The Advantages of Sending Your Child to Preschool

If you have a child not quite old enough for kindergarten should you enroll him (or her) in preschool? That's a question parents ask once their children approach their third and/or fourth birthdays.

But does preschool really make a difference? Having subbed in several preschools in both Connecticut and Florida, I can testify that preschool is more than just coloring and pasting. In my opinion, it's an opportunity to not only adjust to school, teachers, and other children; it's also a chance to not be left behind. Besides teaching young children their ABCs and how to cut, color, and paste, preschool also prepares young children socially as well as academically.

It's in preschool that four and five-year-old first learn how to control themselves---to sit still and listen as the teacher gives directions. It's here they first learn to problem solving skills. Some educators even go so far as to contend that attending preschool may spare children of encountering brushes with the law. Hopefully, when they're tempted as teenagers to do something illegal, they may remember basic rules of integrity taught to them in preschool.

Some opponents of preschool may argue that all children do is play at preschool. But that's where they learn as play is a child's work at ages four and five. For example, when going to an "art center", a four-year-old discovers that by mixing red paint with yellow paint, a new color of orange is created. Or, when a little girl plays house with other children in at the "housekeeping center" she learns to role play as a "mommy" solving problems in housekeeping chores.

Simple skills such as cutting may seem lame to us adults, but it's a fine motor skill that is important to learn before beginning regular school. Similarly, skills such as dancing around in a circle to music and building with building blocks teach children about balance.