Dr. Ferrara has worked with children and adult survivors of abuse for over twenty years in CT, NY and FL. She is currently in private practice in Tampa, FL and affiliated with the University of South Florida as adjunct associate professor.
DR. F. FELICIA FERRARA, PhD: Hello! I'm Dr. Felicia, the parent coach, and I've been working with families and children for about 25 years now. I'd like to share with you on how to be informed in choosing a preschool. Preschool and what to expect from preschools is always perplexing for the new parent. If you've never had children in school before, and this is your very first time, you certainly don't know where to start. I must admit, for you this is the beginning of where you are going to get involved in more structured types of settings. A good preschool should have educational activities for the children. Sometimes, they have field trips and certainly, they have a lot play areas and play games. They should have nap time if the children are really small, and they should have snacks at different intervals during the day. Now in preschool, your child is going to meet up with a whole new group of children, so their social world is enlarging. So for you as a mother, you're going to have to let go a little bit. Your little child is going to learn new friends, or make new friends, and certainly learn new interactions, some good and some not so good. Now, it hasn't been unusual that we have complaints of a child getting bit at preschool by another child, or a child swearing because they heard curse words at home, and your child might come home with some new words like that. When anything like that happens, you want to be able to talk to the preschool teachers. So bring that negative behavior to the attention of the teacher first and allow them to intervene on your child's behalf. Try to keep an open mind with your child, and do listen to them when they make a complaint because most children are pretty honest, and they don't make the story up. So, if they say it happened, it probably did happen. You just need to find out more about it. So I would advise you to search your preschools, talk to the teachers, you must feel comfortable with them so you can discuss these problems as they arise, and by all means, encourage your child for going off to preschool, and pay attention to the little papers they bring home, whether its drawings, little art work, etc., and make sure you make a big fuss about it because children just loved that attention. So, it's your job to encourage the child to have a successful time during preschool. I'm sure you will. Enjoy!
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