Once a child begins to walk and talk, every parent starts to think about daycare. However, daycare may not be the best route to take when it comes to educating your children. Daycares are typically advertised as places to watch children while their parents work, go to school, run various errands, or just need to take a well-deserved break. Unfortunately, what they advertise is exactly what they deliver, simply a place to watch your children and nothing more. When a child is in the daycare age, their learning process needs to start soon, as school is right around the corner. Instead of enrolling your child in an expensive daycare that will not aid in their development, looking into a preprimary program is a healthy alternative.
Preprimary programs are groups or classes that are organized to provide educational experiences for children and include kindergarten, preschool, and nursery school programs. From 1990 to 2013, the percentage of 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in preprimary programs increased from 59 to 65 percent, with all of the growth occurring between 1990 and 2000. The percentages of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in preprimary programs in 2013 (42 and 68 percent, respectively) were higher than the percentages enrolled in 1990 (33 and 56 percent, respectively) but not measurably different from the percentages enrolled in 2000 or 2012. In contrast, the percentage of 5-year-olds enrolled in preprimary programs declined from 89 percent in 1990 to 84 percent in 2013. The percentage of 5-year-olds enrolled in preprimary programs in 2013 was not measurably different from the percentage enrolled in 2012 (84 and 85 percent, respectively).
Benefits of academic preschool include better learning opportunities, including a chance to get into a better primary school and helping to identity and develop the academic strengths and weaknesses of your child. Finding the right preschool for your child may seem like a difficult task, but is less stressful once you find out what you are looking for. Some things to look for in a preschool is location, price, and most importantly, the success rate of former students. Preschools that provide grade school readiness and high quality education should be considered for your child, as they have a track record that speaks for itself.
Between 1962?1967, a study examined the lives of 123 children ages 3 and 4 born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school. In the study’s most recent phase, 97% of the study participants still living were interviewed at age 40. Researchers found they had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school.
Enrolling your child in an academic preschool instead of daycare has a lot of different advantages. Take control of your child?s future today and place them in an environment that cares about their education and their development and will do more than just keep an eye on them.