Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Why I bring my child to school early?

Several times I got the same question. Then I think it's better to share my opinion and experience with others through this blog. Sure..it's open for discussion.

Previously, I had a thought that I would not put my kids to school before 3 years old. But then I saw my son is very active. Though I spent much time with him, teaching him this and that, but I don't have enough playing skill :-) Luckily there are Barney's films and Baby Einstein's that had given me some ideas. Bought some books already about playing, the educative ones, but I myself felt bored..let alone my kid..I thought. And sure he cannot always play with me, he should play with other kids in his age. But after I notice, the kids in my environment play together only in the afternoon after taking a bath, or very early in the morning. And the kids play the same thing every day, either riding a bicycle or running..playing cat and mice perhaps if they understand already.

So I and my husband did a survey to some preschool for kids below 2 years old. We took some free trials as well. Our criterias are simple: we were looking for a playing place. We do not want our kid to be forced in learning how to read or how to count. We just want him to play-in a safe, healthy and educative way- and learn to socialize. So we directly ignored some preschools that offer reading&drawing class for my child (who was only 1 year old at that time!) and also those that has two hours of one session (come on..my son will cry if he has to play that long in one place only).
In the end of the survey, we have two places in our choices: Tumble Tots and Gymboree. We chose Gymboree at last for the price matter :-) I like the school's way of learning by playing. The children are guided to play with tools to improve their motoric skills, then they are gathered in the middle of the room, made as a circle, then sing and dance together.

I never regret the decision to put him to preschool, in fact I feel that's one of my best decisions.
The advantages are not just for my son, but also for me. Actually, I'm the one who learn a lot.
Everytime I accompany my son, I notice what kind of play they do, what songs they sing, what kind of toys they use. I recited almost all the songs given. That's actually for me, in future, if I have my second kid, my third, my fourth..or perhaps if I open my own preschool one day (that has been my desire for a long time).

In the other hand, there's a bounding problem. As a mommy who stays at home, my bounding with my son is very strong. Especially after his dad went abroad, my kid became closer and closer to me. It makes my effort to make him more independent harder as he keeps looking for me everywhere he goes. It happens also when he's at school. I notice that he needs more time to adapt than some other kids. I will say it's a kid-with-full-time-mommy-syndrome..cause after talking to other parents that have similar problem, it seems to happen only to kids with mommy at home, especially boys. The funny thing, he does not show the same thing when playing with neighbours. However, he's getting more and more cheerful through the days.

Bottom line, bringing him to school has helped me and my kid to use our time as qualitative as possible. As he just come to school twice a week, I always repeat what he did at school while playing at home. I still make him playing with neighbours, do running, watching and playing some toys.
Ikel still has problem with his speaking skill till now but I think he's quite excell in some other things. Now he can speak some words very clear (not in a baby language anymore..): mau, papa yang (papa eyang), mamaya (mama iya)...so I feel more relieve :-D When I teach him a new song, I notice that what he recites is the movement that I make, not the text! He does not want to sing all or even some of the texts (except the last part only) though he know the text. When I sing he dances or moves his body/hand as what I've shown.

So back to the topic, I will recommend early school for children. But check the curriculum first. What do u think?






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