Does full time nursery/preschool really prepare a child for primary school?

[YellowFlipFlops]

I've heard/read so many parents saying how utterly exhausted their children were when they first started school.

Does full-time nursery/preschool prepare children for this? Or is it the school environment itself, rather than the number of hours, that is so tiring for children?

I think a lot of it depends on the child - neither of mine were especially tired starting Reception, but they were both excellent sleepers and we didn't push it with extra activities in the first year.

What I did notice, and this is still the case now they are older, is that they do get tired by the end of term and need down time in the holidays, especially that first longer term which ends in the excitement of Christmas.

Dgs is in reception and is one of the youngest. He was not tired after nursery school (5 afternoons per week) and has never been tired after school. I have noticed that for the first half an hour when back at home he is more 'wired' than usual, he is loud, bouncy and if he is going to have a bit of a tantrum it will be in this period. I think school is so structured that he has to let off steam when he gets home. We refer to it as his mad half hour

DS was one of the exhausted ones but it wasn't physical exhaustion, it was mental exhaustion from following all the new rules and learning as he is desperate to do everything he is told exactly right. (Has no particular interest in doing this at home!)

Short answer: no. If you don't need to send them to Nursery/Pre-School, then don't. Likewise Reception. I didn't, with mine, as I was happy to have them at home. It has all worked out fine.

2 x 6 hour days ample in my experience.

DS was shattered after school, but then he was still napping 2.5-3 hours a day at nursery until he started, so hardly surprising that he found school exhausting. He napped at school throughout yr r and yr 1 (when it became a problem) in the book corner for hours at a time. DD was not especially tired when she started school , & had coped with nursery well too. They went to a childminder after school , who usually took them to the park straight after school or for a walk & then back to her house where they could relax and play, or in DS’s case, doze. DS was better with physical exercise straight after school, not enough running about at school for him.

I think it can help, if it's the right nursery/preschool and if it works for your family. Mine was in nursery fulltime 9-5 from 2.5 until she started receptions (so 2 full years). It wasn't intentionally to prepare her for school, just because we both work fulltime so had no other options. It was a lovely private nursery that was really child-led and outdoors based. She loved it and we loved it too. I definitely noticed a real difference between her (and others from nursery) and her friends who had been home fulltime when school started. They seemed absolutely exhausted and overwhelmed, at least into winter term, and struggled at drop offs and pick ups. Whereas my dd had too much energy in the afternoons and evenings! A 3pm end to the day actually didn't wear her out enough and she was wired and struggled to fall asleep for the first month or so. She was also much more confident interacting with her teacher and other children. That may entirely have to do with personality and parenting rather than nursery (in the case of one of her friends who only started in school, her mum was really reluctant and upset to leave her too, so I imagine that had something to do with her struggling to settle). But you know your kid and you know what's best for them. Mine definitely would have been bored stuck at home with me and needed more stimulation and socialisation with other kids than I could have provided (we live really rurally, so no groups or classes around here for toddlers/preschoolers). Nursery was a really wonderful experience for her and she made some great friends and memories. But that might not be the same for your lo so I think it has to be decided really individually.

Mine were mentally tired from school, but not physically tired, which was good for getting them to walk a mile home again. When locals ask me how to prepare kids for school I suggest spending the summer getting them to walk a couple miles at a time without whinging, so the school run seems easy in comparison.

I think it's a bit of a myth in some way, one of those things that everyone says. Doesn't mean some kids aren't tired, just that it seems standard small talk at the gates 'aren't they tired blah blah' depends on the child, my April born has a lot of stamina and went to preschool from 9-5pm 2 days and 9-3pm on the other day. He's fine at school but does catch up a bit in the holidays, he doesn't sleep when he gets back from school but he does eat A LOT. I worry a bit about my younger son, he's only 18 months away from going to school and still loves a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Some children genuinely struggle but they're all different. I think the routine of a whole day somewhere makes a whole day of school more predictable.