Don't tour our preschool on the first day!

Today was my kids' first day back at preschool - hooray! We arrived late today (due to a previous commitment) and showed up during recess. Boy do pre-K kids look giant compared to last year's preschool class. As my kids ran off to play, I ducked into their classroom to put their lunch boxes into their cubbies. In the classroom, an itty bitty girl was sitting on the ground, shyly fingering a toy. Her parents were hovering over her. Other than myself, they were the only parents still there.

"Oh, first day of drop-off?" I said, smiling.

"Oh, no! She's just two-and-a-half, we're observing today," replied the parents.

"Have you checked out the preschool class next door? The teacher is amazing! This class is for the older pre-K kids, " I suggested.

"Well, she's ready for kindergarten only she's not potty trained yet."

"Oh..." I said, at a loss for words.

I glanced back at their little girl, who would be in kindergarten if not for her potty training issues.

The door opened and in strode my boys' new teacher, walking briskly. The class was still outside at recess. The little girls' parents moved in on the teacher, peppering her with questions. I listened in.

"She's two-and-a-half..."
"I read to her all the time, lots and lots of books..."
"She's not potty trained, but she really is ready for kindergarten..."
"She knows all her..."

I heard the teacher gently mention words about social skills and maturity, not wanting to burst their bubble but wanting to bring it down to earth ever so slightly. As I exited the room, I said, "I think most of the kids know their letters and numbers and even how to write them. It really is more about social things." I know, I butt my nose into other people's business sometimes. My mom would be appalled.

A few minutes later, the whole family was sitting with the preschool director. Same spiel. Then they told the director that they had to leave for about an hour and would be back.

The director and I exchanged baffled looks after they left to change their daughter's diaper. "I think we just received our first application for next year!" the director said.

If she doesn't enroll in Kindergarten first, I wanted to say.

Did I mention that today is the FIRST day of school? At a play-based preschool? Yes, these overzealous parents had marched into our school and taken up the time of both the preschool teacher and the director (both of whom were trying to be polite) on an important transitional day. The teacher should have been outside engaging with her students, rather than having to listen to the parents of a 2.5-year-old non-student wax proud about their little prodigy.

I've been grappling with whether or not to send my fall boys to kindergarten on time or hold them back a year. It's a contentious issue, for sure. Obviously, these parents take the opposite stance, hoping to have their child leap up a couple of years and that's fine.  All I ask is that they NOT take their toddler child on a preschool (or kindergarten) tour on the FIRST day of school. Their daughter may know her ABCs but I can tell you, I was not impressed.

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post.

You can find Akemi at Mad About Multiples and Chalk and Cheese Chronicles.