Preschools are a great way for your child to benefit in different ways. First, they’ll have to come out of their shell a bit. After all, when you’re around other kids you can’t be off by yourself. That shyness will soon become a thing of the past.
Next, creativity really has a chance to blossom in preschool. Kids can come up with fun ways to do things, and find creative ways to do old things differently. And sometimes you can even show off.
Finally your child will see lots of new things at preschool. Not everyday is learning and games. Sometimes special visitors come to preschools that show your child interesting new things in the world.
Below are three memorable stories about my own preschool days and how they benefited me.
Out of the Shell
Sending your child off to daycare or preschool is a great way to get them out of their shells. What does this mean exactly? Well, you know how you child can clam up around strangers, hide behind your leg, and not want to say a thing, right? Some children can be the most precocious around those they know and complete wallflowers when strangers come around.
That can be a good thing, but eventually children need to open up. I remember when I was about four or five years old and it was about time for me to enter preschool. I don’t know all the particulars that went into it, but it was arranged that the teacher would come to our house to meet us.
Whether Mrs. Lyman did that for all the children or not I’m not sure, but I have a feeling she did. It’s a great way for teachers, parents, and children to all become comfortable around one another, something that’s necessary when kids are going off by themselves for the better part of a day.
We lived way outside of town in the valley and Mrs. Lyman would’ve had to have driven a long ways. When she got there I was in my room and stayed behind the door while she and my mom talked. Finally the time came and I was called out into the living room to meet the teacher. I thought it would be fun to come out under a blanket, but perhaps I was just nervous more than anything.
I crawled out under my blanket, and probably was told to come out from under it, which I didn’t. My mom had to pull it off me, and neither she nor Mrs. Lyman looked as overly impressed as I thought they’d be. I still had a long way to go with my social skills, and it was quite obvious I was still in my shell, or blanket.
Chances to Let the Creative Spirit Shine
Your child is creative, as are all young children. Just look at the things they draw, the structures they build, and the stories they make up. When children get to preschool they’ve got a whole new environment that’ll spark their creativity. You’ll be amazed at the levels this creativity will rocket to!
I remember going to preschool one morning. We’d usually be given a good 15 to 20 minutes in which to run around and generally wear ourselves out before things got organized and the day began.
That morning some of the other boys found the costume closet, something we usually would have little interest in. But lo and behold when we opened it, there was a Batman costume! Everyone thought that was the coolest, but I thought I’d one up them, so I started putting it on.
It was a tough go, since I was pulling this thin nylon costume up over my jeans and shirt. It took quite awhile to get it even halfway on, and by that time Mrs. Lyman was calling all the students into the other room to sit around in our circle of chairs.
I’d have to be fast to finish, something that’d be tough with my shoes still on. There would be no way I’d get the costume on completely without taking my shoes off, and that’d mean I’d have to tackle those Velcro straps. I pulled it off somehow and marched into the other room late, but sporting my awesome Batman costume!
The other students were quite impressed, even a few of the girls who were eyeing the princess costume enviously. Mrs. Lyman also looked quite impressed, but probably just at the fact that I wasn’t even more late to class. She let me parade around a minute and then sent me out to take the thing off. It was a fun day at preschool, one that allowed me to show off my creativity a bit, and that I still remember more than 25 years later.
Get Introduced to New Things
Preschools are great at introducing children to new and exciting things. And hey, it really doesn’t take that much to get a 4-year old excited! Things that we take for granted can be quite wondrous to young children, and preschools often have little ‘events’ several times a year.
One day at preschool Mrs. Lyman told us that we’d have some special visitors later that day. Everyone got excited wondering who these people could be. Maybe they’d be circus clowns! Perhaps some firefighters! Or even the ice cream man!
The possibilities were endless and our imaginations soared. It might well have been that Mrs. Lyman had been informing us for several days who these special visitors were, but we’d long forgotten. So when the afternoon came around we were all quit surprised to see a horse trailer pull up outside the school.
We rushed outside just in time to see some llamas being taken from the truck. Most of us had never seen these funny-looking creatures before and it was a real delight. The owner told us all about them, what they ate, where they lived, and what they liked to do. It was a real fun afternoon, and quite exciting too when Andy almost got spit on.
Overall it was another memorable day, and another good reason why preschools can be so fun!
Photo in this post by Anissa Thompson