I took my first preschool tour last week. The parents were like piranhas introducing themselves to the director, inquiring about the "secrets" to admission, pointing out the wonderful qualities of their children. All of this for admissions in September of 2009, more than a year and a half from now! Think that sounds bad? I called to inquire at another local preschool and was told that they were already full for 2009, so I would be talking to them about entering in 2010, more than two and a half years from now!!
Apparently, it is not uncommon for parents to start inquiring about these programs as soon as they find out they're pregnant!
My goodness, this seems crazy, doesn't it? Are there just not enough preschools out there? Or are parents simply increasingly anxious to give their little ones a leg up? And what of the families who skip preschool altogether?
So, I ask...is it like this everywhere??
6 comments:
In our area, the best preschools are the ones with the waits. I can get our daughter in to several schools, but there is one that has a terrific program and is very popular, and that's one that you should call as soon as your baby is born (they won't put you on the list before your child is born). I did inquire when I should put my adopted child on the list and they suggested as soon as we receive the referral. Of course, my daughter will be going there this fall so that will give us an "in" for our other kids because we already have one child in the program.
It's crazy!
Cindy
http://adopttaiwan.wordpress.com
And I thought things were bad enough trying to get child care!
Yes, it is sort of like this everywhere. We had an application in and on the waiting list for our daughter before we even had her identified and assigned to us from China.
It was funny; they asked her age, weight, etc. and we had nothing to tell them!
:-)
Stacey
Wow! Definitely not like that where we live...maybe a one-year waiting list at the most for the most popular places. Hope you find somewhere you like that can accomodate you!
It's like that in our city!! Under my manager's advice, I put S's name down on 3 waiting lists of the "best" preschool programs in town when S was 3 months old (Sep 2006) and still in Taiwan. However, we were told not to count on getting in for 2009, because most parents signed up as as soon as their babies were born & we were 3 months behind! It's a frenzy!
Oh well.. I didn't even go to preschool, so it can't be that bad if S is not accpted to the the top 3 preschools in town..LOL... :)
delurking here. It's like this where we live too. We put application fees down at 4 places when we started our paperchase for China (early 2005). Even 3 months after coming home from China (Nov 2007), we were told by 1 place that we were 'towards the top of the list!'
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