Why preschool is important!

When Kal-el had turned three, I had a few different people ask me if I was going to send him to preschool. In Ireland, preschool is free to all children aged between 3 and 5 1/2 years. I hadn't really wanted to send Kal-el to preschool at all if I'm honest. My mentality was that the government put free preschool in place in order to assist working parents, and in order to encourage mothers who wished to return to work so that they in turn would help the economy to grow. I am not working and have no intention of returning to work just yet. I gave up working when Kal-el was 18 months old and then when Lexi became a part of our lives we decided that we wanted them to have their Mummy at home to raise them. I don't even know how accurate my thinking was in regards to why preschool is free but the fact that I wasn't working made me feel like I should leave all of those free places for parents who really needed them. As I noticed Kal-el's need for improvement in his social skills, I had decided that perhaps sending him to preschool when he turned 4 wouldn't be such a bad idea. However, when the Early Intervention team recommended that I start Kal-el in preschool before he turned 4, I enrolled him the next day and he started the following Monday morning. Why waste any more time if attending preschool was going to help my little superhero? Not only did he get to start almost immediately, but within a week the Early Intervention Team had organised for a Special Needs Assistant to work with Kal-el in his preschool 6 hours a week! That's favour!

So why is it recommended that children attend preschool? There are so many great benefits for every child but I've talked specifically about the benefits I can see for Kal-el.

Socialisation. Kal-el was spending most of his days around his mum and dad only. His brother, Christian, is 13 years older than him so there wasn't enough interaction there to help develop social skills. When Lexi was born last year he now had to learn how to be social with a baby and it is really only now that she is running around and wanting to play that the social interaction between both of them is there. In preschool Kal-el has a whole building full of other children and about half a dozen children the same age as he is in his classroom every day. He is now learning what is acceptable behaviour around his peers. When he gets into their personal space they'll let him know to back off. He is learning what a conversation should be like among his peers. He is having to develop his own communication skills so that he can interact with his classmates. He will learn what behaviour the other children will tolerate and what they won't. He will also learn that he can't always have things his way. Even when his SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) kicks in he is having to learn how to manage it because he can't expect all of the other children to stop singing or playing or making music. The children won't understand like his Mummy understands! This will help to develop his tolerance of sensory issues.

Kal-el is the boy kissing all the girls!!!

Cooperation: Kal-el learns how to cooperate not only with the other children but also with the adults around him in preschool. It is a fact that all children will cooperate differently with their parents than they will with other adults. Quite often children are far more cooperative with anyone who is not their parent! Sometimes, though, the opposite can be the case. It is my experience from working with young children in a school environment that children usually display behaviour in school that is the opposite of the behaviour they display at home. A quiet and easy-going child at home is often a little more daring and out-going in school. A child that a parent describes as being a handful at home is often quite calm and quick to obey in school. Kal-el will walk up and down the stairs with a lot less protesting in his preschool than at home. At home Kal-el will protest against anyone reading stories or poems. In preschool Kal-el sits with all of the other children and listens as the stories are being read. At home Kal-el often protests against singing songs but in preschool he joins in with them and sings. He is cooperating with others in a way that he won't cooperate at home. Other adults won't give in to him like his Mummy will!

Kal-el standing on the right in the class line

Rules: In preschool there aren't many rules for Kal-el to follow, but he is learning that there is a schedule to the day, that he has to take turns, that he shouldn't speak when someone else is speaking, that he has to be kind and not harm other children, that he should stand in a line with his classmates when instructed to. These simple rules will apply to him in some capacity all through his life and so it is really good for him to see that there are rules outside of the home also.

Getting stuck in with Art and Crafts - top left

Sensory Play: This type of play includes any activity that stimulates a young child's senses: touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight and hearing. Sensory activities allow children to explore and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create and investigate. Now my house has been described as resembling Smyth's toy store but I'll be honest, the thoughts of taking out paint or the sand and water tray or the play doh whilst Lexi is around just fills me with dread, so it doesn't happen. She's like a little tornado and would no doubt consume more of the materials than play with them. Sensory play is a daily norm in preschool. Kal-el loves to play with sand and water but only in recent weeks has allowed paint to be put on his hand and still will not touch the playdoh.......not yet anyways! In preschool he spends 3 hours having all of his senses stimulated. At home he is more likely to spend 3 hours in front of either a tv screen, a tablet or a phone! The rest of the time he's creating his own play - which is not a bad thing either. And remember, he is less cooperative with me at home and so he rarely sits with me to even scribble on paper with a crayon!

Engaging with other children and reading a book!

Overall, since sending Kal-el to preschool, we have seen a huge improvement all round. His speech has definitely improved greatly. The very fact that he sat on my bed a couple of weeks ago and took a book out and pretended to read it (actually recognising some of the words) shows me that he is learning to tolerate at a much faster pace than he would if I'd kept him home. He'll often just start singing songs he has been singing in school. He rhymes off the months of the year to me, the seasons, the days of the week, his shapes and colours because he has been learning them in preschool. He has even been showing an interest in using the toilet because he sees his classmates in and out of the toilets across from his classroom. He still hasn't used the toilet but the interest is there!

I highly recommend that everybody send their children to preschool when they turn 3, and even if you are not working and home alone during that time, use those few hours each day for you! I'm already counting down the days until I can send Lexi.........

This is a great opportunity for me to give a big shout out to all at Absolute Angels Montessori and Creche in Drogheda. A special thank you to Jackie and Lorraine who work brilliantly with all of the children but especially with my little superhero.

Photo credit to Absolute Angels Montessori and Creche.