How to Decide when to Send your Child to School
There is no magical number that signifies when a child is ready for preschool. According to BabyCenter, many preschools will take kids as young as two and a half , but that doesn’t mean that all kids that age should go. It depends on a wide variety of factors. Evaluate all of them to decide when to make this move.
Evaluate your child’s independence
It will be easier for your child to go to a preschool if he or she is independent. If your child goes somewhere and immediately runs off on his or her own, then he or she might be ready. If he or she screams every time you leave for a minute, then he or she might not be ready.
He works well with other kids
In your home, your toddler may only have to deal with you and possibly one or a few siblings. When he or she goes to preschool, he or she will suddenly have to deal with many different kids that are new. If your child does well with other kids in social situations, then this will be a good sign that he or she will interact well in preschool.
How does he or she deal with other caretakers?
If you leave your toddler home with a lot of different babysitters, and he or she does fine, then that might be a good sign for readiness for preschool. He or she respects authority, even if it is not you. If he or she does not listen to anyone but you, then you may have a problem in preschool.
Has he or she been away from you before?
Even if your toddler has never attended preschool, has he or she been in a group situation without you? If you send him or her to a class without you and he or she does fine, then preschool might not be much harder.
Factors related to you
Of course your child is not the only issue when it comes to when it is time to send your child to preschool. You need to evaluate whether you are ready. Of course in some cases you don’t have a choice, such as if you have to go back to work. In other cases you might not be ready to do it. Remember that your child will be going to school full time in just a couple of years. You might want to enjoy this special time that you can spend alone.
Make sure your child is ready for preschool. The above signs will help you make this decision.