Isn’t preschool supposed to be a stress-free, enjoyable experience? I’m sure it still is, but applying to preschool for your child is anything but.

Our daughter is 14-months old and my wife and I feel like we’ve been put through the ringer doing the tours, filling out applications, writing checks, and dealing with the sheer competitiveness of the whole process. I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty overwhelming.

I’m just like every other parent. I want my child to have the most wonderful experience possible during her first few years of school; however, my other line of thinking is that if you’re not happy with the preschool, neither will your child. So, I broke down what would make me happiest: location, cost, flexibility of hours, and parent involvement – plain and simple. We’re looking for a school that is convenient, but we also want to participate as much as possible.

As tough as it is to find this information, the hardest part was actually finding the school itself. Once we organized the preschools by our neighborhood, everything else fell into place.

We live in Santa Monica, so I thought it would help other residents to have a quick reference guide to the closest preschools in the area. This list has nothing to do with our preferences, or the quality of the school. This is just to provide parents with the names and phone numbers of each school. These Santa Monica preschools are located north of the 10 Freeway:

• Garden of Angels – (310) 453-4680
• Circle of Children – (310) 393-7731
• Cassidy – (310) 829-5700
• Evergreen – (310) 453-6255
• Little Dolphins – (310) 998-0011
• 10th Street Preschool – (310) 458-4088
• First Presbyterian – (310) 451-9259
• Beginnings – (310) 828-0858
• Lighthouse Church – (310) 829-2828
• First United Methodist – (310) 393-8258

There are a number of other preschools in the area, so I recommend talking to other parents and scouring the web for further information on them. A great resource that my wife used through the process was Savvy Source, an online database for preschools.

Good luck!

Have you been through this process before? Are you dealing with the application process now? Share your thoughts, and stories, below!