Advice Needed Re Navy Passing Out Parade...

[whingeomatic]

...or whatever it's called?

DH's nephew (well mine too, I suppose) completes his basic Naval training at HMS Raleigh in February.

He has asked that his grandparents and my 6yo DD1 come to his passing out parade (he is very fond of DD1 and I can understand him being proud and wanting as many people as poss there...)

Anyway, not having been to anything like this I would like to know if it would be suitable for her. She has a pretty short attention span and I can imagine her being bored out of her skin and causing mischief if it goes on too long (also making it less enjoyable for the other folks there!)

The only info I have for now is that the GPs would go down the day before and stay overnight, which is not normally a problem. However, I am assuming it would be a weekday which would mean taking her out of school (school tightening up hols in term time so would have to wangle it somehow..)

Any advice would be much appreciated

It may go on a bit! There will be a band, and marching, which may capture her attention for a while, but quite often you need to be there well before much happens, and also sit through the awarding of prizes, and the senior officer inspecting all the recruits....which sometimes takes a while. There will almost certianly be other kids there, and you could take stuff to entertain her with, but she will almost certainly get bored at points. I would have thought it would be on a school day as well.

The passing in parades are fun to watch, she might like the music, but if not, you can walk around with her behind the seating areas.

Lots of children go, there was loads at my passing in parade and i don't think anyone complains about any noise they make.

It will be a Friday IIRC.

Thanks ladies

The thing is myself & DH are not invited so it would be elderly GPs trying to keep a diva-ish (at times) dd entertained!!

Will mull it over - not sure if the school will ok 2 days off so close to her SATs...

Passing Out Parade (it has changed back) will be Friday morning. The whole thing will take all morning between getting there and waiting for things to happen etc. It usually finishes just before lunchtime as the Captain/Cdre has a guest lunch on completion of the parade.
It is a long time for a young one to stay still for but no-one expects children to be perfectly behaved or to sit still. It is a family event! If it's not raining it wil be outdoors so be prepared for the cold. If it's raining they will hold it in the drill shed which will start off freezing but end up like the tropics! Either way, if your dd gets bored, just get up and go for a little walk with her.

My son pases out in Feb aswell and i will be taking my other children with us as they all miss him and want to see him. I expect other children to be there and i can't see anyone being bothered about a child creating a bit.