My first daycare kid, I felt "needed a different program" (he was a handful behaviorally and I was just done). My 2nd stayed on until Kindergarten because they wanted her to enjoy being a child while she still could (smart parents 😊
. Mom told me the teacher said she was more than prepared for Kindergarten. Even though I know it, that felt good to hear!
My 3rd daycare kiddo was the first where the Mom wanted to put her in Preschool. Dad didn't. Mom had a Masters degree (and let you know it very quickly) and Dad was an entrepreneur and wanted her to be a kid. They compromised on sending her at age 4 instead of 3 like Mom wanted. So, that was my first situation like that and, yes, it offended me. Especially since Mom made statements or comments that indicated she felt I was subpar. Honestly though, I was so tired of Mom by the time DCG was 4, I was happy to see it happen. I learned from her to be clear in interviews that we learn through play, with a more focused learning time for the 4 year olds, but my main focus was quality care and not trying to turn their child into Einstein by the age of 2.
The next one had delays and needed speech therapy by age 3.5, so Mom decided to send him to a Preschool where they did it all. Understandable. The last one just left a couple of weeks ago for a PreK3 private preschool. Mom and Dad both have Masters degrees, so I'm not surprised. I assumed they were enrolling him early to up the chances of gettimg him into the Kindergarten program, but Dad mentioned that was way out of the budget, so no clue on that but it doesn't offend me nearly as much since that first incidence. I've just learned that different people are looking for different things and I feel good about what I offer, so that's not going to change. I know if I get a family where at least one parent has a Masters degree (because they make it very clear *eye roll*), they're probably moving kiddo to Preschool.
If they tell me in the interview that they intend to, and I was already on the fence about them, I'll pass and let them know that I prefer to work with a family / child long term. It's a lot of work to bring a child in, get to know them and their needs just to have them move on early. If I like them otherwise, I just go in knowing that. I also hate when I'm expected to put in the work of potty training a child expressly so that they can attend Preschool.... That smarts a bit. Knowing that I'm working myself out of a client.