If you have a strong sense of your own child-rearing philosophy, sending your little one to a preschool that doesn't match up with your beliefs and values will only lead to stress and strife. The pediatric professionals at the KidsHealth website suggest writing down a list of what you want in a child care center or preschool prior to beginning your search. For example, if you strongly believe that children should always have choices and that adults should never outright say "no," you may have trouble finding a preschool program that will 100 percent go along with your philosophy. In the event that you can't find a preschool that already adheres to your standards, you may want to keep your child home until he's ready to start grade school.
Some preschools will require your child to master basic self-care skills prior to admission. Although many child care and preschool programs will eagerly help the children build self-care skills, others may ask parents to teach these abilities prior to starting school. According to the Penn State Cooperative Extension, preschoolers must typical master four main types of self-care skills that include feeding, dressing and grooming, hygiene and toileting and daily chores. If the preschool of your choosing requires that all kids have competence in these areas, and your child doesn't, consider holding him back until he can take on these tasks with minimal adult assistance.
Preschool programs that require a child to fit into a set criteria of developmental abilities for an age group or classroom may not always mesh with every child's current level. While most early childhood programs fully understand that young children have differing and unique abilities, if your child is far behind -- or far above -- the other kids, that specific school environment may not work out. Children who don't fit into the developmental expectations -- whether it's social, emotional, cognitive or physical -- of the preschool classroom may require a more specialized environment or an early childhood center that hires teachers who have experience dealing with kids of various abilities.
While -- according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children -- preschool programs can help to increase learning and development, this is typically only true of quality schooling environments. Preschools that don't have developmentally appropriate practices, use positive forms of discipline such as praise or adhere to state learning standards may not do much in the way of helping young children to grow and develop. If the programs that you're looking at don't seem like they constitute a quality educational environment, they're probably not for your child. Additionally, preschools that aren't licensed by the state or local regulatory body may go a step below not-so-hot in quality and actually include negative or unsafe aspects, such as unqualified teachers or overcrowded classrooms.