Preschool? - McKinney,TX

He's ready! My 4 year old is much the same way, but her preschool continually works with with the kiddos on these skills. And from a socialization standpoint it has been the best for her, as it was for my two older children. I have nothing but positive things to say about the preschool experience for all of my children, so I highly recommend it!

Definitely ready for preschool. He doesn't need to know a lot going in. It helps to socialize him with kiddos his own age and helps with the transition to kindergarten the following year. You can help him get dressed and ready and teeth brushed in the morning. The rest will come.

Preschools all about learning. He maybe behind some other kids that have gone to preschool, but at 4 he should have no problem catching up and catching up quick. I would let him start trying to dress himself. My 2 year old tries all the time, it's exhausting waiting for her, but she really is proud of herself when she can get something on. I didn't try to teach her. I just put the clothes down on the floor and let her go at it to try. Also, with wiping. I would teach him with baby wipes. They do make flushable wipes, but those are horrible for your toilet and can cause it to clog up. Let him see you or daddy do it, and then maybe take his hand and guide him. You'll be amazed at how much a kid can learn just from watching and mimicing.

He does not have to know that, to go to Preschool.
They teach that in Preschool.
IF all kids HAD TO know that, BEFORE going to preschool, then why have preschool?

Practice with him at home.

Wiping his own poop/rear end, at this age, is not often mastered yet. And even if they can, there will still be skid marks on their underwear.
And their fine-motor skills to reach behind them, to wipe... is hard for them to do it accurately.

Just practice, with him at home.
In a nice positive encouraging manner.
Kids don't just have these skills automatically. It is practiced and needs to be taught, to them.

Please send your son to preschool. :)

Do not worry about academics. Your family will need to work on supporting your son's self-care skills (like dressing). Toothbrushing will still need adult support at least once a day. Let him 'brush' his teeth once a day, and you do it with him the rest of the time.

Preschool isn't necessarily about academic growth as much as it should provide a foundation for your son's social growth. Learning to care for himself, to move through the day with the group, to play within the group, to follow the teacher's directions... all of these come with the territory.

In the meantime, you can find toys that have zippers and buttons for him to practice on, because children need to work on manipulating those parts of their clothing. When you say that he can 'barely get dressed by himself', are you referring to fastening closures or actually getting the clothes themselves onto his body? If it's the fasteners, well, that's going to take some time. I encourage parents to use simple clothing at younger ages (pants that use elastic instead of relying on snaps and zippers, nix the overalls, too) . At four, your son should be getting his underpants, socks and shirt, pants, on by himself. He *should* be completely capable of this. I have a four year old son who will do a lot of "I can't"... we've learned to let him dress on his own in his room and that he doesn't sit down for breakfast until he's dressed. We had big tears the first week or so, but you know, now he does dress himself at least twice a day. If there's a physical reason he's not able to dress himself, talk to your pediatrician.

Many children don't like to wipe their own bottoms. My tactic with my preschoolers and with my son is to ask them to 'wipe two times', and I do a lot of supporting this. They need to know how much toilet paper they need (at least 4-5 squares, folded, not balled up) how to hold it in their hand to cover their hand, how to stop after they've wiped their bottom so that they don't trail the poop up their backsides. Some children are worried about getting the poop on their hands. What helps is to be consistent and low-key about it. (No, "eww, yuck, oh no, I've/you've got it on your hands".) Be present and supportive afterward too, because you want to make sure his hands are washed thoroughly and if he does get feces on his hands, he'll need you to turn on the water.

Focus on giving him lots of support for self-care, get him into preschool to learn the social piece of being in school, which will give him a considerable leg-up for kindergarten, and then give things some time. The preschool transition often finds parents wondering if they did the right thing, because our children tend to need us more. My son wanted me to 'do' more for him once he started preschool, and his teachers have been great at helping him to 'grow up' a little more.They will be practicing independent self-help/care skills at preschool, so they do become more needy at home. Set good boundaries around this. (For example, sometimes I'll be 'company' while my son is getting dressed, but I won't do it for him.) Being at preschool is work to adjust to, so be prepared. And know that this will be a really great first step. Likely, he's going to be more ready for the academics-- letter/number recognition, etc-- when he's older and in kindergarten.

