Bug’s Graduation
Bug graduated from kindergarten last week and I never got around to posting some photos. What a terrible blogging mom I am. Sheesh!
It was a pretty big deal. I didn’t think much of it going into it because I don’t remember ever graduating from kindergarten myself but I guess they make a big to-do about it nowadays. This is really cool but I secretly think it’s a way to remind us yet again (I may be a bit bitter) that perfect attendance is rewarded heavily.
I’m sorry I hate to rant up a perfectly good post about something fun but the school drives me crazy with the perfect attendance thing. I know why they do it. They need the tax dollars…it’s just that I think kids should be allowed mental health days if they are otherwise doing well in school. I have such fond memories of my parents taking me out of school a day early so that we could go on long road trips. I think you learn twice as much outside the classroom as you do in the classroom and if I want to take my kid out of school for a day or two, I think that should be allowed and I shouldn’t get pestered with pre-recorded phone calls about Saturday School every ding-dong day.
Sorry, I just had to get that out. Because of course they handed out big ol’ shiny gold trophies for perfect attendance and Bug did not understand why the kid who struggles to write his name got one and she didn’t.
ANYWAY!!! It was a really sweet procession and if we weren’t all sweltering in the hot Southern California sun, I could have sat there watching cute little kids filing up on stage for their pretend paper diplomas all day. Doesn’t Bug look sweet in her new ombre graduation sundress?
That missing tooth kills me.
We tried to patch up the lack of a trophy with some grocery store flowers. They seemed to do the trick and who knows, maybe next year she’ll want to go to school every day so she can get a trophy. Or maybe she’ll get one by being on an all-star soccer team. I’m kinda hoping for the latter.
I’m sorry I ranted so much. Really, I’m just super proud of my big girl. Man, she’s growing up fast.
20 Comments
Heather
Yay for Bug! She looks so cute in her dress.
And bah to perfect attendance awards. I missed over 40% of first grade, most of it due to cruddy tonsils. Fortunately, my parents were both educators in my district and I made it to second grade on schedule. But I always missed a lot of school for illness and as an adult it has been suggested more than once that I may have an autoimmune disease (I don’t, just an immune system that collapses in the face of even minor germs). Perfect attendance always annoyed me — it’s not like I wanted to be home with a fever of 102!
a chris
Nice to have a ceremony since it’s the end of her time at this school. What a fantastic blue dress. Nice hat too. :)
Congratulations, Bug! Don’t sweat the trophies. The most important things you bring with you from time at school are skills and friends.
Jen
I totally get it. I have been on a rant about the whole 180 days of school. We homeschool and have to swear on our life, practically, that we did 180 days worth of school. Then, public school let’s the kids watch movies the last couple weeks after standard testing or do all kinds of stuff to fill the time. Just to get the $ and to say they went to school for 180 days. It’s ridiculous. That’s my rant:)
In other news, Bug is adorable in her cap and ombre dress. You should be very proud. Don’t worry about the big trophy thing. Your daughter got the true prize, a mom who knows what her child needs and is not afraid to do it. Hope y’all have a great summer in your new place.
Kandi
I don’t remember having a kindergarten either. I do however rememeber having end of year assemblies and they’d hand out awards. I used to get so mad because my brother won a cool prize for perfect attendance every year and I’d just get a certificate saying I was on the honor roll. How boring! He got cool stuff but never made honor roll.
Kandi
And of course I mean kindergarten graduation… we had kindergarten. haha. See, you got me all worked up about perfect attendance too!
Christine
My guy had his “ceremony” yesterday too, but it was a very low-key event in the classroom. They called it the Authors’ Tea, and each child had written a “book” (one or two pages/sentences, with pictures, bound with a plastic ring-binder thingy) and got the opportunity to read it out to the parents, if they wanted. Then there were snacks. No awards, just a certificate for each of them. It was really nice, and he was bursting with pride about his story.
