Tue, March 11, 2025

Choosing Your Child’s Preschool – Wisely!

By Ann Levine, Parents League School Advisor

Making a great choice for your child’s preschool is an obvious end goal, but in New York, it is entirely possible to feel slightly overwhelmed – in a good way – while falling in love with several preschool programs during the search process.

Parents League of New York has over 180 member preschools, all of them very familiar to our school advisors, who help families understand what it takes to make a good connection between a school and a child as well as that child’s awesome family.

Ready, set: Once your child is preschool-ready (enrollments are usually for children from ages two to five years old), use these suggestions to begin your search. Some programs include toddler classes so be aware of when to submit applications based on your child’s date of birth and when you want to enroll. The following steps help you complete the admissions process while staying on task and on schedule.

Smart start: Your child is continually changing, growing, and developing (sometimes seemingly overnight!), and every day you learn so much about her as a learner. Apply what you observe of your child’s emerging strengths, interests, and skills to choose a just-right preschool program. Is he captivated by music, captured by movement, motivated by motion, fascinated by how things work? Be aware of what your child is noticing and how it applies to budding understandings and abilities to build meaning.

Surfing the sites: How do you know what preschools are of particular interest? Welcome to the websites! They are there, alongside Parents League, to help you make decisions and prepare applications. Summer (even spring if you like a good early-bird start) is optimal for beginning your “treasure hunt” for preschools that “fit” your little learner’s needs. By fall you will identify preschool programs that are especially engaging and appealing, often aligned with what you remember of your own early experiences. Create a flexible wish list of four to seven schools that are the right combination of guiding principles; experienced, nurturing teachers; and a spirit of endless encouragement.

More online info: The fall before your child’s expected start date, preschools begin posting up-to-date application information – typically between late August and early September with Labor Day being the magical good-to-go moment when families download needed (and super helpful) information. Spend time “visiting” and getting to know specific schools online, including those recommended by friends, neighbors, and relatives. And even more specifically, consider school locations that keep your home and your favorite programs in the same neighborhood. And remember this well-accepted adage of the preschool years in New York: life with a young child is usually happier and easier to manage based on the ease of daily drop-offs and pick-ups.

Eyes and ears open: Schools continually update and maintain helpful, vibrant information on their websites, introducing mission statements and describing basic educational beliefs to prospective families. Spend time getting to know individual schools using websites as resources (they are excellent at providing program information before on-site tours are scheduled). Schools arrange visits and other opportunities once all requested enrollment materials and registration fees are completed and returned.

Learning practical practices: As you begin to know and understand various models and philosophies of early childhood education, you will notice that much learning focuses on the socialization of young children. By the time young ones reach 24 months old, they are much more inclined to engage with each other. They “graduate” from parallel play to interacting with others. Social and emotional skills enter classroom spaces as children “invite” others into their work and play. Schedules and transitions (including separation, of course) are gradually and gently introduced as children adjust to new routines at school.

Days of wonder: As brains and bodies grow, early childhood programs support all kinds of appropriate enrichment, including cognition and physical activity. Your child’s new preschool environment will include day-to-day objectives that keep our youngest and liveliest students thriving in a community of joy and playful learning.

Want to do more to prepare for preschool admissions?
Parents League members enjoy our comprehensive preschool admissions workshops and 1-1 appointments with our expert school advisors. Join today to take advantage of everything Parents League has to offer.

Ann Levine advises families applying to preschool for their children. Ann’s love of books, words, and reading has steered her career choices: from editorial roles at Meredith Publishing and Hearst Magazines to teaching and administrative positions at the School at Columbia and Preschool of America to assistant manager at Bank Street Bookstore. She received an undergraduate degree in English at Washington University and a graduate degree at Bank Street College of Education. She is still a big believer in the three Rs of learning — reading, reading, and reading.