Candid Chat with Sheetal Jain on Parenting
Sheetal Jain, a mother from Mahim West, shares her experience with First Crayon (www.firstcrayon.com) of finding her child’s first school.
How did you decide at what age to send your child to their first school?
Once my child turned 3 years old, we wanted to encourage him to be more independent. Since he is the only child, we also wanted to expose him to interactions with other children of his age. So we decided to enroll him into preschool.
What were your information sources during the preschool search process? Which source was the most valuable?
It was important to me to send my child to a preschool with a good reputation. For this reason, I depended mostly on my friend’s feedback to choose the preschool for my child. I found their experiences valuable in making my decision.
What were your 3 most important factors while choosing a preschool? Why?
Crowd, teaching methods and teachers are the factors that I gave more importance to. Young children are very impressionable. I want my child to be surrounded by children who will be a positive influence on him. The teaching methods should be age appropriate. My child should not be burdened with a lot of homework. Teacher quality is important to ascertain that my child is being taught well. It is also necessary for the teachers to be gentle and understanding with my child.
What is the one thing that you feel you did really well during your preschool search, and other mothers should learn from you?
I chose a preschool that has a good reputation as it is the most important decision for my child’s future.
What changes do you see in your child after going to preschool?
After starting preschool, my child has become more active and independent. He really enjoys his time in preschool and playing with other children. He likes to sit down with us and tell us stories when he comes home from preschool.
What is your most important tip for parents to prepare their child and themselves for the first day of preschool?
I started talking to my child about preschool a few weeks before it started. I explained to him what to expect. It took him a few days to adjust. We sat down with him every day and asked him to tell us about his day. Talking about his day everyday and hearing positive encouragement from us made it easier for him to adjust.
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