What Do You Expect From Your Child's Preschool

Linda, an undergraduate, dropped me a note and invited me to participate in this survey. She gave me a link to Parenting Times and I thought I would give my opinion and hopefully it will help Linda.

Here goes:

1. Do childcare and preschool sound different for parents?

It sounds different to me. Preschool refers to education provided to children before they attend primary school. According to Wikipedia, children aged 2 to 5 attend preschool. In Malaysia, usually children aged 3 to 6 attend preschool. Childcare basically means babysitting where the care provider would see to the child’s basic needs. In other words, the care provider takes the role of the child’s parent while the child’s real parents go to work. Nowadays, the role of childcare is slowly taken over by preschools which provide after school care to children whose parents have to work.

2 Will parents choose childcare instead of preschool, or vice versa, by knowing that preschools offers more educational services, while childcares are more custodial and most of the time offer full-day service that benefit the working parents?

If I am a working mother, I would send my children to a preschool when they are old enough to attend one and let them stay on for childcare in that very same preschool.

Especially, for Question 3 and 4, Please sort out the options provided, from the most important to the least. In which, the inclusion of some justification and additional important points will be greatly appreciated.

3. What are the requirements that can make up a quality preschool?
- Well-managed curriculum
- Facilities (e.g Library, playground, teaching materials)
- Quality educators
- Learning environment
- Others ___________

I think the most important element in a preschool is the management team. If the management team is strong, they would equip the preschool with good learning environment and good facilities. They would ensure that the curriculum is structured with some element of fun and they would pick and choose quality teachers who are able to understand children and early childhood education. A good management team would also see to the safety of the children and the whole system of the preschool which includes operation, payment of fees, traffic flow, commencement and dismissal, etc.

Learning environment is important to create the atmosphere for learning.

Structured curriculum with some element of fun is also important to ensure children absorb better and to increase their interest in learning. Homework and exam should be introduced to six year old children to prepare them for primary school but it must not be too much as to create pressure among children.

Quality educator is a must in any preschool.

A preschool would not be a quality preschool if any of the above is lacking.


4. How would parents define “quality educators”?
- A degree holder
- Training certified person
- Patience in dealing with the children
- Others ___________

A good teacher should be one who loves children and one who is able to make children love learning. He / she should be patient, kind and sensitive to children’s needs and emotions. He / she need not be a degree holder but should be a person who has undergone certain training or has certain knowledge about early childhood education.


5. Would you, as parents, allow your children to be exposed to technology in their preschool age (3 to 5 years old) as supportive tools in their learning process? Such as: computer interactive game help in the building of creativity, letters introduction with the use of computers, access to internet, etc. (any example of any kind of technology that have helped your children to learn might be helpful)

I would want my children to attend a preschool that uses technology as supportive tools but technology should not be the only tool in the school. Children need other teaching aids besides visual and audio aids because some children learn best when they touch and feel while some others learn best when they move. Different child has different intelligences and aptitude.


6. Finally, any opinions to point out and expectations to be expected from a preschool, please do clarify it further.

Good system (refer to Q3), mainly to ensure a safe environment for children.

So, I’m calling all parents to help Linda by participating in this survey and drop MG a line here. She will link your post to hers to enable Lisa to find your post easily.

Cultural Shock!

I had a cultural shock! It happened on 3rd of January 2008 when I first sent my eldest son, Karl, to his school. He is in Primary One now and is attending a Chinese school with 3,000 students. When you think 24 students a class is too much for your child, think again! This school has to place 50 students into a class!


Most of us who send our children to private pre-schools are way too lucky. Why do I say so? Just bring yourselves back to the mornings when you send your child to school. All you have to do is just to follow the flow of the traffic in one direction (planned by the pre-school), drop your child (A teacher would be there to bring your child into the school building) and go for work or breakfast. The same applies during dismissal. The system seems so convenient and easy!


Now, when I send my child to primary school, I had to go earlier than others or I would be stuck in a jam. The traffic flow is terrible! You can see cars moving in every direction making it difficult to move around during peak hours. There are not enough car parks and I have to park my car far from school when I pick my child. So, the other alternative would be to pick my child later than others to avoid the jam and the crowd. Children have to walk in and out of the school gate themselves without a teacher bringing them to the car. They must even be alert enough to listen to the whistle which means “step aside, a car is coming!”

Parents waiting to pick their children

In pre-schools, everything is taken care of by the teachers. The children have to just request and the teacher would do everything for them. In primary school, everything has to be done by your child. There is no more pampering and no more assistance.


Look at those bags! The students each has a trolley school bag where they would drag in and out of school everyday. I tried to carry my son’s bag and it is really heavy! No joke! I wouldn’t want to carry that bag myself! My husband even suggested getting the Asus Eee notebook so that Karl can scan the pages of his books and just bring that notebook to school. Now, what do you think of his idea? I wonder whether it is what the western world practice.

To avoid inconvenience, some parents prefer to homeschool their children but for me, I still prefer sending my children to school.