Maybe truancy is a real problem in your area, or parents just not taking school seriously enough to make sure their kids go, so they try to make a big deal out of perfect attendance. We missed a few weeks this year due to traveling, but I think the experiences my kids get seeing other places far outweigh a few days of kindergarten. Poor Bug, though, you can’t really explain that they gave some of those other kids the prizes because as their lives go on they might turn out to be the only prizes they ever got.
Mary
If your school is a Title I school, this might be the cause of the ranting and raving. I teach K in such a school, and I fully sympathize with you. It’s something we are hit in the head with.
BeachMama
Um yeah. Perfect attendance can be looked at from a totally different angle too, like the parents are so happy to stick them in school they never get to do anything but go to school!! I am so with you on taking the kids out if you need to, we do it all the time as you know. My kids could probably get you to Delaware from the landmarks they see driving, and quite possibly into DC! They also have fond memories of visiting certain friends in California!!! Both talk about it like it was yesterday, there is no way they could have gotten that from school, so really, maybe take a look at the big picture and reward for things that each child has accomplished, each child deserves a trophy for something that they learned last year.
Bug does look adorable in that hat!
Angella
I’m dying from the cuteness of her in the graduation cap!
Emily finishes Kindergarten at the end of June. WHERE DID OUR BABIES GO?
Kristin
I totally DON’T get the perfect attendance accolades.
How many of those kids had been sick and should have stayed home in order not to get other students sick?
I too think kids need mental health days once in a while too.
Susan:)
Perfect attendance is not important in the broad scheme of things! When I was a kid, I thought it was a big deal, but my fondest memories now are all the times I missed school to go somewhere interesting with my family. Those times are usually much more educational too!
Cathy
Oh, Bug is her usual adorable self in that cute ombre dress! And rant away about the perfect attendance thing – I’ll join you in the chorus of “uh yeah, you just need your $$, really.” I pulled my daughter out for a trip to Disneyland and some sports competition travel one year in grade school and they sent a truancy letter, sheesh! Made me feel criminal. We all need a break in the school routine/stress every so often. Congrats on graduating to Bug the first grader!
gingermog
Bug is lovely and growing up fast. Glad to hear you’ve found a place to live at last xxx
Auntie Heather
Bug looks adorable and I’m so proud of her for going to school even when it was hard.
I can’t wait to see you guys in a few weeks!
I love the new banner. You’ll be lucky if the costumes only take up one box!
minutepapillon
I agree with all of the above! Hot, you say? How hot? I’m flying from France to California in 4 weeks I want to be mentally prepared for how hot it is at the moment ;)
Jen
Our school doesn’t do Kinder graduation, but they do have a week’s worth of events coming up for our last week. Emily had perfect attendance last year and will be getting it again this year. She wouldn’t even let me take her out of school to go to Disneyland, so I guess it’s a big deal to her. Audrey, on the other hand, came down with an awful illness and Molly is a preschool dropout. No perfect attendance for them!
Congratulations! I can’t believe Kindergarten is over. I’ll be on repeat next year with Moe.
Heather in WA State
I hate the perfect attendance push because it encourages parents to send their kids to school SICK, and share that sickness with everyone else! And what about the kid who has cancer and misses school for treatments, and the kid who missed school because their plane was delayed coming home from Grandma’s after Easter, or what about the kid who is in foster care and is in and out of school depending on their foster placements? It is so unfair to the children, who ultimately have no control at this age over getting to school or not. No awards for anything are needed, especially for things that are unfair, like attendance.
An
Bug is adorable in her dress w/ cap and matching manicure – especially w/ the gap-toothed smile!
Congrats!
Amy
The Bug is adorable in her graduation dress :)
I completely believe in Mental Health or Family Field Trip days for kids. AND adults. Which is why my kids (now teens) have NEVER had perfect attendance. One ‘honor’ they can certainly live without!
Kuky
Awww so cute!!
They had perfect attendance medals at Isabelle’s bowling league. Isabelle wanted a medal. But we couldn’t even attend regularly and that was just once a week. :-D I didn’t know they did that at school too.