Is a Mother's Morning Out Program Beneficial?

My girls stay home with a nanny during the day while I'm at work. We're planning on sending them to pre-shcool next fall, when they're three. Would it be beneficial for them to start a one or two-morning-a-week Mother's Morning Out program this fall to help prepare them for pre-school? There is a good program close to home. I think they would enjoy playing with other children and new toys, and doing more arts/crafts, plus get used to getting dropped off at a school, but my pediatrician said they'd just learn to bite and steal toys at this age(they already know how to do that, though!) and would bring home illnesses to the baby. What do you guys think?

 

I would do it.

 

I would do it too. I don't think they need it at this age, but if you think they'd have fun, I'd sign them up.

 

I I would do it if you feel comfortable with it. I don't know about the biting part would get worse, especially since you say they are doing that anyway. Your pedi is correct about the sickness, but they are going to bring that home once they start preschool anyway.

Good Luck

 

One of the best decisions I have made for them.

 

I'm going to be the opposite opinion here. I have nothing against mother's morning out programs, I think they are fantastic & certainly serve their purpose, but I think they are mostly for the moms at this age. Which, don't get me wrong, is a great reason to take kids there, moms need & deserve a few hours to themselves! But, for you, since you are at work anyway, I probably wouldn't bother. They will be going to preschool in the fall & I don't really think kids need to be prepared for preschool, they do just fine without any preparation. I mean, if you want them to go, they would probably enjoy it, but I think they would do fine in preschool without it.

 

My 2 yrs olds just started pre-school over a month ago. I don't agree with your pedi that it will cause some bad habits at this age! They don't need to be prepared for pre-school really, but it has helped me in a few ways:
My girls were with me for their first year and a half and have been with their nanny since I've gone back to work part-time. What I realized is that they've never been "dropped off" ANYWHERE before. So this was a new experience that I think helped. One of my DD's was upset for the first week and it took her time to get used to it, it seemed she was the only one in the class (not sure if the others were daycare experienced kids so they were used to it). I think it has helped with them getting used to a crowd of kids and lots of things going on around them. Even though my pre-school has a very low ratio of 5:1 if you think about it our kids are typically used to 1:2 I also felt getting them "exposed" to other kids now as far as sickness goes would be good thing. Starting newbies off in the Fall can be harsh from what I hear; plan on having a lot of back up as they will be sick a lot.

 

We decided to do it this year. I will admit that it is partly for me, but it is for them too (mainly DS). I am really afraid for him to start preschool or kindergarten for that matter. I think we need to slowly build him up to going to school all day. I think some structure will do them both good and even though it is two mornings a week, I think it is a start. I didn't think they were ready for a full time preschool, nor was I. So we plan to do the MDO this year and go for the preschool next year (when they are 4). I am hoping it will help them to be around other kids their own age. We shall see, but we are going for it!