To School or Not to School ... That Is the Question!

I recently went to a preschool fair where all the local nursery schools set up little booths and handed out pretty, polished pamphlets with images of smiling kids on the front. Their faces seemed to be saying, "I'm so happy I'm not home with Mom all day anymore!"

I took home a huge pile of literature and sat up that night combing through it. With each pamphlet I got more confused. The options were endless—play-based, academic, parent participation, co-op, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia (that last one sounds like a movie star)—I got a headache just looking at them (and a stomachache looking at the prices of some of them!). But forget worrying about what kind of school to send my kid to, I can't even figure out if I want to send my little girl to preschool at all. To school or not to school? That is the question!

The director at my daughter's little Mommy and Me class claims that at 2 years old, my daughter is too young for preschool. But I wonder if it's just a ploy to get us to come back to her program for another year.

Maybe going to school would do my daughter good. She'd get exposed to lots of kids (and their germs—yikes!) She'd get to do messy art projects that I forbid because I can't bear the thought of cleaning up after them. She'd learn to rely on an adult other than good old mom and dad.

To be honest, I get kind of excited thinking about shipping her little butt off to school. Imagine ... three whole hours a day to myself! I don't even know what I'd do with that kind of time! I could go to the grocery store without a whiny toddler begging for every cookie, pretzel, cracker, juice, ice cream we pass. I could actually get a haircut or indulge in a mani-pedi! I could nap!

But then the guilt sets in. Shouldn't I relish these days when she is home with me? I know that far too soon she'll be off in the world, a full-time student who'd rather hang with her friends than her dorky old Mommy. I should enjoy every adorable, cuddly, tantrumy moment while they last. But those blissful toddlerless hours do sound enticing.

Ah! I just don't know what to do! I'm so confused!