Things to check before you enroll your child in school and my personal boo-boos

A little backgrounder. I am a first time mommy to a now active 24 month old toddler. His energy never seems to run out. Not when it's 5 in the morning,not when he hasn't had a nap the whole afternoon, not when everyone in the house is ready to call it a day.

He is a bouncing baby boy (literally). He loves jumping up and down the bed and loves the look of horror in our faces (mommy will have a heart attack form worrying!) and since his dad and I both work, he is left with owa (lola) and ate (yaya) everyday.

1. Gauge your kid’s readiness for school. My husband is not a big advocate of early child schooling. He wants to enroll Jared when he turns 5, for kindergarten. In my dreams, I want to home school my son in his early years. The reason why we enrolled him? We want him to have playmates! So, it's probably good to check if your reasons for sending your kid to school matches his readiness for it.

2. Check the proximity of the school to your place. While it’s true that quality education should be the foremost concern when choosing a school, in this summer heat, you have to take this into consideration. The heat at 9 am seems to burn you already and going to school in a tricycle isn't very comfortable. And this is playschool after all and riding a trike several minutes away with a very inquisitive toddler and with just his lola and yaya might be one challenging task. Now, multiply that 3x a week (his summer school days) and you get the picture.

3. Try to check if there are free trial classes. In his school, there is a free 3-day trial class but being the excited mommy that I am, I enrolled him right away, without knowing all the details, without asking all the right questions. Yes, I am impulsive.

4. Check the age range of the kids. Jared at 24 months is currently (unless somebody enrolls much later) the youngest in class. The kid closest to his age is 2 years and 7 months old. At that stage where development is very fast, 7 months seems to be years in terms of what the toddler can say/understand.

5. Check the curriculum. Yes, I know it’s obvious but I thought this summer class will just be play. Turns out, it’s all about getting the kids ready for the real school by June. So they sing the national anthem, write letters etc. My son just isn’t interested in these at this point so he basically just roams around and just sits down in time for his favorite part—recess!

6. Confirm the number of enrolees. The school said initially that they only accept an average of 10 students a class. During the first day of classes, a lot of parents brought their kids for the trial class. The result: not enough chairs and chaos! I think Jared was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Of kids shouting, running and parents running after the kids.

Now, 3 school days since the start of classes, Jared still is the only student in his class who stays outside of the classroom longer than inside, is the only one who always asks for an extra helping of whatever snack is served (told you his favorite is recess) and in those 3 sessions, he has been absent once and went home early twice.

Am I worried? No. He is just 24 months after all and just wants to play.