If you listen to me on the radio much you may know my stance on elementary and middle school graduations and moving up ceremonies is pretty simple, they are dumb! I have always said that the praise should wait until at least the  high school graduation. The fact that you are simply moving to another grade or building isn't cause for celebrations and diplomas.

In my opinion it's just one more way we are making our kids believe that the world is some sort of magical place that applauds you and rewards you for every little accomplishment and truth is when they do eventually enter the "real" world and get a job they will be shocked at how much praise they do NOT get for just doing what is expected. No one is going to give you a trophy for getting getting the quarterly report in on time. Your boss isn't going to give you a trophy for "participation".

This is NOT however why I say i hate pre-school graduations. No, because my wife insisted I go to Caden's "graduation"  this Saturday afternoon, I know have a new reason to hate them.

Sean McMaster
Sean McMaster
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Let me start by saying that my son's daycare/pre-school, Brite Beginnings have been wonderful with him since he was a baby, in many ways it has been his second home and he has made many good friends through the years he spent there. SO I was not surprised that they wanted to do something "special" for the 5 kids who would be entering kindergarten next year, that's right .....five. So there we were about 15 to 20 adults sitting in the hot sun staring at 5 empty chairs waiting for our children to come out for a quick ceremony that they did not even understand. I just knew there was something else I could be doing at the moment, perhaps mowing the lawn?

That is when it happened.

Sean McMaster
Sean McMaster
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The five of them rounded the corner in their caps and gowns and were led to the front of the spattering of parents by their teacher who was performing her last act with the kids before she moved on to another school. The tears started to well up in my eyes.I think it was when they all stood up and demonstrated their full knowledge of the alphabet that the actual eye watering began, ugh.I was crying.

Seeing him there in the cap and gown, marking a milestone in his life that I am sure he will forget completely if he hasn't already made me realize how much this wasn't for him but for all of us , the smattering of parents and the few teachers who loved these 5 kids. We were the one's marking a milestone , we were the ones desperately trying to stop them from aging as we sat there and thought about all the moments to come in  their lives, the happiness , the sadness, the accomplishments and the failures. We were the ones realizing that yes, a new chapter is about to begin for them and we had better be ready.

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Maybe the sweet rag tag ceremony would help us cross that bridge. Maybe we could get excited about their future's full potential as much as we wanted to hang on to their sweet, unaffected innocence. Maybe.

SO there you have it , the reason I hate pre-school graduations is simple, I don't need to be crying on a Saturday afternoon! And I certainly don't need to be reminded that my youngest son is growing up far more quickly than I would like!

In closing, thank you Brite Beginnings for taking the time out of your Saturday for my family and thank you to my wife for getting me to go to this dumb graduation.

 

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