Growing Into the Right Moment
Readiness, rhythm, and listening closely
Families often ask when children are “ready” for the next step.
Readiness isn’t a date on a calendar. It’s something that gathers quietly over time—when children feel secure in themselves, trust the world around them, and move through it with ease.
The Power of an Extra Season
For some children, an additional year in a familiar preschool community offers exactly what they need: continuity, belonging, and the freedom to grow strong before stepping into something new. Leadership surfaces gently. Friendships deepen. Learning continues through play, movement, and shared discovery.
Like nature, children do not follow a schedule of urgency. They move forward when the ground beneath them feels steady.
Honoring a child’s rhythm—listening closely to who they are becoming—can shape not only how they begin school, but how they carry themselves through the years that follow.
On a rainy day, a child holds a leaf over her stuffed animal—an image of nurturing care, imagination, and the gentle confidence that grows with time.
“I am the mom of a 26-year-old and a 7-year-old. Both of my children attended Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School, guided creatively in the light of Lesley Romanoff.
When you have watched one child grow into adulthood, you understand how quickly the seasons turn and how precious time truly is.
There is no rush.
Childhood is sacred. The world will ask them to grow up soon enough.
Giving my daughter a Pre-K Bridge Year—one more year outside with hands in the dirt, one more year without walls under open sky, exploring and learning through play and strengthening that beautiful spirit—felt less like a choice and more like a responsibility. Before the next 18 years of classrooms and expectations began, she could simply be.
She carries a love of learning and a love of play and, more importantly, she carries herself with joy and confidence in a big world.
I know those roots are stronger because she was allowed to bask in the beauty of childhood just a little while longer.”
