Preschools play a pivotal role in preparing toddlers for later days at school, among other benefits. Nonetheless, they also come with a fair share of challenges that may not sit well with your child. 

For example, separation anxiety may impact the child’s development at school. Besides, if he/she isn’t interested in learning yet, they may find a preschool setting an unhappy environment.

If you’re at East Coast and you suspect that your child may be unhappy at the current preschool, due to separation anxiety it would be better to talk with the caregivers at https://ourfirststeps.com.sg/east-coast/ to see the options they have that could solve that issue. If you are yet to enroll the child at childcare in Singapore, it is important to know when they enjoy their stay at the facility and when certain changes may need to be made.

Issues like separation anxiety, not being used to routines, or being shy may slow down your child’s adjustment rate at a childcare center. However, you should also note that there isn’t a designated timeline for all children to adjust to Preschool, so yours may need a few weeks to adjust or do well right off the bat from their first day in a class. 

If the child has serious behavioral or emotional problems, the Preschool may recommend that you find a professional who will evaluate them for possible developmental delays. That would then make it easy to find age-appropriate adjustment plans that could work for the toddler.

If you want to see if your toddler is happy at the Preschool, here are a few pointers to look out for;

Many childcare centers in Singapore embrace the open-door policy where parents are allowed to get into the classrooms. You can make use of those policies to visit your child’s Preschool in Singapore and get the chance to read the child’s feelings about the facility.

If the child is happy, he/she will be willing to volunteer in class-based activities. Visiting the school will also help you understand how the child relates to the teachers and how these teachers run their classes.

Ideally, the child should not need much convincing to take part in individual or group-based activities. They should also not find being accepted in groups they wish to join difficult.

It is prudent that you engage your child every time they come back from school. You can do this by asking the child questions about the projects they’re working on at the school and their experiences during their time at the facility.

It is very easy to get vague one-word responses like ‘OK’ if you don’t structure your questions well, and this may not make it easy to understand the child’s feelings about the school. You can avoid that by asking simple questions that would intrigue them to want to talk more with you about their school.

For instance, you may ask, ‘how do you like teacher X?’ or ‘who are your best friends in the class?’As a basic rule of thumb, the child should be willing to answer these questions without seeming nervous or upset. If he/she refuses to answer the questions; that could signal a red flag that you may need to look into.

The child’s attitude towards homework is a good indicator of whether they’re happy or upset at the school. It doesn’t matter whether they find the tasks more challenging or not.

Ideally, you should be able to notice some positive energy towards the assignments. If the child is happy at school, they’ll be more than willing to learn and overcome the challenges.

Even better, they would be happy to share with you their homework and be excited to work on the assignments with you. Motivation to complete homework is one of the best indicators of good teacher-to-learner relationships that’s needed for the children to excel in the preschools.

During school days, the teacher spends most days with the child at school. If the child is happy, they will always be willing to connect with the teachers, and you’ll notice this if she keeps in touch with the teacher.

Besides, if they’ve had a positive experience at school, she’ll be eager to get back again to reconnect with their teachers and friends. Perhaps your only concern would be if the child suddenly doesn’t seem to want to talk with the teacher or go back to school.

In such cases, the child may be unhappy because of having a problem with a new schedule (if the school introduced one) or having a problem with some of their friends. You may need to contact the teacher and find a practical solution to the problem.

Your child will have better chances of excelling in a preschool if they can settle in the facility. If you’re looking to admit your toddler to a good preschool in Singapore, drop us a line so we can share with your our plans to make his/her adjustment to the system a seamless one.