i have a baby! WHAT is the deal with preschool/daycare?!
/By Joyce Szuflita
First, you should do what feels right for your family and your child. Everyone has their own needs - yours as a parent, and what you want and need for your child. A lot of people do the same things, and it works out great, but if you hear a different drummer - you don’t need to completely ignore it just because your friends don’t hear it. The hard truth is that the system is built for the largest group of people who are all doing the same thing. Following the status quo will often be the least trouble. Doing things differently can sometimes be problematic, but sometimes that can be worth it to you. It may mean that you send your child to school later. Maybe you will need to pay for a private experience. Maybe you will take a break from your career.
If you are following the most trodden path, you may get a lot of things that work for you, but you won’t get everything. At early childhood, the deal breakers are safety, and a loving enriched environment. Your heart will be warmed by lovely, thoughtful professionals, both public and private who are serving our kids. Things like an optimal schedule, a convenient location and a consistent option that will serve you for several years are luxuries. The likelihood of finding all three of those later things in a free public program are rare if non-existent. But you will have a free quality program and that is a big deal.
Babysitting is not a preschool’s main purpose. Enriched education is not a daycare’s main purpose, although you may find some of both of those types of programs that fill those needs.
There are lots of solid private daycares that can take your child from infancy to threes or later. Their schedules are meant to assist working parents. Their hours are long and they are pricey. There are lots of very lovely private, stand alone preschools (they don’t continue past early childhood) that are meant to provide early childhood enrichment from trained educators from twos or threes to kindergarten. Their hours are generally not as long and they are pricey.
For families who are not economically disadvantaged, public 3k operates during the school year for up to 6 hours and 20 min. a day, and there are not enough seats for everyone who wants one. Prek (the fours year) operates during the school year for 6 hours and 20 min. a day (there may be paid after care to 6pm) and there is an attempt to place everyone who wants a seat, but there is no guarantee that the seat will be the closest program to your house or in your zoned school and you have to contend with school holidays and the summer.
All children who turn 5 years old, in the calendar year that they attend, will have a seat at their zoned school for kindergarten if they want it during the school year, for 6 hours a day. After school and summer camp is often for a fee (but not always).
How you make these various options fit together and serve your needs is the puzzle. You can do this yourself, but if you need help with the puzzle, contact Dana.
