American Preschools: Surely we can do better

A recent Parents magazine article compared preschools in various countries around the world, including Sweden. We are recent converts to Swedish life after spending, regretfully, only a year in the Stockholm suburbs. My first experience with preschool was with two very different Swedish preschools. One was an English-speaking Montessoriesque school and the other was the true-to-form Swedish preschool, aka ‘dagis.’

For those that send their kids to preschool here in the U.S. or ever have, you would be shocked at how much your kids are missing after seeing these schools. While I thought far more about the Swedish school, than the English-speaking Montessori one, both are far above what I’ve seen here on any level.

In Sweden, preschool begins at age 1. That’s right, your little 12-month old child can hobble off to school before he can even use a spoon. No worries though because the Swedish teachers will teach him how. Most families do not pay more than $80-100 a month. I paid $50 for my son to attend 20 hours a week. I actually only sent him for 12 hour—the staff could not understand why I would do that. Because cost of living is so high in Sweden, both parents really must work so the government (taxes) help pay for preschool. There is no childcare available to children, as far as I know, before age 1 since every mom is given approximately one-year maternity leave and fathers get at least a few months in addition to that.(also noted in the high taxes).

My son started dagis (preschool) right before his 2nd birthday. They had a 2-week program where we came with the children everyday and sat with the other parents while our kids got acquainted with the school. They wanted to make sure it was an easy transition for all the children. Alex had no problem adjusting to school since he had recently started at the Montessori while waiting for a Swedish school slot.

The school buildings are amazing. They are bright and clean and full of windows and lots of light. Children take off their shoes upon entering, as they do everywhere in Sweden, to help keep the floors clean and put on slippers. Moms here choke when they hear about the food Alex was served. Children are given fruit to eat in the morning. Different types during the year. In the summertime, he would eat the nice fresh Swedish strawberries. I used to come in and find apple peels in the sink for what appeared to be a million apples. For lunch, each child received a hot catered lunch. Every meal included salad, sometimes soup. There was fish, meat, chicken, meatballs, hot dogs (korv), pizza, spaghetti. Things that you would hardly ever find in a preschool here—a part time one anyway. They all ate on real plates (no plastic), used metal utensils, and real cups. Many of the schools used to eat their meals by candlelight. They all sit and talk of the mornings’ events and chatter on like a happy group of kids. Was it surreal? You bet. Did I love it? Absolutely. My son learned to eat with a fork, spoon and knife. Yes, that’s right, a knife. He learned to drink out of non sippy cup and on the side, learned to speak Swedish.

The children had special clothes for every type of weather. When it was hot, they were allowed to play in the hose and the nearby lake. When it rained, they had special rubber pants and boots to wear for the daily walks or playground trips. When it snowed, layers of clothes and a snowsuit allowed them to play in the snow. They even had special dryers to dry the mittens and hats. When it was beautiful, they were outside all day…snack, play, walk, etc. In Sweden you only get about 5-6 months of beautiful weather so they take full advantage of it. The rest of the year with some days only having 6 hours of daylight, you have to take it when you can get it.

Since our arrival back to the U.S., my tours through many preschools in the area prove one thing. We are no where near where the Swedes are. No lunch for our kids unless you send it yourself and sometimes having to pay $10 more just for the extra hour of babysitting. Snacks are cookies/crackers and juice. One school told me they served saltines and water for snack. I was like, is this prison? Very little outside play unless the day is nice. And very little mingling with kids of other ages. I loved in Sweden that Alex was in school with kids 1-3. Very Montessorisque that the little ones learn from the older ones and the older ones can teach.

The Swedish schools are actually very Montessori like to begin with. And during a recent tour through a local Montessori, I found it hard to swallow the $800-per-month fee for preschool that looks just like the $50- a-month Swedish preschool. Seems like our preschools here might take a page from the European schools.