Once a very wise person had told me that you should start thinking and planning your child’s future even before conceiving them. And now that I am a mother of a toddler, I understand the gravity of it. As a parent, I have this responsibility of taking care of a human who is completely reliant on me. And nothing reminds me of this responsibility more than school admissions. At least in India, and a few other South Asian countries, the government, and school system decide when a child is ready for school. A lot of schools have strict cut-off age criteria, and parents lose sleep if their child misses school admissions by a month or two! Being a strong advocate against early schooling and introduction to academics, I have kept my child out of school till now, and she is over three years old. This is saying a lot, considering that children as young as 18-months are enrolled in playschools nowadays. For me, what matters is the child needs to be ready for school, more than the school being ready to accept the child, and I know a lot of parents who feel similarly. So what are the signs that your child is ready for preschool? Here are a few:
She shows an interest in going to school: Of late my daughter has been consistently asking me to send her to school and gets happy at the sight of a school bus. This for me is the biggest sign that she is ready for school now.