anyone not sending their 2 yr olds to pre-nursery? please shed some light

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yvonnewyw

Registered User
I'm debating whether or not to send my girl to pre-nursery next sept. I'd like to hear pros and cons, any comments?
 
Big pro: you got a couple hours to yourself! Gym, coffee, errands, manicure etc
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one hand: u have more time for your own thing.

on the other hand: u wont know much about what is happening in the school
they may be too young to be cared by others, mentally

physically it is very challenge for kids and if morning/afternoon session is not fit into your normal schedule, kids can get very tired.
prepare to take them back from time to time as they are easily get sick in kindy.

I have sent my one but I am thinking withdrawn now. It is very tired for kids although he seems very happy to go to school.
 
I am not sending my 2 year old to pre nursery untill he is 2.5 and then only a couple of mornings a week. Pros are as Biggie said if you are a SAHM(depending on if you have other younger children or not!). I am a SAHM, but moved here with 2 kids and i have a helper so I already have loads more flexibility than when living in Australia where we had no family in the same state so this was not a huge issue for me. In Australia I started my older child at a similar thing 1-2 mornings a week as her brother had just been born so it gave me some time with him and her some big girl time and it seemed to work well. The other issue i have found here is because so many 2 year olds do go to pre nursery it gets harder to find playdates or activities with a similar age group - classes tend to have 18mt - 2 year olds rather than 2.5 year olds. But really for me the time when they are little goes so fast i don't want them to grow up too quickly! And I want them both to be ready to be away from me happily - but that is a very personal thing and also depends on the kids themselves, so may be very different for others.
Re socialisation etc you can do that just as well yourself via playdates, playgroups and other activities (with the caveat above) and personally i find in HK they are often focussed in pre nursery (to varying degrees depending on the particular kindy and teachers) on getting the kids to be compliant to a fairly structured class, which is not my thing at this age, but I know some people love it. So it is worth checking out a few as that may help you decide whether or not it works for you and your little one. HTH
 
Also meant to say if I was working I would definitely use it as it would be easier for the helper and the child, so that is another consideration
 
neither of my kids went to pre-nursery. the kindergarten we chose didn't offer it. if they had, i probably would not have sent my son, but i would have sent my daughter. my kids were born in february, so they missed the cut off to start when they were 2.8. instead they both started when they were 3.7.
 
My son goes two mornings per week, at the moment he's accompanied and at around two years four months he'll start doing those two mornings unaccompanied, same teacher and classroom so he should be accustomed to it by then. He really enjoys it, it's only a couple of hours but it's structured with regular moves between one activity and another, circle time, craft, play, snack and he seems to thrive of the routine and focusses well on each activity.

To me it feels like a good way to ease him into a structured day and most importantly he enjoys it. If I worked I'd probably be sending him for more days but it does depend on the personality of the child.
 
I sent my 4-year-old to nursery school when he was 2-years-old and he had a great experience there.

Pros:

-social development for your child--where we live there aren't really any small children and my son is very social and gets bored easily so for him it was like fun and games every day

-exposure to different types of children--in my son's nursery school there was a program for disabled children as well and I thought it was a great experience for my son to be around children of different backgrounds and ability level--taught him a lot of great empathy skills, actually

-gets exposed to lots of illnesses early which builds his immune system so when he starts kindergarten (assuming you'll send him to kindergarten) he won't get sick as often--my son very rarely gets ill even when kids in his school are coming down with chicken pox and hand/mouth disease

-helps set a nice schedule for the family which I found helped with a lot of things like 1) potty training (my son was potty trained at 2-years-old) 2) nighttime sleep (he had such great full days that he slept like a rock for 12 hours at night which meant we all got fantastic sleep) 3) naptime sleep (again, my son took great naps in the afternoon after school) 4) appetite and eating (because he was having snacks at school he was exposed to different healthy foods in a social context which kind of gave him peer pressure to eat his veggies and fruits because the other kids were doing it and it was "cool")

-academic development--this wasn't our top priority but it is still pretty cool that by 2.5 my son knew his alphabet and could write some simple characters

Cons:

-gets exposed to lots of illnesses early so most definitely will be ill semi-frequently--for us, this meant that our son got sick probably about once a month where he needed to be kept at home for 1-2 days to recover--nothing major--just a fever, cough, runny nose or maybe once in awhile tummy problems

-cost--it wasn't really a big deal for us because of the type of school my son attended but this might be a factor
-having to arrange your schedule around schooling--again, this wasn't an issue for us but I can see this might be a problem

-high expectations of the school/pressure--never had this problem either because we purposely chose a school that was laid-back and low-stress

-not having your child at home all day--for us wasn't a problem as my son has been quite the traveler since he was an infant--he was staying over at his grandparents' house overnight when he was quite small and we've always held the opinion that a little break from each other on a regular basis was healthy for the whole family--including him--for us, 3 hours of nursery school didn't seem like a huge gap of time.

