The Pre-School Dilemma (FM)

While most parents are not even thinking about a pre-school until their child hits the age of 2; other parents are stressing about the pre-school situation while still pregnant. These parents are city dwellers, and their friends have been discussing their own anxiety of how their little ones will get into a top tier pre-school when the demand for an opening far outweighs supply.

On my radio show I had an opportunity to talk with Amanda Uhry, founder of Manhattan Private School Advisors about this problem. She is an expert on this subject because her company's whole focus is to help parents across the country get their kids into hyper competitive pre-schools. Her company is located in New York City where Tribeca is now being termed Triburbia, and there are 700,000 more kids under age 5 than ever before. While having 3 kids is now the "new 2" -- there are now more children than spots available in city pre-schools. And while the answer should be to just build more schools, it is difficult to do in the city where real estate is limited and expensive, and insurance is costly.

So in lies parents concerns about what to do. In our competitive world, what used to be that middle school determined the best high school and then college -- now it is what pre-school your child starts at will determine their schooling from then on...

Which brings me to Jody Martin, Director of Education and Curriculum at Creme de la Creme Early Learning Centers, a day care, pre-school and kindergarten all in one. It is an upscale environment created in a 21,000 square foot facility that has a Disney World feel, a great enrichment program for kids and provides and easy transition from pre-school into kindergarten.

They currently have 20 locations across the country and are adding 5 more locations in 2009. (Although not in cities where pre-schools are in high demand.) I was impressed with their curriculum which combined social skills, with playing, and with learning.

With my work with younger kids -- many times I am advising parents to enroll their children into a pre-school that is focused on social skills, while other times kids will have the social skills, but will need a more curriculum based environment. With Creme de la Creme, parents can be assured that their children are getting both.

With social skills being such an important part of a child's foundation, for peer interaction in the future, I am always amazed at how many children are not receiving those skills early on!!