The Power of Preschool

The past year has been a challenging one for families. And many families chose to keep their young children home during the pandemic to ensure their safety. But now that COVID-19 precautions are being lifted, it might be time to consider how powerful a Preschool program can be for your young child.

Why should you choose a high-quality preschool program for your child?

• It’s hard to teach peer interactions from home. Preschool is a perfect first step in learning self-advocacy skills, how to share with others, and begin to work on language and strategies for peer problem solving—all with teacher support!
• This is often the beginning of the first true friendships that children make. Children can begin to move beyond individual and parallel play, to true collaborative play with other children. This more expansive play really expands language and social-emotional skills.
• Sharing a classroom space and material with a group is a great way to learn those all-important self-regulation skills. Teachers explicitly work to help children practice how to identify emotions, strategies for calming down when upset, build flexibility, and how to follow a routine. School is a group setting and these skills will prove to be vital to a child’s later academic career.
• We get it–life is busy and it’s faster for you to put your child’s coat on yourself. Preschool is a perfect way to support your child’s independence skills. Early childhood educators work on skills like hand washing, potty training, dressing, opening lunch boxes and containers, throwing away trash and more. So often, parents are amazed at how much their child can do on their own once they have spent time in a preschool setting.
• It’s just plain fun! As a long-time early childhood professional, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen preschoolers excited for the day ahead and reluctant to leave at days end! A high-quality preschool program features art, music, building and engineering skills, sensory play, dramatic play, literacy, math, science, and practice with gross and fine motor skills but the children just think they are playing. How great is that?

At The Tobin Schools in Natick we offer state-licensed, nationally-accredited early childhood programs that can be an amazing start to your child’s educational journey. Contact us today to learn more about Preschool options for your young child!