Preschool mania

I've been taken down by a strong flu bug recently. One day I was good, and the next day I felt like dying. Usually these bugs hit me gradually, over a couple of days, but this one took over within 1 night and left me with runny nose, cough, fever and an aching body. P was having runny nose 2 days before, so I suspected I got it from her, so we are now both having the same symptoms.

Yesterday was an eventful day. I brought P to a kindergarten school visit, and we really like what we see. A huge school compound resembling a mini primary school, plenty of outdoor playing space and charts-lined walls in the classrooms. My mom helped with P while the principal brought us round the school. We stopped at where the prenursery students were having lessons and I asked some questions. In the meantime, P didn't wait by my side to listen to our conversation. Instead, she saw the PN engaging in some play at the playground and joined them without batting an eyelid. From the corner of my eye, I could see her going up the slide stairs with my mom's and one of the teacher's help, then slid down with glee. I have a good feeling she will do fine, and this will be my first choice of school for her. There are several phases of registration and I hope P can get in.

Her preschool search hasn't been an easy one. For the most part, I couldn't decide what's best for her. I started the journey looking for a full day childcare, but stumble halfway when I started asking myself why I wanted to do that when I have more than enough caregivers for P. Even if she gets in, does that mean we are depriving another FTWP from placing their child in the cc? Strike 1.

After speaking to my mil, she suggested we can look at half day cc since the other half of the day is mainly used for napping. Before I did the research, I thought half day cc would be significantly cheaper than full day, if not a 50% cost differential. Research came up to be only a $100 difference per month, and taking into account the subsidies, it the cost difference is minimal. Strike 2.

The next possibility I explored was playgroup which she could enter at 18 months, then when it's time to enter the mainstream kindergarten, she can do so. The main criteria was that the playgroup has to be near my place, so my MIL's maid can pick her up easily after the 2hr session. Just nice, there was 1 just next to my block. I wrote in to ask, and alas, they can only accept her when she turns 2 years old in August 2013. If I were to go down this route, she will be in pg for only 5 months before transiting to the kindergarten. Costs wise, paying for uniforms and misc just to attend for 5 months don't make much sense. Besides, I was concerned whether she can adapt to her kindy when transition time comes. Strike 3.

Next, I looked at playgroups that run only on weekends. There is one at AMK hub, and runs on Sundays for about 1.5 hours. This might be good to let her learn some stuff before she goes to kindy. Unfortunately, I learnt recently that they have moved the enrichment classes to AMK Jubilee, which isn't as convenient as hub, so plans are shelved till further notice. Strike 4.

Hence for now, the plan is just to send P to the school of our choice next year (year she turns 3). I will need to mark the registration date down on my calendar and make sure the 'lil one gets a slot. Phew, crazy parenting business!

I'm high on Starbucks!