As your little one approaches the age of 3 or 4, preschool might be crossing your mind. Since enrollment is not mandatory, the choice of allowing your child to attend or keeping her home until kindergarten is entirely up to you, and you should weight the benefits of preschool against the readiness of your child. But experts agree that this early social experience has certain value.
“Preschool has a lot of benefits,” American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) spokesperson P. Gail Williams, who is also a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, told Healthline. “It helps youngsters learn how to socialize with other youngsters. How to get along, the give and take, that’s important.”
When should kids start preschool?
Language acquisition
Preschool helps enhance a child’s language skills. Youngsters learn the language used in sharing and taking turns, as well as boundaries expressed in the form of rules. “The more children are exposed to language, the more they’re likely to acquire it,” Jones said. “They learn other ways to perceive experiences beyond the language of their own parents.”
Time management
But children aren’t the only ones to benefit from the preschool period. Jones pointed out that parents can gain from the experience as well. During this phase, parents — along with their children — can perfect their time management skills, learning how to perform their daily routine in tandem with the getting-ready routine. “By the time they have to deliver their child consistently to a standard kindergarten program, they’ve learned to manage this routine,” Jones said.
Structure
The rules, the structure and the organization a child experiences in preschool will often carry over, leading to less anxiety and disruption when it’s time to start school, said Jones. Because the child will already be familiar with the idea of time schedules and have a clear understanding of classroom expectations, kindergarten is likely to seem less intimidating.
Slow separation
Preschool helps children and their parents learn how to consistently separate in a less stressful setting, said Jones. Kindergarten teachers usually ask that parents drop off their children at the entrance and not enter the school building. “Separation is abrupt and often a little difficult for new kindergartners who are not comfortable separating from their parents,” Jones said.
Preschool, however, is generally a more casual environment, with parents permitted in and around classrooms as children are dropped off. This allows parents and children to grow accustomed to separation at a slower, more easygoing pace.
Learning through play
Preschool allows children the precious opportunity to learn through play. “Public kindergarten programs across the nation are required to teach from an academic curriculum,” Jones said. “And unstructured playtime is disappearing from schedules as academic standards continually rise.” However, she noted that the simple act of learning through play still exists in the group settings of preschool.
Making memories
The memories your child will have of preschool are priceless: the feel of finger paint, the smell of glue, the sound of children’s songs. Jones said she recalls her preschool experiences, how they opened up her five senses and encouraged her to explore her environment. “I still remember ‘I’m a Little Teacup’ 40 years later,” she said, “and the candy canes made out of salty homemade play dough.”
