thats a good thing as it helps build immunity.

 

Thank you Rakhi. I was looking for such experiences.

Looks, there are good positive things for a kid to spend some time outside home.

One thing I understand is: This should be a complementary step, while we parents should spend some quality time with the kids, for which there are no replacements.

 

Actual right age for kids go to school is nursery 3+ this is a right age.

 

Before Choosing School or Pre-school.. We need to do a self evaluation ..
If you have below structure @ home , I would prefer to say NO to preschool.

1. Play area near by your house/apt with different range of age groups where they can play around in the evenings.
2. In-Laws/Grandma's avaialble at home to take care
3. Mom/Dad can spend at least 2 hours with kids in the evening (If both are working)
My Kid jus directly walked in to Pre-KG(@ 3) though several people used to ask why she is not moved to playschool at the age of 2.

These were the positives I noted in my kiddo:
1. Fluent Speaking of mother tongue at age of 2 1/2 as we all keep her occupied thru out the whole day by talking, talking n talking
2. Attachment with Family members
3. Creativity & Maturity as by interacting lot of time with elders
Lot more on the list..

Negatives:
1. As they move to school directly, Will take a month atleast to move with other kids freely (But i feel it is ok to have that initial patch up)
2. Less Immunity power

Above analysis is based on my personal exp and opinions might differ..
Best age i would suggest is 3 and above

 

@prasathvishnu

Hi Prasath, I personally believe your child is still too young to be put into play school right now. Do so, if you both are working parents and have no one to support at home (i.e. no grand parents). Otherwise, a one year old is too young to be left out all by himself. The child's health and eating habits are very important at the beginning stage. We should build them at home first. Nobody else can take care and feed our children like what we do or grand parents do for them. 2.5years is good enough to start with Pre-Kg.

Regards,
Mrs.Sathis

 

Thank you vgrajeshwar. Lot of insight from you. Your observation about the mother tongue fluency is correct I guess. Especially, for all of migrated people living in a vibrant city with chance to interact with people of different languages.

Among the checklist what you gave, everything is there except first one (Play Area or chance to interact with other kids).

Though we are working, we are lucky enough at least we get to spend couple of hours at least with him. And, my parents are there with us to take care while we are out.

One thing which my wife thinks about is: My Parents will get some rest for 4 hours when the kid is out. You know how naughty these super active kids are to make us tired.

Anyhow, thanks for your suggestion.

 

Thanks Mrs. Sathish.

What you said about Food is true. My wife too is concerned about that actually. That is why she wants to choose a day care/play school for only 4 hour time..

 

Yes Prasanth, a parent spending quality with children is utmost important. For me, i have no option but to leave her at daycare. What I normally do is, after we come home, I spend every minute with her until she goes to bed. We get good 3 hours before her bed time and every minute is dedicated to her in that time.

After dinner, I take her for a walk/park (even though she gets plenty of time outside during daytime) and we both play ball, we come home in 30 mins and play with her toys or read books. Then I give her a bath and feed her a snack. Then some crafts like drawing etc ...by 8:00 PM she is kinda sleeping.

So, what I am trying to get at is, even though you have some support at home, they cannot replace parents.