As parents, you sometimes worry that you may be missing something, or doing something wrong when it comes to your child’s well-being and future.

Some parents pay an arm and a leg for their children to be in the best pre-schools, to make sure they are on the right path to grow up smart.

Indeed, studies confirm that sending your children to pre-school can actually make a difference in your child’s development.

According to ‘’The High/Scope Perry Pre-school Study Through Age 40’’, adults who went to pre-school are more likely to have higher paying jobs.

A similar research, ‘’The Abecedarian Study’’, found that adults who went to pre-school are more likely to complete a higher degree of education and go to college.

Hence, if you envision a positive future for your child, enrolling them in a pre-school is the right choice.

School readiness

When your children turn seven, chances are they will be enrolled in a primary school. How do you actually prepare them for these early years of formal schooling?

There is no better way to let your child know what school is like than to let them experience it for themselves.

In pre-schools, children learn how to interact with each other, behave in classrooms and learn from their teachers.

So, knowing how to transition into classrooms is the biggest advantage pre-schoolers have.

Instead of spending time learning how classrooms work in primary school, they can jump straight to the academic part of class.

This is why school readiness nurtured in pre-schools leads to academic success later.

Nurturing creativity and curiosity

When you think of pre-school, do you imagine them spending the day learning through thick and heavy textbooks?

No, you imagine children drawing with crayons, playing and learning through games.

Pre-school classrooms focus on completely different things compared to primary schools.

They engage a child’s curiosity, creativity and imagination. It is about having fun and acquiring social skills, not academic milestones.

Instead of learning from books, it is done through creative activities such as storytelling, painting, story books or playing with puzzles.

Students are looked to for answers in primary school (outcome focused) while pre-school focuses more on the process rather than the results (process focused).

Instead of questions like: “What is the answer for this?” you hear more open-ended questions asked by teachers.

For example, “How did you figure this out?”, “What would happen when we try this?” or even “What will you do if your idea doesn’t work?”

Pre-school teachers help children try new things and provide them with supportive comments to keep their ideas growing.

They make them think more deeply about the topic without making them lose interest.

Learning from mistakes

As the old adage goes, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

Parents sometimes fall into the habit of overprotecting their children. They want their children to succeed and go to great lengths to shield them from failing.

There is nothing wrong in wanting to shelter your children but there comes a point in their life when they need to face reality.

Understanding their limitations through failures will make them become confident, capable and successful adults.

Pre-school helps by separating children from their parents at a young age. Children learn to be independent, to cope and deal with their issues without the help of their parents.

It provides an environment that encourages them to step out of their comfort zone and try something new, to learn from their mistakes and take risks.

Even Einstein says in his famous quote: “I have tried 99 times and failed, but on the 100th time came success.”

Your children have to be able to try 100 times by themselves, to learn from their mistakes, in order to finally succeed at the end.

The first five years of your child’s life have much to do with how the next 40 will turn out.

Pre-schools not only prepare your child for primary school, but also help in the development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical skills.

Thus, a quality pre-school education is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child.

School Advisor provides information on private and international schools, extra-curricular activities as well as other education-related topics in Malaysia.