News of the bizarre: Parents Camp out to register kids for spot in popular pre-schools! (Raleigh: daycares, preschool)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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Are things really this competitive? I appreciate the dedication these parents have for their children, but at the same time it kind of makes me glad I don't have kids and don't have to feel the pressure to compete in this kind of thing.
"Demand for space in popular pre-schools in Wake County has gotten so hot that parents were willing to camp outside overnight to ensure that their children get spots for the fall."
Are things really this competitive? I appreciate the dedication these parents have for their children, but at the same time it kind of makes me glad I don't have kids and don't have to feel the pressure to compete in this kind of thing.
"Demand for space in popular pre-schools in Wake County has gotten so hot that parents were willing to camp outside overnight to ensure that their children get spots for the fall."
I agree it's crazy!! But she's right. It's supply and demand. I was shocked at how few preschool choices there are in Wake & Durham Co. And schools expect that your kids know how to write once they enter school now. So preschool is one way kids learn hand writing skills. It's crazy... we are pushing them to do more and more earlier and earlier. I've even see a difference between what was expected in K & Preschool from my now 2nd grader to my daughter who will be in K in the Fall.
My hubby and I joke that pretty soon they will have to learn to read inutero so they will be ready for preschool and in return K.
I have never heard of camping out, but I have certainly gotten there an hour early. Unless something has changed in the last couple of years, I had not heard it was that hard to find a good preschool. I loved both preschools that my kids went too and I never had THAT much problem getting in...and I was enrolling twins!
Now I live near downtown, where everyone that works downtown wants to get their babies in downtown daycares,near where they work, so I know the joke was that you needed to get on the waiting list before you got pregnant, but I think that was more of a panic statement. The waiting lists were all abnormally long becasue many people would get on waiting list at multiple daycares. It seemed that everyone was able to find a spot before they were ready to go back to work.
Also, I question the statement that kids need to know how to write before kindergarten these days. My twins are half way through kindergarten right now. I say many of the kids could write their names when they got there, and MAYBE some of the delayed start kids could write more (that is the kids, mostly boys, with birthdays near the date cut off and were held back a year...so they are almost a year older than most of their classmates), but it is certainly not expected that kids write before they enter kindergarten.
Wow, that is intense. The preschools we've chosen did not select based on first come-first served, so this is a different experience. I have never heard of a place that you didn't just mail in your application and then wait for them to decide if you are a good fit. Well, until now.
I remember when we were moving to wake forest (from apex) I called around to various preschools (there are about 6 that are the traditional part time church based preschool) and one of them told me that they have registration on, well, let's say Friday, it was first come first serve to put your application in. She told me it started at 8am, but parents starting "waiting in line" as early as 4am. Seriously? I just decided my daughter would have to be on a waiting list because there was no way I could wait in line that long, after all, who would take care of my kids when the hubby needed to go to work?
In the end, she was wait listed at a preschool here, and 3 days before school was to begin, she got in. Now, no waiting in line for us! Although the preschool she goes to now has registration over a period of three days, and they just separate the envelopes into categories (current students, siblings of students, church members, etc) and the spots are taken up accordingly.
Which reminds me, the application (and MONEY by the way) are due today!
But I think as quickly as people are moving to the area, I can see how getting a preschool spot could become difficult. The schools are already overcrowded with 20+ kids in a class, imagine how many of those people need preschool spots which usually only accept about half the number of kids.
My kids have been on waiting lists everytime we've ever done preschool and they've always gotten in.
Last year when we moved to Cary I was so happy to find a preschool slot for my three year old. Where we were in Tampa people camped out over night because the area had grown significantly and there weren't that many quality preschools. I know last year our preschool had some classes with openings. This year they added some classes and almost everything is full.
What I find disturbing is not the fact that people camped out overnight but that the implication is that all of the other options were so bad people would rather deal with sub-freezing temperatures to get their kids into pre-school (not even a guarantee) than go with the other options. Is it really that bad out there??
Some schools have very high application fees, a long application, requirement of several references, or a large deposit up-front. Do these schools require that as well, I wonder. Or is this just one of many ways to filter out the people who would otherwise apply to multiple schools without the necessary commitment? Many preschools require parental participation (time or $) and this could be one way of getting the most committed ones.
What I find disturbing is not the fact that people camped out overnight but that the implication is that all of the other options were so bad people would rather deal with sub-freezing temperatures to get their kids into pre-school (not even a guarantee) than go with the other options. Is it really that bad out there??
I guess it depends on why the preschool is popular. If it was popular because the teachers are wonderful and it's a very loving and nurturing environoment it might be worth waiting outside over night.
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