The Great Kindy Search

Kindergarten, Kindy, Playschool, Playschool.... When my daughter, MG, was 2 plus years old, I had no choice but to begin hunting for the appropriate kindy to enrol in the next year... Being a rather chill person by nature, I've always wondered why parents need to be so "kiasu" when it comes to schooling and the like, but deep inside, I knew that I would have to assume some degree of kiasu-ism when its time for MG to be institutionalised in school..... So for me, there were a number of considerations in making the choice.

 1) Location and Logistics is key - it had to be near MG's nanny's house as the next step for me was to beg MG's nanny to pick her up from school. Hence my search was limited to PJ area, preferably Bandar Utama, TTDI, DU, SS2
2) It had to be non-academic. You read right, I didn't want MG to dread school (like mummy, who still has bad memories of her kindy which was just one road from her home).
3) It had to suit MG - in the sense that MG is one active bundle of energy who is simply unable to focus on anything for long (much less studies and school work)
4) It would preferably have some Christian based lessons. ( I am a Christian and I do think that it is important for MG to learn in this environment, given that it is her formative years)..

Those who are familiar with the kindy/ playschool scene in Malaysia would know these buzzwords "Fungates", "Montessori", "Starlight" and everything else in combination, in between etc. etc .. I was certainly not familiar with these but I have heard that Fungates is a good system, but contains quite a lot of learning. Montessori is good but may not prepare the kid sufficiently for real school.. With the proviso that most Montessoris in Malaysia are not "real" Montessoris anyway.. If you really want to get technical,  I guess I could have done a lot more research, but then again, I am a full time working mum and have to take some shortcuts :)  My "research" started with consultations with some educators whom I knew (ie a former principal from a pretty good school in town) and another friend who is doing his Masters in Early Childhood Studies Down Under.

The educators (ie learned experts in this field), were unanimous that the goal for preschoolers is mainly to socialise and hopefully learn to love to learn, nothing more nothing less. Or rather, nothing less but anything more is a bonus! Hence, my focus was to find a kindy which was able to accomodate different kids, to allow some flexibility and not to confine them to their desks and  books only for those few hours in a day.

There are a dime a dozen of kindys around the area, and based on friends' experiences, kiasu parents' blogs and forums, my search was narrowed down to:

1.Tadika Pintar Ria, Mutiara Damansara
2. Peter and Jane
3. Kings' Kids Early Years
4. Tadika Precious Steps
5. Summer Academy

I will continue with my impressions and info garnered from my visit to the above kindys in my next post!