The 22nd was Evangeline's graduation

[conuly]

We'd planned to reuse Ana's cap and gown for it (because $25 was bad enough the first time!) but they school bought us a new one anyway. Immediately after graduation we headed to the office and returned it so next year somebody else can have it. "Oh, but when she's older she'll look for it!" I hope not. Can't she be sentimental in her own head? We're all of us cluttered enough without storing outfits from kindergarten graduation.

The graduation went from 10:30 to noon, but it would've been half an hour shorter if we hadn't had to listen to a long speech first about how awesome the school is. *eyeroll* The principal is addicted to this sort of speech. The graduation would've STARTED a quarter hour sooner if she'd cut the obligatory speech from the pre-k graduation as well. Jenn and I sat through the whole thing and snarked. "Do you know why people choose this school?" "Because they want to be told how awesome it is at every single school event?" (The real answer, in this neighborhood anyway, is actually "because it's not PS 16". But that's not the answer the principal gave.)

Afterwards we went home, made lunch (pasta puttanesca, which has rapidly become one of my faaaaaavorite pasta dishes... pity the nieces don't like it that much, but they'll eat it), and went to the beach, where we were just about the only ones there due to the cold, foggy weather. Seriously, we could barely see the bridge. Given that the beach is basically *at* the bridge, this is very foggy.

Comments

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Major culture shock over here. You have "graduation" from KINDERGARTEN? In full gown??? The idea of "graduation" from senior school was enough of a shock...

[conuly]

Yes. It's very cute.

[pne.livejournal.com]

This. Frankly, the concept of graduation from kindergarten seems ridiculous to me in the first place; hearing that there's a cap and gown attached just makes it more so.

[conuly]

If you had the chance to dress Amy up in an adorable little outfit and watch her do an adorable little song and dance and then see an adorable slideshow of her year at school with all her classmates culminating in an adorable presentation of a carnation to you and some cake and juice, you're telling me you wouldn't jump at the chance?

[pne.livejournal.com]

We did have a little "going away celebration" - no dressing up, but I could have imagined something a bit formal for the children. No slideshow there, but it could have fitted in.

But full-on "graduation" and "cap and gown" seems incongruous to me.

So I guess a bit of ceremony is all right but pretending it's like a university (or even high school) graduation specifically makes it feel weird to me.

For that matter, if you had an event at the end of the preschool year where someone brought a tape recorder and you watched the kids dance around the main hall, that would be fun: but calling it "prom" would feel similarly weird to me.

[conuly]

We really just do it because we think it's cute to dress them up like grown-ups. It's the last year they let you put them in ridiculous costumes, after all.