For us, nursery school was a good decision. I think my son benefitted from the experience and he's a very happy and well-adjusted kindergartener now who is in love with study and enjoys his school life.
 
For me I think it is great ....my daughter has a language delay and the exposure at school has helped her a great deal-learning from peers is much better than learning from me and my helper.

Another pro for us is that we do not have to worry about applying to K1 for her as she can just go through the system now...there are fewer places at K1 so for us it would just seem to make more sense (especially since she is ready for school- does help that she is in am class though I must admit....when she was in pm class it took a while for her to adjust to napping at a different time, etc)

Cons would be the school fee and if your child is not ready for daily school...I know some schools offer classes only 2-3days a week so that could be an option.

I've three kids, the oldest one being in pre-nursery, so it is nice to have the extra 4hrs in the am to spend with the younger two ...my daughter rides the school bus, which is very convenient for me too...my friends were shocked when I told them my daughter took the school bus...but, why not? Saves me a lot of time and she knows now to put on her seatbelt whenever she is in a car/taxi....another pro!
 
so does everyone think send 3 to kindy is very necessary ? I heard some kids as young as 3 travel more than 30 minutes per day by school bus to a kindy. is this good for kids development or simple nature space is more important for young kids?
 
Kindy is not compulsory in HK so it's totally up to the parents. Many parents would send their kids to kindy for similar reasons to the ones described above for pre-nursery. With kindy, the added factor to think about is getting into primary school. Since many kindies are linked to primary schools, parents feel their children have a better chance getting into that school and hence choose to send their kid to kindy. I am not keen on pre-nursery for my son but will apply for kindy because of the primary-school thing, plus I think it might be easier to ease him into structured school by going to kindy first. Where you send you kid is also up to you and of course, whether your kid gets into a kindy near your home. I would choose an average/decent kindy near my home over the best schools that would involve travel. Other parents feel its important for their kid to go to the best school even if it involves travel. If you're renting you can also opt to shift house to be closer to your kids school, especially if you want your kid to be in primary school in the place.
 
When my daughter started nursery at age 2, it was primarily because I was up at the NICU every afternoon with her sister and I figured that she might as well be in school rather than sitting at home with my helper. I figured if she didn't settle in, I could always take her out after a couple of months with nothing lost. She loved school and has been happily going ever since. I think that Thanka did a good job of summing up many of the pros and cons of the issue - but I just want to add, your child's personality plays a large part in how good it will be for them. With my 2nd daughter, I'm undecided about when she will go to school as she does not have the same independent, confident personality as my first - she's much more clingy and quiet. On one hand, I think maybe she needs more time at home - but then on the other hand, she possibly could benefit even more by having to go to school... I'm still undecided on that one...
 
2mums said:
so does everyone think send 3 to kindy is very necessary ? I heard some kids as young as 3 travel more than 30 minutes per day by school bus to a kindy. is this good for kids development or simple nature space is more important for young kids?
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My son was traveling about 30-45 minutes on a bus to kindergarten in the mornings when he was 2-years, 10-months-old.　　He did and does love it. Why? All of his buddies are on the bus with him and he gets to look out the window and see everything as it goes by. Kids aren't like adults. They like riding in vehicles sometimes--I guess it's because we don't have a car so riding in a vehicle (especially taxis) is one of his favorite things to do. At school he plays outside on a playground so he actually gets more exposure to "nature"　than he can have at our house because we don't have a garden/yard. I think the biggest concerns, as mentioned above are 1) is your child ready for such a schedule--some children aren't 2) are you ready for such a schedule. It also depends on if the child likes the school and it's a safe and positive environment--some are, some aren't.
 
I have three kids. Eldest one started at playgroup when she started crawling and then went in three times a week. She's now almost 6-yrs old and in P2. My second one just turned 3 yrs old and I have opted not to go to school yet. He will most likely start Sept 2012, just before he turns 4 yrs old. I personally think school is over-rated, maybe its because of how commercialised it is in HK.

My son goes to the park quite a bit and the weather has been fab lately. He takes soccer class, baby gym class, is learning French, has a Chinese nanny looking after him so he's fluent in Mandarin and has weekly Montessori lessons at home one-on-one. He does a lot more then someone at school and gets to run around at the parks when there is nobody there. School has its benefits, but its really up to you as the mother...as you know best for your child. Its great for social skills, but if there are siblings at home...there's enough socialisation!
 
Thanks for the useful comments!! I can now think about it from different perspectives.

josee, I also want to know where you got your chinese nanny, and where your son is learning french. I am also thinking about sending my daughter to french class.
 
my son loves pre-nursery, i think he would be bored at home... like all the other moms said, it really depends on your child!
 
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