Piggyback Preschool and Kindergarten "Graduations"

Personally I think it is nuts. It is preschool. Graduation is high school and college. Those are life changing events. Why is it everything a child does today has to be treated like they became president. What happens the first time they are not recognised for something. I just think things have gotten out of hand. An end of school party is appropriate.

I am with you ... I am very involved with my son's school and they are doing a kindergarden graduation event and I have asked that they downplay the whole thing and call it a "promotion" vs graduation. Alas, they are going as planned, so now I am left to downplay it at home. My son attended his cousins high school graduation last weekend and is now expeting the same treatment (nice family lunch out and a party) - we have explained how this works, but he is so dissapointed it's nearly unbearable.

I do not understand it at all.

I had a kindergarten graduation, and I remember most of it. (now I am 37). My son has a Moving up ceremony from Pre-school into kindergarten. I think it helps the kids understand that it is normal to have changes and not to be afraid. Do We do gifts for this, no.. maybe a family dinner together with the Grandparents.

Do I feel it diminshes a real one, no. I think it shows them what to work towards.

Totally ridiculous. But I'm weird. i didn't walk when I got any of my degrees, including my Ph.D.

You are a party pooper.

Haha. I was just thinking the same thing! All the pictures on fb of the 4y olds in graduation gowns??!! So silly.

They don't bother me one way or another. My kids had one for nursery school and one for kindergarten. They weren't terribly long, serious affairs, just kids wearing homemade paper graduation caps and getting a little certificate. It is just a celebration marking the start of a new era for the child. They will get lots of certificates for stuff, graduate from other programs and go to many awards ceremonies before they actually graduate high school, and I don't think any of it will diminish the hard work they put into graduating high school or university.

I agree with BB :P

Seriously, I'm nearly 50. I had a Kindergarten graduation.
I can assure you that it in no way "spoiled" or "diminished" either my high school or university graduation.

I am in no way scarred or jaded about graduations.
Noe do I see the dangers of 4 year olds entering the room wearing Dads white shirt backwards and a .99 felt cap. I don't think it ruins their futures or imparts a sense of entitlement.

I agree with you.
We just had "fifth grade graduation" it was ridiculous. it had everything a real graduation has.
To me if you want to celebrate passing the 5th grade go out to dinner, get ice cream, etc. you don't need a ceremony to recognize passing a grade. You passed , that means you don't have to redo it next year , that's your reward.
It's the same as with this thing everyone has about giving everyone who participates a trophy. kind of defeats the purpose of giving one to the winner.

I'm just like Julie G. I think it's crazy, but I didn't walk for my college graduation either.

I think preK graduation is silly. My girls just finished Pre-K and we had a parent night with cookies and punch and all the kids sang silly songs they learned through the year. It was fun! Watch your little ones do The Tooti Ta and try not to laugh!
I think Kindergarten became a bigger deal when it became a standard grade. Many times it was a private kindergarten or preschool and they did it to represent the change from K to 'big kid school'.
I don't remember if I had a K graduation. I remember learning to bounce a basket ball, making butter by shaking raw milk in a Mason jar and that one of the kids threw up because the teacher made him taste cheese even after he said it would make him throw up. (It was before lactose intolerance was well known). I remember that I got in trouble when two of us went outside the fence to retrieve a ball that was thrown to far and thinking, "Wow. In trouble? I didn't think that 'fixing' the problem would get that result"
I do remember a graduation from Elem. to High School. I didn't care much for it but felt required to do it. (our elem was K-7, high school was 8-12). I was required to walk at high school graduation, and had zero interest in it as most of my friends had already graduated. I did not walk at my college graduation. Waste of time, energy, money and I hate crowds and noise.
I am a teacher (19 years) and now that I am a mom too, I thought that I would feel different. I don't. My girls will do it because it will probably be required, but if not, I wont make them.
Now what I find beyond all sense is 8th grade Proms!!! Talk about a waste of money and such and I really think it lessens the "specialness" of High school Prom. A spring dance maybe, but where I used to live they had 8th grade girls staying out of school to get their hair and nails done, had limos and ate out. Completely ridiculous!

I don't get the point, but I'm in no way against it. I feel the same way about first birthday parties.

A nice party at the end of the school year to celebrate moving on is fun, but I think a formal graduation ceremony (especially complete with caps and gowns) for preschoolers and kindergarteners is over the top. At that rate, by the time a child graduates from high school, s/he will already have had four 'graduations,' which I agree diminishes the specialness of a truly important milestone in a young adult's life.

