Preschool Co-ops: Creating Community

When my family and I moved to Vancouver in 2021, my then 4-year-old son and I struggled to find a parent community in the area. Admittedly, the pandemic contributed to the difficulty in meeting people, but there was another reason I felt left behind—I was no longer part of a preschool co-op community.

Before moving, I had spent two years gathering with other parents and preschoolers, both in class time and monthly parenting seminars. As parents, we created playdates, held fundraisers and even attended baby showers and other personal events for each other. Even a socially awkward mom, like myself, found a community to fit into, and my child had friends who would grow with him. In my former suburb of nearly 100,000 residents, there were five different co-op schools to choose from which served ages 0-5. In addition to the social interaction for both my son and me, co-op preschool was affordable at less than $300 per month and often under $200 depending on the program.

When it was time to move onto kindergarten, neither my son nor I wanted it to end. We weren’t the only ones struggling to say goodbye though as I witnessed many tears at graduation. However, the friendships we both forged were real, and despite moving many miles away, we still keep in touch. Those personal connections, along with the immersive parental involvement, are what makes a co-op school stand out from the crowd of other preschool models.

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