Finding the Right Preschool for Your Child

To find the best preschool for your child, the best place to start is in familiar territory: your child and family. By starting here, you can ensure that the preschool you choose fits the particular needs of your child and family, just like in our Great Fit Triangle below.

While every child and family need is potentially important for choosing a preschool, you must identify the few, high priority needs that are most important for your unique child and family. Common child and family needs for choosing preschools fall into four categories called the four Fit Factors:

Fit Factor #1: What Your Child Learns - Needs in this category affect the content and level of difficulty a preschool should offer your child. Your child's capabilities and interests in various developmental areas may affect how well a preschool fits your child. Your family's values about what children should learn in preschool and your long-term aspirations for your child also may affect your choice of preschools.

Fit Factor #2: How Your Child Learns - Needs in this category affect how a preschool should teach and interact with your child. These include various characteristics of your child affecting how your child learns best. Your family's values about discipline and teaching methods may also affect a preschool's fit with your needs.

Fit Factor #3: Social Issues - These are your child and family needs and preferences for a social community where you and your child feel connected to other people, through friendships, school involvement and common values.

Fit Factor #4: Practical Matters - These are your child and family logistical needs and practical constraints, such as scheduling, child care, balancing your multiple children's needs, and money.

When you begin your preschool search, you should pinpoint your top child and family needs. Focusing on a few of your highest priority needs is critical for narrowing your search and choosing a preschool that's a Great Fit.

Your Child

Children vary in so many ways! Your child is like no other, yet possesses so many qualities in common with others. Like a star that twinkles a little differently with each view, your child may seem to be many different people combined into one. Through the still unknown recipe of genes and upbringing, your child is a unique concoction of capabilities, wants, needs and motives.

Many parents have a strong sense of their children's daily behavior but don't know what matters for making a preschool match. What does research say about what makes the best preschool match - for your child's learning and joy? Which needs should be met at preschool, and which are better met at home and elsewhere? How should you prioritize? Which child needs should lead in your preschool choice?

Your Family

Similarly, your family life is a unique expression of who you are as "team family." The things that make your family different from others are the things that make you a unique group of humans, bonded together by love and values. Whether you know it or not now, you most likely have very real family needs and preferences. When you get down to the business of choosing a preschool, you most likely will have several "aha" moments when your family's needs, wants and values crystallize into a reassuring, clear picture before you. After you have considered your family's needs for preschool, we think you will feel excited about being able to put into words who you are and what you're about as a family!

But without guidance, many parents find it difficult to express and prioritize among wants and needs, much more so to stick with their goals during the preschool hunt. Which needs must be met at preschool, and which are better met at home and elsewhere? How should you prioritize? Which family needs should lead in your preschool choice?

Prioritizing is One Key To Making Successful and Satisfying Choices

One of the consistent themes we hear from parents who are satisfied with their choices is that they prioritized rigorously. The potential list of needs you could match to preschools is far longer than the list of items that will make a big difference in your child's success and happiness in preschool and your comfort with the preschool you choose. You must prioritize, and to do that you need to eliminate from consideration those things that really won't matter much to your child and family.

Fortunately, you can focus on a limited number of characteristics that affect how well children fare in different kinds of school environments and how well a preschool fits each family. We organized the many characteristics of children and families that are important for choosing a preschool into four easy-to-grasp categories: the four Fit Factors. The four Fit Factors help you take the jumble of characteristics that define your child and family and funnel them down into a manageable set to help you choose a great fit preschool.