Ahhh, preschool... What can I say about preschool? (Actually a lot, so here goes.) The other day a friend started asking me about preschool and where my kids went and why, etc. This made me start to think about how my preschool theory has changed from before I had kids until now.
Basically, right now, I think preschool is a big trap: once you start you can never stop. But before I had kids I really was kind of indifferent on the whole topic, maybe even anti. I didn't go to preschool and I couldn't see any negatives to my experience. Looking back, I realize that I played a lot with friends in my neighborhood. There were a lot of little kids my age and my best friend's mother actually ran a preschool that we played in after hours. I spent a lot of time at that friend's house, as much as I wanted, and I never felt socially deprived in any way. My only real trauma came when my best friend went to school a year ahead of me and I was left home half the day.
ANYWAY, so I didn't see a real need for preschool. When Kate was about 3, some friends in my ward talked me into doing a very low key Joyschool thing. I mostly thought of it as a playgroup, and the weeks when I had to teach were really not my favorite (though they always turned out OK). But I really liked the other women in the group and Kate liked seeing some other kids her age. All in all we had a positive experience.
When Kate was 4, almost 5, I was not planning on sending her to preschool at all. However, Kate missed the deadline for entering school by 7 days and she was really ready for something. I suppose I could have figured out something at home but my sister in Lehi suggested that maybe Kate and her cousin Jennifer could go to preschool together at one in her neighborhood. I thought it would be really fun for Kate to get to spend time with her cousin, I had heard rave reviews about the preschool and it was very reasonable (minus the gas to Lehi), and I got to spend 2 mornings a week with my favorite older sister in the whole world. I couldn't say no. Besides, on top of all that, I had a 3 year old and a 1 year old and was pregnant with my fourth and I needed to get out of the house before I started to go crazy. This gave me a good excuse.
I have to say, I loved Kate's preschool. Kate had a great time, I had a great time, my other girls had a great time. Everything seemed great. But Mary was watching and waiting. She could see all the fun things that Kate got to do at preschool, things that I would never tackle at home (because of my own laziness and the various ages in my household), things like painting and crazy crafts. Kate came home with tails of getting to pet pigs (the preschool was on a pig farm) and act out plays. There was no way Mary was going to miss out on something like that. So she began to say, "Mom, when do I get to go to preschool?"
By this time, I was beginning to reconsider my ideas about preschool. Although I still didn't think preschool was necessary, I realized that this just might be an easy, fairly inexpensive way to buy myself out of feeling guilty about not being an incredibly creative and outgoing mom. Why not pay someone else to let my child express her artistic talent and then clean up the huge mess that came with all that creativity? So I pacified Mary with, "When you are 4, you can go to preschool, just like Kate."
When Mary was 4, almost 5, I found out that the lady who had run "Piggy Preschool" (Kate's alma mater) was retiring from preschool and moving to the big leagues--kindergarten. I was a little disappointed and Mary was crushed, but I also was a little glad. Because by this time, gas was a lot more expensive and driving to Lehi twice a week seemed a little more daunting. At the time, I had a first grader, a 3 year old and a 1 year old and was pregnant with my fifth. Everything was so much more complicated. But I had promised Mary, and she can be loud when she's disappointed so John and I started looking around.
Eventually we opted for BYU preschool. John works at BYU so he could get our kids into it fairly easily. We'd heard good things about the preschool and it used to be in John's work building so he thought it was great. However, it was a lot more expensive than sending Kate "to the pigs". At first I was a little shocked, but John (being the math major he is) broke it all down for me and showed me that it was about the same amount per hour as Kate's. It just was a lot more hours (4 days a week instead of 2) and we didn't have to pay for the gas to Lehi. I caved and Mary loved it. She got all the social interaction and creative play that she could ever want. I think she painted every day for a month. And the playground there is amazing!! Plus there is like 1 adult for every 3 kids and a great snack every day. But the biggest bonus was that at the end of the year they gave me 4 huge books documenting her year in preschool. Now, not only was I paying for my kid to have something to do, I was also paying for the scrapbooks to go with it. Awesome!! Talk about lightening the guilt load. But Emma was watching and waiting. Soon, I began to hear the fateful question? "Mom, when do I get to go to BYU preschool?"
So now here I am. Emma went to BYU preschool. Ruth is in it now. Ruth even squeezed another year of less intense preschool out of us, because she couldn't handle staying at home with me and Lily (she also can be very loud when disappointed). I'm slowly falling deeper and deeper into the pit. It has even gotten so bad that I started doing an at home preschool for my 2 year old, before her year of less intense preschool, followed by BYU preschool. Little by little I've given in and I have to say that pretty much I think my girls have loved it. I still don't think kids need preschool, but maybe if your kids are really close together and you hate cleaning up messes as much as I do, maybe preschool can keep both you and your kid happy and engaged. It worked for me. Preschool or therapy? Preschool is a lot cheaper.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
When little kids write on walls, it's not that they are coloring on the wall. It's that they are making their list of the things their older siblings got to do. They want to put it somewhere they won't lose it, and their handwriting is not that good. Sometimes they also had to supplement the writing with a drawing of what it is they want to do, like a modern day pictograph.
The cave paintings back in the day weren't done by some caveman recording his exploits, it was his little brother making a bucket list...
for me, it's the idea of paying someone so much money to "babysit" my kid while I have fun....hmmm...well, byu's is awesome, about the same as having someone babysit...but just can't do it...when they have the huge lumped amount...ugh. good thing there is a friend next door. why did my mom teach me to be frugal? It's no fun. hmmm...I think there's a conference talk about that...enjoying what you have or something?
ok...I'm just grateful we are all healthy, happy, and have a job that provides for our needs.
I looove preschool, it's as much for me as my girls. It's like two play dates a week that I don't have to plan, supervise or clean up after. Awesome!
Post a Comment