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These are things you should be working on every day with your son. They should be part of the everyday routine. School could be very positive for him. All kids need structure and routine. They thrive and grow on it.

Preschool is for learning these things and becoming socialized. I wouldn't worry. I would start using day to day activities for learning. Most kids learn their numbers because parents use them - ' look, there are 2 trees and 4 balloons'. They learn addition this way too - look - there's a balloon, and another, wow that's two balloons. I am strongly opposed to things like flash cards (and 'educational' videos) that encourage rote memorization - mostly kids learn by play and need to have learning be fun. Wouldn't hurt to teach him to wipe his butt but he may not be good at it for another year.

Most dentists recommend parents brushing the teeth until at least 5-6 years. I think what that really means is teach the child to brush, do it with them and then do a quick brushing yourself to make sure they are actually clean.

Don't worry about that stuff. As long as he is potty trained, the teachers will do the rest. As far as wiping his own bum, I wouldn't worry too much. My daughter is 5 and is still learning that skill and she was able to make it through pre-school just fine. Teachers know the preschool age and are'nt expecting too much out of them as they are just beginning the learning phase in their lives. Your son will be fine, you'll see:)

Preschool is about social skills, not academics. Kids need to go to preschool to learn how to socialize with other kids their age, how to play and negotiate, how to listen to an adult that isn't mommy, how to sit still and listen to a story or lesson, how to follow directions, etc.

ABC's, numbers, shapes, colors and other pre kindergarten skills will come. These are things that will be a part of the curriculum at preschool, and he will most likely learn them all before the year is done.

I would work with him on dressing himself and no his bathroom independence. You have the whole summer, but it will probably not take more than a week or two.

It would be a good idea to let him practice brushing his own teeth. I usually give my almost 5 year old his toothbrush with toothpaste have him brush his teeth. Then I brush them again. I think most dentists recommend you do this until they are 7. They simply do not have the motor skills to get all the areas, but they won't learn unless they try. Keep practicing.

It sounds like you're doing fine. We all have areas with our kids we need to work on, so you're right on track.

He's going to be fine!

You have all summer to help him be ready. Preschool is so important. He will need to know so much in order to be ready for kindergarten. Work with him daily for an hour or so on reviewing his ABC's and learning his numbers. You can find preschool workbooks at Target that cover everything. Brainquest might have flashcards for the preschool level too. As for the potty, put a toddler wet wipe in his hand, put your hand under his and guide the motion. Then have him try it himself. It might get messy, but you have to do it. Teach him to wipe until he doesn't see anymore poop on the wipe. Have a step stool by the sink so he can thouroughly wash his hands with soap and water afterwards.
You can start teaching him how to get dressed by himself. Most preschool want them to be in elastic pants/shorts with no zippers and snaps.
It's easier to just do things yourself, but it really doesn't serve them well. They need to learn how to be independent and self-sufficient. Build extra time into your routine and be patient.
Good luck!

The point of preschool is to help him learn his numbers and letters and such. You can help him get dressed before he goes and he will not be (washing?) his teeth at preschool. You will have all summer to help him with his potty cleaning, so I would not worry too much about that yet either.

I would take the time to assess his emotional growth though to make sure that he is emotionally ready before I would stress over his dressing skills = )

