AIBU to think first day of primary school celebrations are excessive?

[EineyMiney]

Hi, we live in Scotland so today was DSs first day of school, starting primary 1. I’m just home from dropping him off and I can’t help but think what a circus!
We didn’t do anything special, just a normal school morning, no balloons, DH didn’t take the morning off, no grandparents came over. I was really trying to make sure DS wasn’t overwhelmed.
However, when I dropped DS off, there were multiple families with both parents, younger siblings, grandparents at the gate getting pictures. The school did say only 2 parents in the classroom but even this felt like too many and I’m not sure why it couldn’t be one parent per child.
In addition to that I noticed almost all the children had the bloody expensive optional blazers! Why? They are only 4 or 5!
Then I got home opened instagram and now I’m seeing plenty of children with balloons saying first day of school!

AIBU to think this is totally excessive and not necessary and probably not even good for the children who are just going to be overwhelmed.

Yeah it’s a bit cringe (along with graduation ceremonies for the end of nursery in my opinion!)
I personally think it’s best to keep it as relaxed and low key as possible, and then at the end of their first day i cook them their favourite dinner and make a bit of a fuss of them (so proud of you etc!)

Couldn’t agree more, I live near a primary school and it was ridiculous this morning!

OP have you also seen the uniforms for young girls that seem to be all over my SM, bows lots of bows and frilly shorts??? This looks like is might be niche to the Glasgow area 🤷🏼‍♀️

Fortunately this wasnt a thing when mine started, school suggested keeping it low key. They did arrange a coffee morning post drop off so parents could meet each other which was nice, although I was a bit taken aback by how many parents were sobbing. I get that its a milestone but it felt like some expected they would never see their kids again! 😵‍💫 Different strokes for different folks i guess, low key is definitely more our style as a family

I have seen these uniforms, luckily not a thing at our school! I did notice almost all the children in little blazers though which I thought was excessive!

I can’t imagine these frilly monstrosities in any actual school!

Mine was dropped off at breakfast club on their first day of primary school, so very low key

Breakfast clubs don’t operate for the first few weeks here!
Don’t you have a staggered start at the beginning of school?

It really isn't that big a milestone. When my DS started reception about half of the kids just moved up from the school nursery and the other half ( 16 kids in total. 14 boys, God help the teacher) were being dropped off then juggled around between childminders, back to day nursery , various relatives etc due to staggered starts

Oh good grief. Couldn't be doing with wasting my time having coffee with sobbing parents. They wouldn't be the type of people I'd ever make friends with anyway so no point

Probably be limos and dove-releases before too long. Marching bands and a fly-past from the red arrows. 😀

Gosh. For us it was a quick pic at our front door and then off they went. What a circus (as well as all these ‘graduation’ celebrations from reception, Y6 etc).

I can only see this as anxiety inducing. I think going into school should be as normal as possible with a treat after school for completing first day.

I mean I remember my first day of primary school. My mum and dad were working so my older brother and his GF (now wife) dropped me off and picked me up. Got maccies on the way home and they said don’t tell mum and dad… when my mum and dad got home THEY had gotten me a maccies! For a long time that was one of the best days of my life.

With my kids, we made a bit more of a fuss. We are lucky both DH and I can just take time off (I’m self employed he runs a business w his dad) so we both went in with them. Made their respective favourite dinners when they came home, but nothing insane (deffo not as a good as the double maccies day). I agree what you’re describing sounds weird as fuck and would deffo overstimulate my kids (and probably me).

In the Netherlands they start when they turn four (you can wait until five) and not at the beginning of the school year. It means a stream over the year rather than a whole class in one go, I liked that a lot as my then four yearold found the idea of school daunting and a whole group alongside a fuss would have made it worse. No balloons or suchlike, certainly no family groups. Even if there is a small group starting after the summer holidays there is no obvious fuss.

Took my sons and left them there. Husband was at work as usual.
I did send my granddaughter a posy on her first day (They live a long way from us) She's now off to university in a few weeks.

I agree with the balloons being ridiculous - 2 colleagues had them all over SM for their children- but what's wrong with both parents being there, or GP's, or blazers?

Glasgow area here & my sister travelled an hour both today & yesterday to see both grandchildren start P1 (it's her days off anyway). Yesterday, DN's dad is working abroad, so was lovely he had GP's there & his uncle actually (student, so was around). What's the big deal? There was no drama or big deal, they walked up together & gathered in the playground for a few photos. Same today with other DN. First day is special. It seems to be celebrated more in Scotland & Ireland tham elsewhere, always has been.

Both looked lovely in school uniform- shorts, shirt & tie, branded tank tops & blazers. I find them really smart & lovely. My own 3 DC had them in their time - pass downable & lovely. They also had them in secondary- very normal here.

You sound a little judgemental about ordinary things like uniform & GPs.

Double McDonald's what a day 😀

I actually think starting school is a huge thing in a little child's life, a balance can be struck and you should be able to make it a bit special without going over the top.

Mine have both left school now but when they started we both did take the day off (they did half days for 3 weeks anyway so we took them for lunch afterwards). I didn’t buy my eldest a blazer but someone gave me one for my youngest. My sister bought mine both a first day at school photograph frame. No balloons, grandparents (they still worked at the time) or any such rigmarole. School were strict on 2 parents/guardians only. We went into the classroom with them for a few mins. I think it’s nice to make it a bit of an occasion but all the absolute crap I see is depressing tbh, the big balloon displays and the absolute worst I’ve seen this year, really cheap and nasty pyjamas with “when I wake up tomorrow I’ll be in primary 1”. Do these people not realise there’s a climate crisis and we need to be creating less shit for landfill not more? Their 5 year old will appreciate a habitable planet more than some crappy balloons and Temu quality pyjamas

It's well known that it's seen as a celebration north of the border. Others do things differently- shock, horror.

I don't agree with the balloons, but leave people to have a nice morning with the kids if they like 🤷

We don’t do staggered starts in Scotland, there are usually a couple of morning/afternoon visits from nursery but they start full time from day 1. Our kids are usually 5 when they start school so the longer day is less of an issue than it might be for 4 year olds.

The short skirts are also ridiculous.

I'm not stopping anyone doing so am I?

Hopefully none of this when my son starts school. An autistic child is hard enough getting through the door without all this.

It is a celebration here too. Do you think we are all miserable? Many just prefer low key as it is better for the children.

A school blazer is a pretty normal part of a school uniform, I don’t think it’s ridiculous. The P1 blazers usually get passed down through family kids or given into the school for the next year starters.