What's the Right Age to Begin Preschool?

Parents choose to enroll their children in preschool at differing ages for differing reasons. For some of you, it's a practical decision: if you are working, you want your precious bundle in good hands for the day, and developmentally-oriented group care is more affordable than hiring a wonder-nanny. Even with a parent or nanny at home, many parents want their children to have group social experiences with peers. For a parent at home full time, parent concerns--having time to do errands, take a shower, or spend one-on-one time with a new baby--can be as important as well-wishes for your preschooler's development.

What does research say about when a child should start preschool? The bottom line is this: what your child needs in preschool and when depends an awful lot on what experiences your child has outside of preschool. If you are a natural home-schooler, with books tucked into every corner, hands-on educational toys galore, and a social nature that leads to lots of get-togethers with friends who also have young children, there is no reason from your child's perspective to start preschool very early. But if you are stymied when it comes to choosing next-step developmental materials for your child, you honestly find reading the favorite book du jour five times in one day excruciating, or you discover that having a new baby or other distractions are making you sour with your preschool-age sweetie, then an earlier start age may be wise.

Social Concerns: Children typically begin to enjoy positive peer interactions some time between ages two and four; most enjoy adult-to-child interactions more than peers before these ages. If your child is very social naturally, he or she may enjoy preschool on the early end of this range. If you need to opt for group care when your child is an infant, adult interactions count most, and you'll want to seek very low teacher:child ratios (1:3 ideally).

Health Concerns: Research indicates that children in group care may have increased incidence of ear infections. However, any long-term negative effects on reading and speech are eliminated when the child's family environment is positive, encouraging literacy and addressing any problems along with teachers. On the upside, children in group care early appear to have reduced incidence of allergies later in life; this benefit holds true only for children from families with three or fewer people total.

Love of Learning Concerns: Children placed in high-quality group care earlier show increased interest and participation in learning later, but those in low-quality care earlier show increased anger and defiance later, on average. Positive preschool effects are heightened and negative effects reduced by positive and educational family environments. (The opposite is true, as well.) In addition, children who begin preschool by age four are more prepared for kindergarten than children who wait, on average.

The Bottom Line: If you can offer your child a positive social and developmental environment at home, there is no need (from your child's perspective) to consider preschool until your child is roughly between ages two and four, when most children begin to enjoy and learn from peer interactions. Early enrollment is a good idea if you are not able to offer your infant or toddler as positive an environment at home as you would like during the day, for whatever reason (new baby, fatigue, work, etc.). If you enroll your child as an infant, a low teacher:child ratio is extremely important, since your child's early social interactions and developmental activities will require an adult's participation.

Admission Considerations for Entry Age

We include this section with a huge warning: the timing for differing preschools is different in a couple of ways.

First, the earliest age at which preschools admit children varies. The youngest year in which a preschool accepts children often is the easiest time to obtain a slot for a child. This can pose a dilemma if, for instance, you prefer not to start your child in preschool until age 3 but the preschool begins taking children at age two or younger. In addition, in some cities and in some preschools, waiting lists can start before a child is born and parents may have to pay for care before the care is needed. In both of these cases, some parents are willing to pay for care their children do not yet need; preschool policies allowing and requiring this vary.

Second, the time of year for specific application deadlines varies, and deadlines may change from year to year. At the same time you are hunting for preschools, preschools are playing a timing game to get the applicants they want and to keep their rosters full.

What to do? Here's our advice:

• Determine the earliest year that you would like to enroll your child in preschool.
• If you have time and are thinking ahead, start your general hunt two years ahead to scope out the possibilities in your area. If many preschools have early waiting lists or very young entry ages, consider whether you would be willing to commit to a slot - whether or not your child will use it - so far in advance. Consider that the younger your child is, the less information you will have about your child's needs. Your family may move, or you may further develop your own parenting values in ways that would affect your choice. Also, the further in time ahead of when your child will enter, the more likely it is that leadership or other changes will affect the quality and fit of preschools. Paying for a slot that your child is not using also is expensive, and many preschools simply do not allow it for a variety of reasons. Thus, relatively few parents choose a preschool so far ahead, which leads to our primary recommendation . . .
• Many parents will find it completely adequate to start the preschool hunt one year before a child will enter. Preschools on a traditional fall-spring schedule typically have open houses in the early-mid autumn, application deadlines in late autumn-early winter, and notice of admission in February -April. Some preschools have nontraditional schedules; starting your hunt a full 18 months in advance may be wise if you would like to consider preschools that operate year-round or on non-traditional schedules. If you will want preschool to begin when your child is an infant, then you will need to start when your child-to-be is in utero.
• Be highly attentive to each preschool's deadlines and take responsibility for scheduling any interviews and the like. For purely practical reasons, many busy preschools that are otherwise warm and fuzzy turn a cold shoulder on parents who miss key deadlines.