Nursery graduation

[LadyRussell]

My FB feed is full of children “Graduating” from Nursey, last day at primary/middle prom.

Parents sobbing - loads of people off work for “graduation” from schools.

WTAF?

I went along with prom for my DD in yr 11 as that is what she wanted but all that other shit WTAF? I couldn’t attend sports days because I was a working single mum never mind “graduation”.

I never cried when my kids changed school - does this make me a shit parent?!

Why do we have to embrace all this American shit? Baby showers? Graduations? Gender reveal?

ARGH!!

I don’t want to be part of a society that blithely copies anything American. It’s trashy and I don’t like it

I guess you’ve got 3 options...

1. carry on moaning about it on social media
2. campaign tirelessly to have all American customs removed from our society
3. move

The only graduation I ever had was university. And the only 'prom' I went to, was my graduation ball. Didn't have them at my school and it wasn't THAT long ago I left (2002 ). It is a very 'new' thing.

I had an end of school prom in 2000

SoyDora

Don't be silly. If OP doesn't like it she can voice her opinion and if other people also voice that same opinion it's likely to have an impact. I hate the stupid idea that if you don't like something you can either lump it to move.

I am also a 'professional woman' and took a days leave for DS nursery graduation. It was really sweet, all the children had pictures together and the nursery held a family fun day. The nursery gave each child a 'scroll' which had a few lines about what was special about each individual child and they all sung a song. The children had all worked hard on the leaving ceremony and were very excited to have their families at the nursery.

It was a lovely day, not 'necessary' but as others have said totally harmless and sweet, I think you need to cheer up a bit.

Surely that’s what my options 1 and 2 were about? I didn’t say ‘lump it or move’. Move was one of my three suggested options.

@LadyRussell, I don’t like pretend or showy things, but when you said about it increasing kids anxiety by making it a big deal I wanted to reply. I’ve just been reading about how ceremony and ritualised changes are actually a good way to deal with emotion around change, and lower cortisol levels.
The research group were older children and adults though, not 4 year olds.

Even split I'd say then

Leaving nursery is a milestone but it’s not a bloody graduation! It’s not adorable in the least, its embarrassing

It’s not adorable in the least, its embarrassing

Who does it embarrass? The children at DD’s weren’t embarrassed, they were proud and happy. The parents weren’t embarrassed by their children, they also seemed proud and happy.

That's not true at all. You've passed the milestone of being at the age to start school

^^
This

I’m actually grateful for threads like these... it makes me realise how many joyless people there are around, and how grateful I’m not one of them

*how grateful I am that I’m not one of them

I was one of those parents today. My wonderful DS 'graduated' from nursery, he had a tiny little cap and gown and everything. He's severely autistic and the fact he even took part for a few seconds was a huge deal and I was incredibly proud.

I also know he's off to his SEN school in-spite of this nursery, not because of it, so I was bloody glad it was his last day. We've spent 6 months out the last 12 battling for 1:1 care from this crappy manager, during this time DS hasn't even been able to go to nursery, so one hours celebrations where we could pretend to be 'normal' parents was absolutely amazing.

Another thing, the women in his room have been his only other source of care for the last 2 years, no family member will look after him because of his SEN, why shouldn't this day be marked however the parents and nursery see fit? There were an equal balance of mums, dads, grannies, grandads and carers there, it wasn't targeted towards working mothers to make them feel guilty if they couldn't be there.🙄 (it's also been planned for 4 months, so if a parent wanted time off I'm sure it could have been organised in advance as it was only 2 hours)

Your post and subsequent posts are extremely scornful.

In the words of Mr Incredible....we keep finding new ways to celebrate mediocrity. I live by this guy's words!

@whydidIbother but I don't understand why that bothers you? I could think your hypothetical child that's graduating from Oxford is mediocre compared to my child just managing to walk for more than 10 metres.
Achievement is subjective to the achievee and their family so I don't understand why others feel the need to scorn and be downright rude about a little celebration of FOUR year olds.

In my defence nursery graduation was only one of my gripes.

Not all my gripes involve 4 year olds.

^ exactly this. Why begrudge some 4 year olds a fun celebration with their friends and a chance for them to feel grown up and celebrated? Should the staff at my children’s pre school send out a note next year saying ‘we’ve decided not to go ahead with the graduation this year, even though we know it’s something you and they enjoy, as the children are actually just mediocre’?

End of nursey party/celebration - great.

Upgrading it to a “graduation” is just yuck.

Upgrading it to a “graduation” is just yuck

In your opinion . Thankfully all the parents and children at the one we went to seemed to enjoy it. If they thought it was ‘yuck’, they were welcome to decline to take part.

It’s like everyone upstaging each other with gifts for the teacher.

Teachers get paid for doing their job. Their reward is seeing their pupils progress and achieve.

It’s not yuck, don’t be daft. Miserable sod

IMO it is. It’s tacky and American.

Not necessary at all but it's a nice thing to do, so why not? I work at a nursery, both my own children attended and had a leavers ceremony, it's lovely!

Also- looks good from an ofsted point of view, parent partnerships!

And people who agree with you are able to decline to take part, leaving the event for those who enjoy it. Win win really.