Preschool preview

Last night Steve and I attended SF's annual Preschool Preview Night. Despite having received recommendations from many different sources that we should attend, I could not help but feel a little insane putting my 4.5-month-old baby on waitlists for preschool. However, I was redeemed by the presence of many pregnant women who were searching for preschools for their as-yet-unborn fetuses.

Overall, I feel like the event was more overwhelming than helpful. It was set up as an exhibition with a large roomful of booths representing the various preschools in the city. Swarms of eager parents crowded in front of the most "prestigious" preschool booths, such as the Montessori schools and all of the ones located in Presidio Heights. I approached one preschool representative and asked how one goes about applying for their school, and she explained to me that they were very focused on "connections." As I stared at her blankly, she advised me to start going to their functions, meet the teachers and other parents, write letters, etc. Apparently many preschools ask for letters of recommendation in their application, seriously.

At this point the only criteria that Steve and I have agreed upon is that we want to send Ruby to a play-based preschool versus academic-based. The academic-centered philosophy is that preschool is a place to prepare children for elementary school and to start teaching them the basics in reading, math, etc. I assume play-centered preschools are where kids eat playdough and finger paint. We want to go for the playdough and paint. In a world where you need letters of recommendation to get into preschool, we feel like it's our role to encourage her to be a slacker for as long as possible.