Mum ‘so worried’ that her son isn’t ready to start playschool

We all worry about our children.

It's normal to have doubts and worries about our kids - it's human nature. At every stage of their lives we will have different worries about if they'll be OK to be out in the big bad world. This mum took to Mumsnet to share her concerns about her son starting pre-school. She wrote:

"DS is 3 next month and is starting nursery/pre school 5 mornings a week in September. I'm so worried about him, what does he need to be able to do? "He knows how to count to 10 but can't recognise the numbers very well. Can sing the alphabet but doesn't recognise letters. He doesn't draw/colour very well. "He is fully toilet trained and starting to clean his bottom however I definitely have to check. He can get dressed but doesn't realise if things are inside out etc. "Does this sound OK? What else does he need to know? I know it sounds so trivial but I worry about him struggling so much."

Many mums replied to the post, saying that he sounds perfectly normal, and children all learn and grow at different stages. One mum wrote:

"He sounds perfectly ready. Try not to worry - for every child who can't do x,y or z, there will always be one who recites Shakespeare, so comparing is not helpful. As an early years teacher, the fact he can take himself to the toilet is the biggest thing!"

While another said:

"I work in a pre-school. Knowing colours, numbers etc is not really important. There will be children of all abilities and it’s stiff they’ll learn along the way. Recognising their name is probably the only useful one for coat pegs or trays. What is helpful is independence. So going to the toilet, washing own hands, being able to put shoes and coat on."

Would you be worried about your child's pace? Did you have these doubts before your child started pre-school or playschool?