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The final sentence sums up the quality of that article. My observations are :

1. Children love preschool. 2. Parents need a break so they have the energy to engage with their children. 3. Children benefit in the long run from the exposure to germs. 4. Children benefit from early socializing.

And so forth....

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I hated preschool. I don't really remember why, but I was terrified that I went from my comfortable home with stay-at-home mother to dropped in the "wild." I found socialization difficult. Who knows if it was valuable or not; I just know that the experience is strongly associated with negative emotions.

Yes, it must be the case that not every child loves preschool. And I would expect parents to deal with it at the individual level, so if a particular child found it traumatic then the parents should trust their instincts and withdraw the child if they thought it might have long term negative effects.

I wonder if the usage of the term preschool is important. In Australia this refers to the child care that happens immediately prior to going to school. It typically goes Kindergarten -> Preschool -> School. Wikipedia seems to imply in the US that it goes Preschool -> Kindergarten -> School.

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