Morning or afternoon attendance better for a 3- year old??? Please help..

[aiti72]

Our daughter has been going to a local Montessori pre-school since last September (afternoon 1pm-5pm), and now when we have a new baby coming next month we are thinking of changing her attendance to the morning group(8am-12am).

I am a SAHM and have been very happy that she's had activities at school during long afternoons(so tired of entertaining her), and now I'm worried she comes home before 12 and feels bored with knaggered old me and a newborn until she goes to sleep. The reason we are thinking of morning option is that we heard children learn better then (our daughter is tri-lingual and only learns English at school). Also, during the past year she's done afternoons I've noticed that we're quite stuck the whole day with her, just waiting for 1pm, very careful that she doesn't get too tired to school. Would it be better to get her there in the morning and get it over with? Or are the afternoons every SAHM's nightmare?

Sorry this was long but I would really really appriciate your opinions/experiences. Thank you!!

I think the morning in nursery and afternoon with you would be better for all the reasosn she says. If she burns off her energy there, being all cosy with you and the baby would be quite nice in the afternoon

mornings are better for families I find .. gets you up and out of the house and you still have the rest of the day to do things in .. whereas from 5pm you'll be just waiting for bed

I think the 'learning better' is a red herring though as children learn through play all the time

agree-mornings,dont we all like a nap in the afternoon

I am for afternoons
Don't have to get up early in the mornings to get there, much more relaxed, and the sessions generally are much quieter.

As a voice of difference, ds has been in nursery afternoons for the last year (not my first choice, I have to admit) - the good thing is that early pm is also dd's big sleep slot. Meant I actually had 1.5 hours or so to myself (cook, clean, sleep ).
I don't worry about knackering him in the mornings, as I think of preschool as play with added learning rather than learning per se.

Disadvantage of pms is that morning stuff can be a bit of a rush (bearing in mind that you often have to have a prompt lunch to get ready in time.

x-post

My dc are both early risers so mornings always suit us better.

at the moment, my dd2 goes to nursery at the local school for three mornings and two afternoons - which is the sessions that are available to her, not through any choice of mine.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but personally, I prefer her to go in the mornings because:

I am more motivated to do housework in the morning and like a lazy afternoon, so on the days she is at home in the morning, we are too busy playing to get much done, therefore not much gets done,

It is a bit of a rush getting her up and ready, but once it is done, it is done and the rest of the day stretches before us

If we do want to go out somewhere, there is no rush to get home again, we just go after nursery

I can give her a nice big lunch as soon as she gets home and she will still eat her tea - when she gets home after an afternoon session I have to give her a snack as she is starving, but then she won't eat her tea very well as she is no longer hungry.

(least importantly) I don't have to fight my way through the school gate mums waiting for their school age children to come out of school.

hth

are the sessions, not is (obviously )

Thank you a million, ladies!!

With five children, we've done both sessions. I found that I preferred the afternoon sessions because they fitted in better with everything else we were doing.

We have never had problems with getting up for an early start, so the preference for afternoon was fairly minor.