Preschool Age?

My son goes to a home daycare and loves it. However, there is no rush to put a 2 year old anywhere! Three is a great age, but waiting until 4 is great too. If I could stay at home with him, I would and I wouldn't worry about putting him somewhere until he was closer to 4. Someone said to me the other day "we have to go to school for at least 13 years, why rush them into more!" I agree.

My friend doesn't typically start her kids in preschool until they hit 4. (She has 3 kids) But recently she's put one in at 4 and wondered if he should have been put in earlier. My son has started showing interest in playing with other kids recently (he's 3 1/2) and if we had the $$, I'd put him in preschool asap. So I think you should just look for the signs that they are ready and interested. Best of luck, Jen

I agree that three is a perfect age. It is between the terrible two's and the horrid four's; a great age to introduce a little one into a new environment where they have to learn to share. I used to teach in a 3-5 pre-school and it always worked out best for us and the little ones if they began at age three. As far as the sickness factor goes it depends on how clean the play things and chairs/tables are for everyone to share. I had the TA's constantly cleaning especially if we noticed they were sent in sick. So one thing to look for while checking out the different schools is to see and ask about the cleaning practices. It makes a tremdous difference believe me! Our little guys were given specific toys to play with and then we tried to clean them immediately afterwards before being put back for all to share. It was for our benefit also as we would get just as sick as the little ones. So clean, clean, clean is the answer. Also we used sanitizing hand cleaner for the staff and little ones when they had runny noses. Good Luck!

My son is 3 1/2 and started preschool this year, I called a lot of preschools and they didnt take kids younger than 3yrs. They had to be 3 before sept 1st to start, but if I had found one for a younger age I would have started him as soon as I could. My younger son is about to be 2yr in a few weeks so he is always going to miss the cut off but I will be trying to get him into any programs I can find. Only you know if your child is ready for school! :0)

I run a day care and I also have kids! No matter what you do kids will get sick even if you try to keep them seperate from eachother and have them come at different times! Preschool at any age is great the earlier they start learning the better! I havent been able to get my son into preK yet and he is 4 only because he just started to really use the potty! But it is a great idea to have your child in preschool! Dont worry about runny noses and things like that, you cant prevent everything! But I know how you feel about the sick baby thing I also have a 10 month old and he is sick now because of a little one I watch that baby is sick all the time!

I started my son when he was 3 1/2 mainly for the interaction with other kids. He too was hardly ever sick when he was little and he didn't start getting sick afterward he started going to preschool either. However, he was an only child so if he did get sick, I didn't have to worry about siblings getting it too.

I am a pre school teacher and we only teach 4 year olds to prepare them for their following year going into kindergarden. Anythng else before they are 4 is really just a day care environment. I have found that that is a great age & like I said, it prepares them for K. I can say before I taught pre-k my daughter was in the program and she was never sick! Pre-K should only be around 3 1/2 hours each day! Hope this helps!

Starting your children in a daycare at a young age can help with their social skills and help up their ammunities to illness before they start kindergarden. Yes, they will get sick but better start now then waiting until kindergarden. Kids learn so much more now a days in kindergarden, it would be a shame to have them miss out on too many days and have to do it over again.