Should I wait for my daughter to go to preschool?

Question

My daughter turned 3 in October, we are thinking of putting her in preschool. The only worry I have is that the age cut off date for which class she will be placed in is right before her birthday. Next year she will still be placed with the other three year olds and she'll be turning 4 before all of the other children. I'm not saying that my daughter is smarter than the other kids but she has a very good understanding of letter sounds and word meanings and she's understandable and even articulate. The problem is that I noticed that she picks up speech impediments like lisps and saying her vowels wrong from some of her cousins that are a year older (Saying Gawl instead of girl or Dare instead of there.) Is she going to talk like the other three year olds, that is if they speak differently? I'd hate to have her feel confused with how she should talk just because of a cut off date. She should be put with the 4 year old class, right?

Answer 1

My daughter had this exact same problem and I went ahead and put her in with younger kids and she became the role model and teachers pet. She did not go in reverse on what she was learning. In fact she helped the other kids out and felt like a "big girl" doing it which made her try even harder

Answer 2

Not necessarily my cousins child turned 6 in October he just started kindergarten his social skills were not quite there yet. My cousin was concerned about him getting bullied and picked on because he was smaller then the rest (He is not a small kid for his age) he would be smaller then a lot of the kids. You know how kids are.

And about the speech thing I would not worry about it much. Don't make a big deal of it. Use my moms fix say you don't understand her when she talks like that. She is learning and you have to make mistakes when you learn.

Answer 3

Put her in the 4 year old class. Putting her with the 3 year olds will only slow her down. She should be able to adjust well going in with the 4 year old class, most kids do.

Answer 4

dont wait to put her in preschool some of the speech things you mentioned are normal developmental issues, some of the sounds are very hard for small children to make and will correct themselves within the next yr or two.

second no matter what her development in reguards to reading or at least learning the alphabet is she needs to be with the correct developmental group if she is three then keep her with the threes, i have a daughter who complained strongly that all her friends were older and got to do more than she did (here birthday is 11-25 and the cut off date for her kindergarten start was 12-02) and some of the children were almost two yrs older than she was.

if once your child gets into the program she shows by her own actions and behavior maybe they can move  her to the next higher group for some part of the day like my youngest daughter got to do(she was 3 and already reading and got to go to the 4 yr old room when they did their "academic time--letters/numbers"

and was the eventually placed full time in that class after a short period of time.and did just fine, but still had to stay in the 4yr old class for her own yr.

Answer 5

I think you answered your own question.  You don't want to wait for good

reasons.  You are going to have to learn that when it comes to your child's

well being, YOU are the best person to decide.  Go ahead.  If need be she

can always stay behind a year later on.

Answer 6

Those are normal for her age, what you can do with that is repeat the word witout correcting for example, "mommy, that is gawl is over dare" then you say, Oh that girl is over there, that's right that girl is over there.

Best thing for her placement in preschool is talk to the director about your concern (if you trust her).  But for me putting her with the 4 year olds is better, if it was my child.

Answer 7

The youngest of my four children turned 4 in August when the cutoff for the 4 yr old class was Sept. 1st.  I felt it was in his best interest to hold him back that year due to his maturity level.  So all thru school, he was a year ahead of his classmates.  Giving him that extra time to mature and feel 'settled' when he did begin school was the best thing I could have done.  He was always one of the more mature & level-headed boys in his class and, because of this became a natural leader.  He is now 22 and the benefits of giving him that one year were apparent from the 1st day of school.  What's the hurry?  By the way, my nephew was gifted with a Sept. 1st birthday and was also held back.  They will know what they know, but you cannot teach them how to be mature and settled. All children are different,  evaluate your daughter on maturity, NOT a birthday.

Answer 8

Stick with the cut off date. It never hurt anyone.

Answer 9

i would put her in the class they will teach her how not to imitate the students and advance her further.

Answer 10

As a former pre-school teacher, I would say put her with the 4 year olds. She'll have a bit more of a challenge (in a good way). In my experience, kids who are put with kids slightly OLDER than they are will do better than kids who are put with kids slightly YOUNGER. Depends a lot on the child's personality. If she is with the younger kids she'll be a leader and probably the 'star' of the class. If she is with the older kids she'll be somewhere in the middle.

If, after the initial period of adjusting to school, she seems to be struggling, talk to the school and they will most likely allow her to shift to another class.

The most important thing about pre-school is getting children used to being around other kids for long stretches at a time, i.e. getting them used to the routine of school, as well as getting them excited about learning in general. Choosing an environment your daughter finds stimulating without being overwhelming is the best choice.

Answer 11

I would enroll your child in the class that she is supposed to be in . When she attends kindergarten, the same thing will probably happen to - she will be one of the older kids in her class.

As far as her picking up bad speech habits from other children, that's probably a far stretch. I would not withhold your child from a positive preschool experience of being around kids her own age, having a structured environment, etc., just because the other children may not speak as well as your child.