Community Update

In looking for a preschool for my daughter, I visited at least 7 or 8, and spoke with caregivers and parents at quite a few more. A family member joked that we would never find a place I liked, because there were so many things that were important to me that it seemed highly unlikely that I would find them all in one place. I wanted a positive, nurturing environment emphasizing social and emotional learning (where kids respected boundaries and each other without negative discipline), that had teachers who truly knew and valued the children as individuals, and that had excellent parent-teacher communication. I was also seeking a place for my daughter where she would have the space and autonomy to explore their surroundings, where she would be nurtured to focus on process rather than product, and where she would be able to be happy. Then I found Happy Together Preschool. It was all of these things:

1. Positive, nurturing environment that fosters kindness and autonomy. Each of the teachers is gentle, but finds ways to encourage children to self-regulate and help them learn how to engage productively with each other, whether they are high-energy kids or kids who might be considered shy. I have seen crying children gently nurtured into giggling, confident participants, and children whose behavior might have been labeled disruptive elsewhere gently guided into other ways of participating. Whenever I arrive, I see children having a delightful time, while respecting each other’s space and needs in profound ways for kids of that age – I’ve seen compassion in these preschoolers that I can only admire. In this environment, my daughter has learned to become kinder and much more aware of the feelings of those around her. The children have many experiences (planting, cooking, art, science experiments) that stimulate their curiosity, but because of the peaceful environment and thoughtful use of indoor and outdoor space they are not over-stimulated (as was frequently the case at her previous preschool). Children have a great deal of freedom to choose different activities, and each day there are wonderful activities set out that enable children to explore materials – to build, paint, create, and think. Heck, some days I want to stay to play!

2. Caring, observant, supportive teachers and community. I love knowing that my daughter will be treated with respect, given both space to explore and support, as needed. In talking with the instructors, it is clear that they know her well and value her deeply – as they do every member of their preschool community. There are huge advantages to the wonderful adult-child ratio, and one of them is that the children really are supported as individuals in ways that a larger center with less adults simply cannot do. Children also get lots of language interaction with adults in English and in Spanish (a language in which my daughter has fallen in love, through her experiences at the preschool). I feel as though the community of families is particularly open and welcoming of differences – it means a lot to me that families that do not “fit the mold” are celebrated.

3. Responsive and Communicative. When I drop off my daughter, I feel as though I am entering a peaceful, happy oasis where people listen, authentically smile, and take both children and adults seriously. Every week, there is a detailed email about the previous and coming week’s activities, complete with wonderful quotes from the children. But what matters most to me is the fact that the staff are wonderful communicators around individual children’s needs. This is particularly important for kids who have food allergies or other special concerns, as is the case for my daughter. After bad experiences at my child’s previous preschool, where my daughter sometimes did not receive needed medication and where the overwhelmed caregivers seemed barely cognizant of my daughter’s health challenges, it is enormously reassuring to have an environment where the teachers call, of their own initiative, when they have a question for me about my daughter’s needs in relation to a particular classroom activity/situation. I also feel good that my daughter’s situation is never approached as if it were a problem or an inconvenience, but rather as something we, as adults who all care about her, are working together to figure out and address.

The only thing I wish is that we lived closer to the school – but a little bit of a commute is more than worth it for the quality of life and quality of learning that my daughter experiences when she is at Happy Together. My daughter never wants to miss a day of preschool, and I have no question that this is because it is a magical place for children.