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I'll give a little perspective as a preschool teacher. I've taught 2.5 - 4 year olds. Many times, the younger children were upset, but as soon as their parents left, they'd get over it pretty quickly. However, I've had a few kids who emotionally were not ready, but this was more in a daycare setting so the parents didn't really have a choice. It helps to slowly introduce the child into preschool (letting them visit, go 1 day a week, then 2, etc.). I'd say if your child consistently cries and hates school for more than 3 straight weeks, they probably aren't ready yet.

Now, I'm teaching state-funded pre-k and all my kids are 4/5 years old. I have one little boy who cries every single morning, but his issue is because his mom just had a baby and he doesn't understand why he can't stay home with her too. In a few short months, he is going to have to go to kindergarten, so we've been trying to explain to him that school is fun and "big kid school" will be even better.

I'm not yet a mom myself, so who knows how I'll feel once its my own child, but I thought I'd give some teacher thoughts

I think for me it depends on what they don't like about it. If my kid doesn't like going because he/she has to share toys and play nicely with others then I probably wouldn't pull them out because they obviously need to learn that lesson. If they hate it because it's just too much then after about a month and several conversations with the teacher I would probably look for a more scaled back approach to ease our way into things.

I don't think this is necessarily something that only SAHMs would deal with, but I probably wouldn't start a formal preschool until age 3. As with any new experience, it's about an adjustment period. We have a sitter that comes once a week and as soon as my son sees her, he cries. As soon as I leave, he's over it and is fully occupied with playing with the sitter (I know because I've watched them on our nanny cam). Now, some kids aren't developmentally ready to go to preschool and in that case, if it were something like my son couldn't participate in the activities and was getting frustrated and spending his time alone, then I'd reconsider. Otherwise, school is fun!

If my LO absolutely hated it, I'd take her out and home school her. I hated preschool mostly because there was this boy that would harass me. (he would grab my private parts whenever I walked past him in the school bus) I was only 3-4 years old!! Makes me angry thinking back on it.

Sometimes kids aren't ready but sometimes, like in @chopsuey119's experience, it's because something is going on. My mom was a SAHM, and sent my brother to preschool when he was 3. He didn't like it but didn't say anything. One day my mom went to pick him up early unannounced, and he was sitting in his cubby by himself while the other kids played. My mom asked the teachers what was up and they said, "Oh, he just likes to go sit by himself sometimes." Except that wasn't his personality AT ALL, and of course they had never shared that he did this with her before. My mom pulled him out then and there, and on the way home she said, "Why didn't you tell me you didn't like it?" and my poor little brother said, "I thought you wanted me to go there."

Not a SAHM, but I think it would depend on why a LO hated preschool. If they hated it and cry because they are just used to being home 24/7 with the undivided attention and affection of a parent and are anxious about being in a new environment with a teacher and other kids – then, no. That wouldn’t be helpful in the longterm to a child to pull them out of different, positive social environments just because its outside their comfort level at first.

If they are really not ready, that might be different.