Wealthy NYC Parents Are Hiring 'Playdate Consultants' To Help Their Kids Get Into Elite Schools

Flickr/Scott & Elaine van der Chijs Forget about college counselors — a report in the New York Post says the latest trend among rich Manhattan parents is to hire a recreation "expert" to teach their kids how to play in preparation for private school admission tests.

The $400-an-hour service includes a playdate among three to five 4-year-olds. The children are closely monitored to see how each plays and interacts with the others.

Parents are then told what their child needs to work on before applying to top-end schools, where the toddlers will be judged on skills such as sharing, coloring, holding a pencil, and taking directions from authority figures, according to the Post.

In the crazy competitive world of New York preschools, that edge can really make a difference. Getting into public pre-K programs in New York City can be harder than getting into Harvard, and for private schools like Trinity and Horace Mann, admissions are even more competitive.

But still, experts told the Post that too much coaching can do more harm than good and cause kids to sound like robots instead of 4-year-olds, raising a red flag with schools.

Read the full New York Post story here.