I love my 6-year-old's elementary school. The teachers are great, the parents are friendly, the parking is plentiful, and I almost always enjoy going there.

My 4-year-old's preschool, on the other hand? Well, the teachers are great, but the rest of it ... not so much. As much as I look forward to the brief kid-free breaks I get on preschool mornings, I've come to dread the dropoffs and pickups. Boy, especially the pickups.

Let me share my list of top preschool pickup pet peeves, and you can tell me—is it just me?

Should kids have to take a maturity test to get into kindergarten? Tennessee legislators seem to think so. They think some young whippersnappers are trying to get into kindergarten too young. So they've introduced a new bill that pushes the cut-off birth date for kindergarten earlier. Kids who aren't yet 5 by August 31 next fall will have to take a maturity test to get into kindergarten. The kindergarten cut-off date was September 30. 

Now a lot of people are saying this is just about money. About 4,200 kids will be affected if this bill passes. But that maturity test? Sounds like a loophole to me. A loophole asking for trouble.

When are people going to realize that kids are freaked out by the whole "costumed character" thing? Doesn't matter if it's some random guy dressed up in a chicken suit handing out menus for a new rotisserie joint or Mickey Mouse himself shaking hands at Disney World, most of the little ones I know have the same immediate reaction when confronted with one of these oversized plushies: To shriek in terror. And I can't say I blame them! That's gotta be some evolutionary survival tactic thing at work.

So in my opinion, the kids in this video are reacting to Mr. McFeely's Giant Purple Panda exactly the way nature intended. (By the way? Generally I think of Mr. Rogers as above reproach, but "Mr. McFeely" is an extremely inappropriate name for a character on a children's TV show. I mean, come on.)

1 Down, 4 to GoAhh, pre-school. That wonderful time in your toddler's life when he leaves the nest, and gives you a break. What's not to like about socializing the little ones while allowing you to work or nap? Your kiddo will be bringing home the most adorable "art" projects, and if you're at an especially fancy pre-school -- a yearbook to remember his time at this perfect, innocent age.

But that's not the only thing these little germ catchers bring home. Unfortunately, you're also going to be in for a lot more of the disgusting once little Johnny goes head-to-head with Timmy. And it will not be nearly as cute as the end-of-year talent show they put on for mom and dad.

Here's what your toddler is likely to catch when she steps into her pre-school:

There's something about teachers being hot that's just too much for some parents to handle. Currently in the hot seat, so to speak, is Michela Roth, 39, who has outraged parents for posing for sexy pictures in a Harley Davidson calendar.

There's no nudity; she's fully clothed in lingerie. You would think, however, that she was rolling around naked on the playground as parents at the Italian preschool where she teaches are pulling their children out in droves. As the Daily Mail points out, mothers are much more upset about this than the fathers. Ha.

Still it's outrageous to think that parents would pull their children out of class with an otherwise reportedly great teacher, just because the teacher looks nice in a negligee. Are people really that uptight?

In NYC, a number of family therapists have confirmed that the plots of at least five chick-lit books I've read over the years were apparently based in reality: parents are losing their shit competing for the top private schools in the city. Apparently parents are so desperate to make sure their preschool or kindergarten-aged kid doesn't have to endure—gasp!—public school, they're receiving psychiatric counseling to help them deal with the crushing mental strain of the admissions process.

According to The Post, parents are not only willing to shell out thousands of dollars for an admissions consultant, they're falling apart under the unfathomable stress of it all. Therapists have heard it all, from the single mom who faked being a lesbian to make her kid's application more unique, to the mom who agonized over whether she was carrying the right purse to the school tour.

One day last week at school Jessie Sansone's 4-year-old daughter drew a picture of a man with a gun. The teacher didn't like it, so she called Family and Social Services. If you think that's an outrageous overreaction, just wait.

According to the Calgary Herald, when Jessie went to pick up his daughter and his other children at the end of the day, he was handcuffed, arrested, and strip searched, as they looked for this gun. They did actually find one after they went and searched the family's home in Ontario ... only it turned out to be a toy. Yes, the only gun in the entire house was a toy gun.

Unbelievable.

I couldn't believe it when my son pulled out his homework assignment in Pre-K. Homework?!? Already? I thought preschool was supposed to be about blocks and sharing! Can't the mindless worksheets wait a couple years more? And what is he NOT learning at school that he needs to learn after school?

For about three weeks the sheets came home. And I was torn between wanting to be supportive of his sweet, energetic teacher and wanting to be openly defiant of this homework nonsense -- which means my son completed the homework assignments only half the time. And then, mysteriously, the homework assignments disappeared. Good riddance! What is homework doing at preschool, anyway? Does anyone really think this is a good idea?