As a preschool teacher for nearly thirty years and as a parent (and grandparent) I have observed the positive effects that preschool programs have on many children first hand. Most importantly, I have been able to determine many negative effects caused by not enrolling a child into preschool, but this article will cover the top 10 reasons why your child should go to preschool.
1) First and foremost enrolling your child into preschool places your child into a social environment with other children that are in the same mindset. Getting your child accustomed to social environments at a young age will help them to be more friendly and easier to get along with.
2) Preschool requires that your child stays on a consistent schedule. When a child is in preschool they wake up and go to bed at the same time every day. Preschool children also eat their breakfast, lunch and snacks at the same time every day. Maintaining a regular schedule helps to regulate the child’s internal clock. Maintaining a regular schedule keeps your child mentally focused and makes it easier for them to absorb new information.
3) Enrolling your child into preschool helps them to become more independent. Many parents do not realize that attending to their child’s every need makes the young child very dependent. Without the parent around to attend to their every need a child that is in preschool will learn faster how to take care of themselves. Such things as putting on their clothes, feeding themselves and going to the bathroom are learned much quicker. Additionally, since your child will see other children taking care of their own needs at such a young age your child will follow suit and begin taking care of their individual needs all by themselves.
4) At home a child only has to compete with the other siblings in the family for attention. In a preschool environment your child will learn how to patiently wait their turn and how not to interrupt conversations. Enrolling your child in preschool improves their communication skills and patience, essentially helping to make the child much calmer and easier to be around.
5) A child that participates in preschool programs at a young age will be much more obedient and respectful to other adults, not just their parents. They will learn to follow instructions and how to listen to authority.
6) Sheltering your child by keeping them at home and not having them interact with other children will not help them to build their immune system. While it may sound kind of gross, exposing your child to minor colds and germs in the world will build their immune system strong helping to prevent serious illness in the long run. It’s the same idea as flu shots. Flu shots purposely expose a person to the flu virus in order to help build the persons immunity to the flu.
7) Enrolling your child into preschool will get them familiar with the structure of the schooling system. They will learn how to raise their hand to make comments or to ask questions. For many young children raising their hand is foreign to them and preschool gets them ready to excel in kindergarten and beyond.
8) Many children entering kindergarten experience separation anxiety from their parent if they are introduced to kindergarten too quickly. For many kindergarten children the first two weeks are dreadful for them and they will often cry all day long. Preschool allows the parent to gradually introduce their child to an unfamiliar environment helping to make the stress of being without their parent much easier to overcome.
9) Five years is much too long to go without any formal schooling for a child, especially at such an important developmental stage of life. Introducing your child to simple math, the alphabet, music and art before the age of five plays a vital role in the development of your child’s brain for their whole life.
10) Last but certainly not least, preschool not only provides a great learning environment for your child, but enrolling your child into preschool will allow you as the parent time to take care of the home and basic needs without the distraction of your children. While your child is in preschool you can focus on personal educational goals, cleaning the home, laundry and grocery shopping.
Modern studies in brain development prove that when a child is introduced to music, art, language, math and social skills at a young age that the child will grow brain neurology related to genius and creativity. Children that attend preschool are much more likely to attend college later in life. Additionally the recent studies prove that over the long-term just for the simple fact that the person went to preschool the person is 5 times more likely to own a business later in life.
Enrolling your child into preschool is an investment into your child’s future that should not be over-looked, worth every penny to create the best possible future for your child! For more educational articles about preschool and Pre-K education please visit all of our other blog posts about preschool programs and early development.