This note is actually in response to another blog I read by "scary mommy" about how ridiculous all the kid graduation celebrations are. I wanted to share my opinion on this subject.
Preschool graduations have been going on for a long time and I think they're great. When I hoped and dreamed of having kids of my own, it was the school years I had visions of. I never longed for days of waking up at night with a baby or chasing down a running toddler at the shopping mall. I feel like the baby and toddler years are just a part you have to get through to get to the good stuff. I've said this before.
SO going to Kindergarten is extremely exciting! It's like I FINALLY have a KID instead of a toddler and I'm more than happy to have a graduation to celebrate this! Not to mention I no longer have to pay for daycare which alone is enough to celebrate!
I myself really looked forward to the pre-K graduation. It marked a huge changing moment for all of us. We now have a school aged child. That's new for us and for her. It will be a new adventure for all of us. Expectations of grades, homework, going to school every day of the week instead of the two days mom works. A new school with new friends and much older and bigger kids than herself. Not to mention, she's been at her daycare/ Preschool since she was a baby. It's all she knows for her entire life. Leaving that place is a major step for her.
Pre K to Kindergarten is a big life change and is very worthy of a graduation. I cried like crazy at ours not because of sadness or nostalgia but because I was happy. I have looked forward to Kindergarten since she was born and I personally loved having a ceremony to mark this moment. I cried more at this than I did at her birth.
I think a ceremony at the start and at the end of the mandatory school age years is appropriate. Both are big life steps.
So, I guess I'm writing this to defend Prek graduations. We got her gifts and everything. I figure that if she sees how awesome graduation is, she'll hopefully want to do it again in high school and then college ;-)
What I do agree with "Scary mommy" on is that everything in between PreK and high school is overkill and silly. Graduations should mark something Big or New. Major accomplishments or new stages in life.
I saw many people posting about Kindergarten graduations and I really think this is dumb. A graduation two years in a row? And why are we celebrating moving simply from one grade to the next in the same school? Will there be one every single year. That makes me roll my eyes for sure. I hope our school doesn't hold a graduation next year because that will seem very anticlimactic from our PreK graduation.
Here is the link to the original post:
http://www.scarymommy.com/when-did-graduation-start-happening-every-year/
