"If your child is at home with you, with a relative or with a caretaker, or if he is in family daycare, you will probably want him to attend a pre-school or nursery school from about the time of his third birthday."
The American Academy of Pediatrics
"A preschool program may be especially beneficial if your child doesn't have many opportunities to meet other youngsters or adults... aside from these advantages for your child, a preschool or child-care program may help you meet some of your own needs... at this stage of your child's development, the separation can be good for both of you."
Dr. Spock
"The cooperativeness, initiative, and creativity which children develop in a good nursery school or day care center will help to prepare them socially, emotionally, and intellectually not only for kindergarten and the elementary grades but also for their careers as adults. This is not an exaggeration, I feel."
The What to Expect...Team
"Actually, no child who's nurtured adequately at home needs preschool. While children who attend these programs may have a slight initial edge when it comes time for kindergarten, that edge eventually disappears."
T.Berry Brazelton, MD
"Parents today are often haunted by the feeling that children must be prepared to compete early, to succeed from the start. Few can resist the urge to prepare their children by teaching them the skills they'll need in school-- reading, writing, and arithmetic. The pressure on children to perform early seems to me to be cheating the child of opportunities for self-exploration, for play, and for the learning that comes from experimentation."
Confused? As always, consider the needs of your own child and family before blindly following any expert's advice. Then, get ready to visit the following sites for resources and information.
The first stop for any parent with questions should be The Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, a site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. This excellent site even allows you to ask your own questions-- you can send an e-mail through AskERIC, and within two days you'll receive a response that will even include text from relevant articles!
Whether your child attends preschool or remains home for another year, you'll both benefit from a visit to Early Childhood Educators and Family Web Corner, a wonderful resource that offers articles that describe how children learn, offer tips on selecting quality children's books, and suggest activities that encourage creative play.
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