10 Things our kids' preschool teachers want us to know

Nichole Beaudry
May 17, 2012 12:00 PM by
Posted in Parenting / Age by Age / Preschoolers

Do you ever wonder if there are things that your child’s preschool teacher wishes she could say to you? Well, there are many things and we found one preschool teacher who was willing to tell us exactly what she wishes she could say.

Here's what they wish they could say

Here’s what “Miss J” would love for us to know…

Separation

In the morning when you drop off your child, staying there and babying them makes it worse. Just leave! If there is a problem, we will call you, but what actually happens when you walk out the door is that they cry for two minutes and then they go on about their day.

Potty training

Do you actually think your child's teacher wants to wipe your 4-year-old child's butt? Part of potty training your child is teaching them to wipe their own butt.

Breakfast

Candy, soda and donuts are not breakfast. Having breakfast in the morning is important, but giving them those things just causes a sugar high and then they crash.

Read more about the importance of breakfast for preschoolers >>

Naptime

Your child mimics things you do. If you moan in bed, so does your child.

Lunchtime

Feeding your child doesn't help them. They need to learn how to eat and how to use a fork and spoon.

Good behavior

If your child hits, don't look at me like it’s my fault. We do everything we can to make sure things don't happen, but we can't see everything. So we don't always know why your child did it -- we just want you to know it happened.

Poor behavior

Just because your child acts like a wild animal at home doesn't always mean he does at school. When we tell you he’s great at school, believe us. Children know with whom they can get away with things and that usually is not us.

Academics

If you want your child to learn something, you have to support them as well. We only have so many hours a day to teach them, and if you don't help at home, how do you think they will retain what they learn?

Try these fun letter games for preschoolers >>

Toys

They don't need toys at school. There are more than enough things for them to play with at school. This is the most frustrating thing for your child to bring because they never want to share, but they have to show everyone they have it. Also, for some reason or another, it always ends up broken.

Love

This is all your children truly need. Be there for them and support them. They need fathers who sit and listen to the activities of their day, mothers who join in and make crafts with them and parents who take the time to read them stories and act goofy with them. They deserve to help you make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that they're a priority for you and that you truly love to be with them.

Our reaction

After reading through her list, we found that we’re guilty of a few of those things and we’re putting butt wiping at the top of our list.

Thank you, Miss J, for sharing your honest thoughts with us.

We agree--love is really the most important thing, but we promise to work on self-butt wiping, too.

More on preschoolers

Preschool 101
Teaching responsibility
Fun things to do with your preschooler

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Comments

Comments on "10 Things our kids' preschool teachers want us to know"

kassie January 22, 2013 | 8:22 AM

i feel like parents don't understand these basic things we tell them. they insist on babying the kids. thanks for this list, though. i couldn't have listed them any better!

Samantha June 10, 2012 | 8:07 PM

I agree with Lorraine about letting your child lose games every now and then. My mom used to ALWAYS let me win growing up, and even now I HATE to lose! I will actually get mad at my husband if I lose...definitely very childish, but I'm so competitive I can't help it. This article was great and I'm definitely going to take this to heart for when my daughter starts preschool next year.

Suzanne May 25, 2012 | 10:34 AM

I taught 3 year olds for 5 years. I would like to add something to this list. I taught the children to always put everything back into it's specified place. That way, it would be there the next time someone wanted to play with or needed it. We made a game of it. I would say " does this puzzle go in the fish bowl?" and they would laugh and call me silly - no, it went in the puzzle tower. They took pride in straightening the room and putting everything up. Teach them the same thing at home at this early age and they will never have a messy room and you won't be tripping over book bags and sneakers. The best part was hearing them tell other people " that does not go there. It goes over here." They were proud to be able to help clean the room and put everything up.

Eddy May 24, 2012 | 5:03 PM

This former teacher says teach them that fingers don't belong in noses or mouths, that mouths and noses must be covered when coughing or sneezing, how to blow their own noses, and that hands must be washed after anything which involves coughing, sneezing, or nose blowing.

Lorraine May 24, 2012 | 4:35 PM

As a former preschool teacher I would add a couple of things. When you play candyland and other games with your child, let them lose once in a while. If he doesn't ever lose he doesn't learn how and when we play games with other children he doesn't know how to lose gracefully. Playing games is important because it helps teach them to take turns, something some preschoolers are not good at. Some of the most important things they learn in preschool are social. Taking turns, following a schedule, waiting in line, listening etc. The other things would be don't teach them to write their name in all capitol letters, if you do, we have to re teach them the proper way.

Jennifer Chidester May 17, 2012 | 10:07 PM

Brilliant!!

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