I don't see what "academics" could be needed. If all you need to know entering Kindergarten is the alphabet and a few such things like that, you don't really need to go to an educational institution for that.
I think it's interesting that so many people automatically think of the ABCs and early math when they think of preschool and early elementary school "academics". There is so much more to learn in the world than that! Our children's preschools (and most of the preschools we interviewed when choosing a preschool) weren't about learning your letters or numbers or anything at all like that. They emphasized art, creative exploration, imaginary play, relationships, had puzzles and manipulatives to work with etc.
Also I don't get the idea of pre-school as a preparation for the classroom setting of Kindergarten. If children aren't naturally ready for a classroom setting at age 5 or 6, how on Earth are they supposed to be ready for a classroom setting at age 3 or 4?
I personally don't believe that children need to or should have to go to preschool - but instead see it as something that adds "something" for some kids. OTOH, the preschools I've been in are nothing like a "classroom" setting at all in the way that kindergarten is. What they do that preps kids for kindergarten is in letting the kids get used to an adult other than mom/dad/usual caregiver lead them through part of the day, help get them used to putting on their outdoor coat/shoes etc at the same time as a small group of other kids, learn to line up and walk in pairs when going on walks, get used to sharing with kids other than their siblings, things like that - mixed in with fun and interesting exploration and play.
I don't see why it is a better social situation than just interacting with people of all ages at home and in various public places.
It isn't "better" but it's different than interacting with people of all ages at home and in various places. First, it's different than home simply in that it's not home. It's a bit outside the comfort zone of many kids at first. And I believe that interactions with adults (when you are a young child) are fundamentally different than interactions with other young children. And... my kids really *enjoyed* the friends they made at preschool.
One drawback of putting your child in pre-school, that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that if you have a wild, energetic, independent, highly intelligent child, and you put them in an environment with no intellectual expectation, but instead with expectations about how a child is supposed to act, then your child will attract suspicions of having certain disorders, which could lead to misdiagnosis and damaging treatments, medications or other "services".
It's not *that* easy to get misdiagnosed and started on meds. I think I mentioned above that we had one bad preschool experience - my older dd was at a school where she drove the adults nuts and vice-versa. The head of the school was convinced she was deaf, convinced she had some type of social issues etc. Our dd refused to take a nap after lunch and put up quite the fit about it. When she was upset she would sit in a corner and scream. For all that the preschool caretakers tried to convince us she had some severe issues going on, we knew our dd and we knew that wasn't the case. The flip side of that was - there was *something* going on - she had food allergies that gave her stomachaches, and all the huge "issues" started 20 minutes after lunch. So no, she didn't have all the possible horrible things going on that the staff thought might be up with her, but she did have a "something" that we needed to do something about. At the end of the day, if you get your child into a preschool and the fit is way off - there are big problems, no parent is going to rush off believing their child has some disorder without getting a second opinion or without withdrawing and trying something different. A preschool teacher can't medicate a child - you have to have a dr's eval to get meds. I think that there are going to be children who are enrolled in preschool and it's not a good fit yet simply because they aren't developmentally ready for it, but I think it's highly unlikely that those children end up with "diagnoses" simply because of that.
I'll also add that, as another person mentioned above - my EG ds really liked having the routine and structure as well as activities and adults to give him something to think about. He still does - he asks to go to camps etc in the summer rather than having a lot of unstructured downtime. That's just him, and for kids like him, preschool can be a very happy place. My older dd, otoh, is extremely social - she can live without structure but she loved loved loved her preschool friends.
polarbear
