Since we weren’t sure if we would be living somewhere new this fall, I have put off enrolling Ryan in pre-school. He went to an enrichment type school last year on a farm, and we have been thinking about sending him there again for the fall and winter. However, since he will be starting kindergarten next fall (gulp), we have also been thinking about enrolling him in a more formal pre-school setting.
Not knowing what to do, I have taken to asking Ryan what he wants-just to hear his thoughts on the matter. Every time I bring up the subject, he tells me he is not going back to school. The first few times he said this, I brushed it off, but it is a little concerning to me that he is not excited or has any desire to go back to school.
I brought up the subject again with him today:
Me: Are you ready to go back to school?
Ryan: I am never going back to pre-school ever again. I am going to stay home and play all day.
Me: Why don’t you want to go to school?
Ryan: There are too many kids, it is boring, and I get straw in my shoes.
(Light bulb moment for me- at last I felt like I was getting to the root of the problem)
Me: What if we go to a new school where there aren’t as many kids, and you aren’t bored?
Ryan: Nope. I’m not going back.
Me: Well, what are you going to do for a job when you get older if you don’t go to school? You have to make money one day, and you can’t do that if you don’t go to school.
(Silence from Ryan. I finally broke through to him- or so I thought.)
Ryan (after several moments of thinking): I can get a job at McDonald’s.
(Silence from me. I have nothing left to say.)
14 replies on “Pre-School Dropout”
Love it! Bright kid. He may not need the whole school thing given his career aspirations.
If it’s any consolation, my cousin flunked preschool. He later graduated from UCLA. Bright guy. Preschool just wasn’t his gig.
Too rich! He’s got a great plan there!
From this end of it, I’d recommend that you do get him into a more intensive PS if you can. It may be hard this late to enroll anywhere though. But I think it’s good for kids to get used to going regularly, sitting still, having routines, writing their names – all that school stuff – before kindergarten. K is pretty overwhelming in of itself w/out having to figure out all the other stuff as well! Although S only went to PS 3 days/week and all the other PS’s we toured felt it was important for kids to go 5 days that last day of PS, I feel like he was really ready to attack school this year. (I say, after he asked if he could have tomorrow off so he could play…)
In fact, I never went to school until college — and as it turns out, I have not yet been forced to work at MickyD’s, LOL.
For your son’s sake, I hope that he is happier if you send him to the “new school where there aren’t as many kids and you aren’t bored” but I would love to see the school from which boredom has been vanquished.
LOL
it’s funny. we were having a similar conversation with ava tonight. she was talking about not wanting to go to school again ever too. hmm. wonder what’s up w/ this sudden change?
LOL, that is funny. Well, think of all the free McShakes and McFries in your future.
That is too funny! And very profound, too. Sounds like he’d do well in a very small group with lots of interesting activity.
Thanks for all the comments- the funny thing is in his class at the previous school, there were only 8 kids- a teacher and an aide. They were always doing something- arts & crafts, playing with play-dough, painting, or outside playing on the farm, feeding the animals, playing in a tree-house, sandbox, cars, shovels, swings, etc.
Maybe it is something that is age specific.
Also, my first job as a teenager was at McDonald’s. Guess he wants to follow in his old mom’s footsteps. 🙂
Ha! The funniest things come out of their mouths, I swear. Make sure he gets a job at McDonalds when he is in high school–after that experience, you know he’ll want to go to college.
That’s funny. At least he has a plan though.
And I too agree that PS is a really good idea. It gets them into a routine for K and it’s not foreign to them.
My little guy who is the same age starts formal preschool next week. But lately he’s resisting day care and wants to stay home with me instead. Maybe it’s the age…
Or maybe he just REALLY likes his Happy Meals.
How funny! At least he has a plan. 🙂
If it makes you feel better, studies have shown that preschool only provides an advantage to children with really bad home lives, and still isn’t as good for kids as simply having a good home life. Even then the advantage completely disappears by 4th grade, and you can’t tell who went to preschool and who didn’t.
Michelle
(former preschool teacher turned homeschooler)
[…] few weeks ago, I wrote about my preschool dropout, Ryan. The comments telling me not to worry, were so appreciated, but we felt like we still […]
You can’t argue with that logic, can you? Is it just me or are kids getting smarter? 🙂