Last Winter I got two offers for slots in preschools for the coming Fall. I turned them both down, because Hanni, not yet 2 at the time, was really crowd-avoidant and having serious separation issues. Up till now I've been doing "share care" where a babysitter takes care of her and another little girl. It's been the best of both worlds for us.
Fast forward to this summer. All her friends are being put in daycare or preschool in September, which means no share care. So she will probably be one-on-one with a babysitter for the forseeable future.
I worry that she won't get enough time with other kids (although there's young kids around the neighborhood in the evenings). On the other hand, I love how much she gets out of being with an adult (I've had a series of really fabulous college students) who can respond to her interests and needs. On the third hand, while all that individual attention is great for her cognitive development, I worry that it's bad for her character! Is she getting too used to being the center of an adult's attention? On the fourth hand, even though her introvert issues are much better, I still worry that the crowd scene for long hours at a preschool would stress her out.
Other considerations are that the solo care is expensive, since I'm no longer sharing the cost of the sitter. (Not that preschool is cheap.) And naps. Keeping her sleep schedule stabilized is a delicate issue (as some of you may remember from my previous posts!) She would not nap at preschool, and even if she could their nap is at the wrong time for her.
Augh! I don't even know what my question is. Just wondering if any of you have useful thoughts. (It's probably a moot point now anyway, since the preschools are all filled up for the Fall.)
Cheers,
Meg
