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Are Parents Opting Out of Preschool?

3/8/07 - By Anna Fader
The NY Sun illuminates a new twist to preschool admissions madness (via daddytypes) by pointing out the apparent trend to supply resumes and custom DVDs of your toddler with their preschool application. They then go on to destroy the tactic with several preschool personnel weighing in on how this would essentially get your application disqualified. The article doesn't hold any big surprises. Any sane human being should be able to figure out that preschools are not looking for toddlers to have media kits and that this is precisely the type of showing off that turns people off. (see Are First Choice Letters Nuts?) What was interesting was the proclamation that parents are skipping preschool all together just to avoid the madness of the application process:

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Then there are some parents, decrying the cutthroat competition for nursery school seats, who are opting out of traditional preschool altogether - enrolling their children in group classes until they turn 4 and can apply to a pre-kindergarten program at an ongoing school.
That's a pretty big statement. Has it gotten so bad that people would rather forgo the entire thing than take their chances in the preschool admissions game? It looks like the answer may be yes. Hopefully, some of those parents will find this site and look in to the great under-the-radar preschools we are posting about. But, we also hope that schools will get a clue and try to make it a little easier on parents. It seems like some of the schools play up the mystery in order to make their schoolsseem more exclusive and therefore more desirable. Are you considering opting out of preschool all-together? Let us know in the comments below or email Mommy Poppins directly.

About the Author

Anna Fader

Founder of Mommy Poppins

A fourth-generation Brooklynite, Anna started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to help families find the best things to do with kids in NYC, with a particular emphasis on sharing activities that are free, affordable, and enriching. The site, used by millions of families, has grown to become the ultimate resource for parents in the major US cities, plus travel guides for 100s of destinations.

Anna is a believer in the magic of summer camps, traveling with kids, and that you can raise kids on a budget and still have a rich life full of amazing memories. Anna's first Mommy Poppins book, The Young Traveler's Journal and Activity Book, published in 2025 and co-written with her daughter, Amelia Eigerman, brings that ethos to life, in addition to this website.

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