Preschool is so important and good for you for sending your son! You really have nothing to worry about, it sounds like he is right on track. If you are sending him to a good preschool they will teach him the beginning stages of numbers, letters, colors, shapes, art, music, etc - everything he will need to get him ready and comfortable for what he will learn in kindergarten. I don't know if you are going the public or private route, but in the private route they do seem to have expectations of them knowing the letters and numbers by kindergarten. We are in the Catholic School System - my daughter is 6. We have been thrilled with it so far. She has been in it since 3 year old class and has thrived. After 4 year old class they were frank with me and let me know she might not quite be ready for kindergarten and guided me to look at schools that had a PreK program - which is a step between 4year old class and Kindergarten. I will admit my daughter is a bit of a special case because she had a heart transplant when she was 2 and spent about half a year in the hospital, sort of "losing" that time socially, potty training time, learning time, etc. So this made sense for us, though I understand it might not be for everybody. I will say though, that about half her PreK class was her age (really kindergarten age) because many parents just wanted their kids to be fully prepared, whether it be socially, emotionlly, acedemically, or whatever their personal reasons. My point is, if your son goes through 4 year old class and you don't think he is prepared for kindergarten, there are options, and if you think he needs to have some extra time in a grade level. preschool/PreK is the time to do it - before they know what is going on and it affects them emotionally. My parents put me back in first grade twice (ADD - though we didn't know what ADD was back then) and it kind of scarred me. My advice - FOR SURE put him in his 4 year old class! You will see him blossom! Chances are, he'll do awesome and be ready for kindergarten the following year! If he's not - my advice - find a GOOD PreK program (if you are going private I can highly recommend St Paul the Apostle Catholic School - ask for Mrs. Bjorkman - she rocks!). They will with out a doubt get him ready for kindergarten. If that's too far for you there are other great one's out there.
If you are like me you may not have a lot of time to do a lot of formal "schooling" type activities at home. I think that's okay. I think having it come naturally in daily life is better. I have my daughter help my cook and bake - I have her measure out the ingrediants - this helps her with numbers, math, motor skills! In the car I ask her for directions - which way should I turn? Is it left or right? What does red, green mean? I might have her look out the window and count the stop signs, or look for a number 1, then look for a number 2, etc - I do the same with numbers. We try to do more fun things at home like painting and drawing, walking outside picking up rocks and leafs that are interesting and talking about them. You don't need fancy stuff.

As far as dressing - do not worry - he is fine! Can he put some of the simple things on by himself? Underwear? T-shirt? Pull pants on, but just need help snapping up? Assess how much trouble he is having. Work with him on it and watch him. If this is something you think he really can't do, there is help for this. You could check out occupational therapy. My daughter did occupational therapy after she had her transplant and had to relearn everything. They taught her how to dress herself. I have to admit that at 6 years old she still needs a little help with some things. I highly recommend Baylor Our Childrens House for Occupational Therapy IF you feel he needs it - they can help with a wide variety of things. You would initially go to the downtown location for an evaluation, then pick a location close to you for sessions. I do believe they have a McKinney location, which I see is where you live. We went to the Plano location and it was phenomenal. My daughter did occupational, physical, and speech therapy there and it helped her so much, of course, like I said she was in a different situation, but they can help kids in all situations.
As far as the teeth brushing, everyone is right - at this age you should be helping him brush his teeth. I would let him brush himself a little to get a feel for it, then maybe keep his hand on it, but then you take control of it and do the major brushing, so you are doing the brushing and making sure every area is hit, but he can feel where he should be going. If it doesn't frighten him (it does some kids) I like the spin brushes because they seem to hit more areas - my dentist likes them too. He might be young for them yet :)
As for the wiping, that's another one he's just young for. Just work with him on it, using your hand over his. You might want to try out the flushable wet wipes they have for kids now, it might make it easier - he might not have to wipe as many times :) If makes you feel better, my daughter wasn't even potty trained until she was 4! Fun time for me!!! Again, it was a lot to do with have a heart transplant about the time she was supposed to be potty training, then having to relearn everything from eating to walking! Why do I always feel I have to defend myself on that one? :) :) LOL

Enough babble from me! Good luck - he'll do great & and your a great Mom just because you care :)

They will teach it in preschool, but it does help if he is prepared. I would recommend by leapfrog series- letter factory, going to school etc... There is about 4 videos. They are amazing. My daughter learned all the letter sounds and numbers and intro to reading.

My son will be 4 this summer and starts preschool this fall, too. My son doesn't know how to dress himself, a little not completely though. My son doesn't know how to clean himself after going to the bathroom. Neither did my oldest when he was this age, but he never had to poop at school anyway. He always went in the evenings. You should definitely be brushing his teeth for him. Kids don't do a good enough job until they are older. Don't worry about numbers and letters. That is what preschool is for. He'll be just fine.

What do you expect him to learn in Pre-school if not the very things you listed. Those are normal things he's not supposed to be doing yet.

It will be okay, he can't flunk, only learn.

He is going to preschool, not kindergarten. They will go over the abcs and 123s. My son is heading to kindergarten and doesn't know all of them and the teacher assures me he is fine. They teach them tricks on dressing and socializing. As for the butt wiping, my daughter was almost 6 before she got it, and we are still working on it for my son. Give him a wipe and teach him to get in there from front to back.