I have worked with children both in schools and my own. In addition, I have studied child development. After working in a preschool, I learned several things. Preschools are mostly for profit and may care for your child to a certain extent. When you have a classroom full of children and you are trying to meet their social, emotional and physical needs all at one time it can be difficult to reach each child. Many children come to preschool with disabilities that may not have been addressed by their parents or have attachment issues. Preschools don’t pay their workers very much, are often understaffed and have a high turnover rate. Children that age need a consistent caregiver with them at all times. Many preschools try to provide the optimal care for the children in the program but, when you are presented with children that have preexisting conditions that most preschool teachers are not trained to handle it makes things difficult. Children this age can experience separation anxiety, not be potty trained yet, have autism or other undiagnosed disabilities which makes adequate care impossible. There is also the fact that some people that go into childcare do so because it has limited training to get into and they think that playing with children all day is what they will do. Some people I have seen working in preschools don’t have the temperament or patience for children.
It was a real eye opener for me to see how preschools are run and that most can’t adequately meet the needs of your children because they are understaffed and handling too many diverse needs of the children in the programs. I have children of my own and I’m glad that my children were not in preschool full time. I did put them in one day programs when they were little for socialization and learning. I know not everyone has that choice of who and where they can put their children. I hope you will consider the way that preschools are run before you place your children there. Even the expensive chains cannot adequately meet your child’s needs based on many factors. My personal opinion is that children this age are too young to be away from their parents anyway and would do better with one-on-one care.
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