Life without preschool

My son is a product of preschool. My husband and I both work and our parents are either too far away or they also work and were not able to watch him for us. So, off to school he went. It was crazy expensive, but the costs of him going outweighed the cost of me quitting my job. And, thankfully, he loved it. In preschool he learned most of what his teacher is covering now in Kindergarten.

He is happy and we are happy.

Right now a lot of people are discussing the idea of affordable universal preschool - preschool available to all children. There are some studies that say it will be great, there are some studies that point out children do worse later on in life, but this Slate article points out the major sticking point: No one is asking working parents how they feel about it.

For a lot of U.S. families it is not about choice: They both have to work. And if they are working, they shouldn't have the added stress of worrying if their child is in a safe environment.

I'm trying to think about what our family life would have been like if I had to quit my job and stay home to watch our son. Of course, I would have done it, but I am not sure he would be as advanced socially as he is today. I am also not sure what our family finances would look like. And I am definitely not sure of how my return to the workforce would look like now.

It's a personal issue for most families, but the main point is that families are going to need to be asked how they feel before we can move forward.

Did your child attend a preschool and do you feel it was worth it? Tell me in the comments.