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The point of preschool for my son (also held back a year) was to be in an environment where he learned to take direction from people other than family members and learned that he was not the only and number one priority.

My parents also do a lot of care for my son (now in first grade) and it's okay if he's with them for the whole day in the event of say, a school day off, but it would not be my choice for his full time care. They love him to pieces and my dad especially, tends to overdo it on the attention they give him.

Does that make any sense at all? I hope it does...I am not trying to be discouraging, but my son really benefitted from being in preschool 5 days a week (3-4 hours) each day in terms of building up his soft skills.

Same as @looch: the biggest benefit for my Lo is learning to be in a school environment, listening to her teachers and getting along with the other kids. Any academic learning she does is a bonus. But that's my specific kid. She's still in pre K so I don't know how K will go but a lot of kids inher school just do 3 days a week before K and see ok.

I've heard a common rule of thumb with preschool is as many days per week as the child is old. So 2 days at 2 years old, 3 days at 3 years old, 4 days at 4 years old, and 5 days at 5 years old.

For us, I'm 99% sure we will stick with 3 days per week for LO's official PreK year before she starts kindergarten. The only other option at her school is 5 days. We'd do 4 days if it were an option though.

For my LO, 3 days is really great. I think 2 days per week last year was hard because there is such a long period of time between Thursday and the following Tuesday. I think it depends on the child and also what they are doing the other days of the week.

I wouldn't worry. Your parents and in-laws sound amazing and they will have plenty of time to explore, free play, be outside, and learn while they're with them.

She's in full time school twice a week. That's plenty in my opinion. Kids will adjust when the time comes.

Soo many SAHMs I know put their children in preschool 2 mornings a week before they start k. They all do fine. Of course depending on personality there is an adjustment time but seriously... they're all thriving.

The way you wrote this sounds like you are perfectly fine with the situation and are looking for people to agree that it's a good set up. I.think that as long As you are happy with the situation that it'll be fine.

I'm in the minority, but my honest answer is no. I don't think it's enough if you really want friendship-building, routine-building, non-family socialization, really taking part in the regular, longer (weekly) complex projects and the other stuff preschool brings. It was always *very* easy to tell the littles that went less than 3 days a week in all of my daughter's classes. You sound more like you want reassurance rather than a range of opinions, but FWIW, I don't think it's harmful or anything to go to preschool 2 days a week, but I don't think your LO will get as much out as you would with a more regular schedule. If she's super involved in tons of structured extra curriculars maybe it won't matter as much. Just a different opinion

@Becky: I think it depends on the kids. My dd had a tough time adjusting to 3 half days and needed the five half days to get into a routine. She was there between 4-5 hours per day. With 2 days if you call out sick even one of them then they've been in school one day that week. On the other hand not all kids even do preschool, and there are other ways of getting them socialized and active which it sounds like may be an option for you. Plus you have the cost to consider. I might do another year at 2 days if your LOs are ok with the routine and then do a year at 3 full days or 5 half or 5 full afterward.

@Becky: for what it's worth, that would be on time in CA now. They've moved the cut off from dec 1 to sept 1 over the years. My DD2 is oct 29th and will do TK which is a free option for kids in that cut off zone and then go to Kinder the same as your daughter