Is Preschool Bad for Children?

Dr. Laura says that sending your child to preschool is bad for them. Here are a few snippets from her blog:

:: snip ::

For decades, I’ve read the studies about Head Start.  Those studies indicate an immediate gain on IQ tests and other cognitive measures, but show that in later years, those scores become indistinguishable from non-Head Start kids.

Why the heck is there such determination to take small children away from their homes and mothers, and put them in an institutionalized setting, which does not add to their lives, but actually subtracts from them?  A 2005 study from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley (neither of which is known as a conservative institution) found that kindergartners with 15 or more hours of preschool every week were less motivated and more aggressive in class than other kids.

In Canada, the C.D. Howe Institute found a higher incidence of anxiety, hyperactivity, and poor social skills among kids in Quebec after the introduction of universal preschool.

:: snip ::

Enough with the government intruding on parents’ abilities to make educational choices for their children by guilt or mandate, without any substantiation that there is a positive benefit.  Common sense should tell you that small children are best served by a loving mommy.

The reality is that the overwhelming majority of children come from loving homes with attentive parents.  Tearing children away from their homes and families for government-run, institutionalized learning programs that demonstrate absolutely no concrete benefit to the children is somewhere between sinister and cruel.

By the way, Obama’s daughters go to a private school whose annual fee in middle school runs around $20,000.

:: end snip ::

Read the rest of Dr. Laura’s blog post here

What do you guys think?

Do you think sending your child to preschool is bad for them OR good for them?

When Lauren was 3 and 4 years old I sent her to Head Start. We were on our own and I didn’t really have a choice at the time. So for both me and Lauren it was a good thing because I had to work in order to support us, keep a roof over our heads and food on the tables.

So I get it that parents have to send their kids to school early when they basically  have no choice. At the time I was happier that she got to do the head start program instead of having to send her to the baby sitter’s house. But even so.. I still had to send her off to be raised by a baby sitter. My work hours were relentless and I just did the best that I could under the circumstances.

Lauren started school at an early age. She was 4 turning 5 and looking back and knowing what I know today I think she would have been better off being 5 turning 6 or just 6 years old. I know she would have been MUCH better off having me, her Mom, at home with her to raise her. BUT, I didn’t really  have a choice at the time.

Today I am grateful that I get to stay home with my girls: Lauren (16), Fiona (4) and Kinsley (2). They really do need their Mom at home with them. I think it’s worth it to skip pre school if you can because they are already going to have years and years of the class room setting ahead of them.

I could actually go to work if I wanted to and that might put us well over the 100k income but why would we want to do that when it’s so totally worth getting to watch your kids grow up. It’s just not that important for us to have “things” or to try and keep up with the Jones next door. At what cost?

If you have to work to make ends meet then  you have to do what you gotta do. But ask yourself something.. are you sacrificing your lifestyle, your wants vs. your needs, so you can be with your kids?

I sometimes think that there’s a competition going on in Mommyville as to who’s kid will read first, etc. Does it really matter? They are going to learn how to read in do time. Why put them in the classroom setting so soon? I don’t get it? If you can stay home and be with your child why wouldn’t you?