Tears for Two's? Just a Few as the Preschool Year Begins

Last week, it was back to school for many of the "big kids" of South Orange and Maplewood. This week, the little ones had their turn as many of the area's preschools opened their doors to the 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old contingent.

For the most part, schools have reported smooth sailing and good beginnings. Barbara Illingworth, director and head teacher at Morrow Memorial Preschool, notes that there was "not that much crying" at drop-off time on Monday, September 13. Her school is located at Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church on Ridgewood Road in Maplewood.

Illingworth reports that the school completely filled its quota of 2- and 3-year-olds for this year, with "an abundance" of 3s still on the waiting list. Space was not as tight in the 4-year-old class, however. "Those spots are hard to fill," she observes.

To accommodate all the 3s, Illingworth had to create a mixed-age 3s and 4s class, as she also did last year. "We have put the younger 4s together with the older 3s. Based on past experience, it should work out well," she says.

Morrow Memorial is a co-op preschool, meaning that parents are required to periodically donate time to the school, usually by helping out in their child's classroom. According to Illingworth, this requirement does not serve as a deterrent for working parents, as might be expected. "If parents are working, then they take time off to fulfill their requirement," she explains, "and we see both moms and dads taking equal responsibility for this."

South Orange's Mickey Fried Nursery School, located at Oheb Shalom Congregation on Scotland Road, also started its school year on Monday, September 13. As at Morrow Memorial, there appears to have been less evidence of separation anxiety than anticipated, according to Mickey Fried's director, Iris Ehrlich.

"But I always tell the parents to wait a few days and see what happens," says Ehrlich. "Once the novelty of the toys and the books wears off, some children start to realize that when they arrive at school, their loved one disappears, and then often there's a delayed reaction."

Even some of the veteran 4-year-olds can have a little trouble at the start of the year, Ehrlich says. "At our school, the 4s move to classrooms upstairs, and that itself can require an adjustment period."

Mickey Fried has a brand-new playground this year, and incoming students were invited to attend a "playground playdate" event on September 3. "We think this may have helped some of the 2s and 3s with the transition" to school, Ehrlich says.

Victoria Aronoff's 2-year-old son, Solomon, just started at Mickey Fried. He's not new to the school, however; he's been tagging along practically since birth for the drop-offs and pick-ups of his older sister Dalia, who's now in kindergarten. He also went to "mini-camp" there this past summer. "He still cried hysterically" on his first real day of school, says Aronoff. "But I was told that he stopped crying after I left, and another mom reported to me that she saw him later playing happily on the playground."