My son is sixteen months old. And this month, I heard my wife preparing him for play school by saying there are only eight months left for your school. It was intentional as she wanted to start this talk with me.
The conversation didn’t go well. I firmly believe that six months of play school is enough. Children should be raised at home and not at school. While my wife believes it’s a play school, he will go there to play for a couple of hours. According to her, it is better for him to play with the kids of his age rather than roaming around. He will be playing, he won’t be under any pressure in play school. And my counter belief is, he will be learning from the people around him. And after all, it is a school, he will be locked in a schedule so early in his life.
After a healthy discussion, we came to the mutual agreement that we will take the decision on his second birthday.
Though we postponed the decision but that discussion raised a valid question in my mind and that question is…
What is the right age for play school?
Wifey had some valid points here and if you go by the trend then parents are happily sending their children to play school even before they are 2. While I believe grandparents are the child’s first teachers. No school can teach, what grandparents can! A lot of parents don’t understand that.
Role of Grandparents
In this world of nuclear families, couples start living separately before marriage or as soon as they get married. And if they live with their parents then they don’t allow their child to spend much time with them as they teach them the mother tongue. The parents want their children to learn English as their first language. In my case, it is completely opposite. I want my son to learn the mother tongue first and English at last. I want him to stay connected to our roots. Thus, my parents play a vital role here, they teach him all the basics and spend most of their time playing with him.
Grandparents are the boon for working parents, they will happily take care of the child during your working hours. Rather than ignoring them, allow them to spend time with your child. They will teach the child how to talk. they will push him/her to walk and do other basic stuff.
Working parents
I believe working couples (parents) are deciding the new age of admitting a child to play school. They don’t have time for their child, so they feel it is better to send the child to school instead of leaving him/her with grandparents. If you are living in different cities then try to shift to your hometown and let your child grow in the roots of your family.
I have seen parents admitting their child to play school when he/she is just eighteen months old because they don’t have time to spend with him/her. One of my colleagues’ son didn’t learn to speak till he turned 5 because both husband and wife were working. They started living separately from their parents (in the same city) as soon as they got married. So there was no one who would push the child for this basic stuff.
After witnessing all these examples around me, I think 28-30 months is the right age for play school. Six to eight months are enough to prepare and train your child for nursery. Till then let them be with their grandparents and see the progress or growth in them.
I agree that 28 to 30 months old is the correct age for kids to get enrolled in play school, they learn so much just by being with their peers.
The right age for play school typically falls within the range of 2 to 3 years. At this stage, children are ready to explore the world beyond their immediate family and home environment, and play schools provide a nurturing and stimulating setting for their early social and cognitive development. Play schools offer age-appropriate activities and a structured yet playful environment that fosters creativity, social skills, and early learning concepts. It is important to consider the child’s individual readiness and developmental milestones while deciding on the right age to enroll in play school, as every child is unique and may thrive at different stages.
What Is The right and to send kids to school is alwYs debatable. In today’s world when most of us leaving in nuclear family and both the parents are working it’s like they have no choice. But again deciding to start a family it is the responsibility of parents to give an environment to kids where they can grow.
This is such a debatable topic because there are nuclear families with both parents working and kids left at creche, where development lacks. Hence, they decide to put kids before 2 years, or if the child doesn’t interact much experts advise two hours of social interaction at play-school or play-house these days. But, personally, I agree the child should be at least 2 years of age.
You’ve chosen a debatable topic. The school-going child should be able to look after himself to some extent. He should have communication skills to make others understand his feelings. This age is decreasing, putting a lot of pressure on kids. I hope better days will prevail.