I don't see the point in doing caps and gowns and calling it a graduation. It makes too big of a deal out of it and I don't think the kids really get it. I also don't see the big deal in going from kinder to first grade - you're still at the same school!

My kids' preschool has each child hand make their own certificate, with their photo and handprints, and they have a little celebration on the last day of school. All the parents come, the kids sing a few songs, and they all line up to receive their certificates. It's not called a graduation and they do it for every class at the school, including the ones who will continue there the following year. It's just a way to make the end of the year, but not to put any emphasis on graduating or moving forward.

R., I think that some kind of school assembly when a class hits a real milestone is OK -- such as kids who are leaving elementary school and moving on to middle school, because that's a very big deal academically and socially and marks the end of a class that has been together for seven years but will be moving to different places (at least it does here).
But neither in that case nor in the case of preschool or K would I think the whole big "cap and gown" thing is needed. Our elementary school does a big ceremony for sixth graders as they leave for middle school, and they do get individual recognition of having completed elementary school, there are awards, etc., and we did that when I was coming along, but especially for preschool and K -- yeah, it gets way, way overdone these days. I say leave it for the transition from elementary to middle and then for the end of high school (middle schools here, called junior high elsewhere, are so short, only two years, that having a big-deal ceremony seems like overkill, which I why I say to mark the elementary to middle transition and the HS transition but not MS to HS).

I don't see it for preschool, but kindergarten was always a milestone as far as I am concerned. It's when they start "real" school and are no longer the little kids. Their days are no longer filled with all play, all about me, all day long. Granted, most kids get some direction to focus outside of themselves, but the kids still spend the majority of their time focusing on fun things or entertaining things. Even the learning in kindergarten is mostly teaching skills in as fun a way as possible. After that, when they start 1st grade, the focus is much less on the fun aspect, and much more on the necessity of learning the skill itself. It changes more into "work" than "play".

Sort of like when they finish high school, they move on into more mature life. Either college, or a job...

Husband and I had an interesting discussion on a related topic just a few days ago. His position was that he doesn't quite "get" the full out celebrations of adults going back to school and getting a master's degree. Not that it isn't worthy of celebrating or a worthy thing to do. Not at all. But that it just seems substantially less "momentous" than graduating high school or college.
In our discussions, we pretty much came to consensus that it is because it isn't a milestone moment in life. Graduating high school or college, (or getting a master's immediately after college without taking a break in school) is a major life change. Folks move from being a "student" to being an actual productive member of society (hopefully). Their life changes dramatically... regardless of what they do for a living or what their education is geared towards. They go from being a sponge/learner, to being a DO-er/earner.

These changes tend to no apply to non-traditional students. You are married, with a kid or two, you've worked (or been a SAHparent) and then you go back to school. You have already made the change from "student" status to things much more important. As a typical high school or college student, graduating IS your most important accomplishment in your life. Really, it is. But if you've already been married and have kids and are a parent, finishing school (simultaneously) may be harder than doing it when you could solely focus on yourself and your studies, but it fails to qualify as the most important accomplishment in your life anymore. Right? I know it would for me. My biggest accomplishments will always be my successful marriage and my kids, not a degree, no matter how difficult to achieve it might be.
So while technically the accomplishment is the same (or maybe even bigger/harder?), I don't celebrate it the same or get quite as excited as for someone making a total life change from "student" to "working adult"....

So, I guess I see preschool/kindergarten graduations in the same light. Preschool? Mehh... they aren't really finished doing anything. They still have kindergarten... and while kindergarten is a lot more academically focused than it used to be, it is still kindergarten--which is a lot of fun and play. Graduating kindergarten, is a big change in the life of a child who is about to start grade school.
It qualifies as a milestone in my book. Preschool, not so much.

I realize I may get bashed for my answer but I will be frank! They are ridiculous imo. A party is sufficient or field day at school. Why throw a party for something nearly every child in America does? You are expected to get dressed in the morning, show up at work on time and brush your teeth-I don't get parties for those things we are expected to do anyways.

I also don't get elementary school or junior/middle school graduations either. You aren't graduating. You're just going on to another school. Our district calls them "promotions", but the parents go all out like it's a graduation, ordering flowers and limos and buying lavish gifts. Absurd.

I think it's cute. I see nothing wrong with a little pomp and circumstance when they are leaving one school for another. I will be right up there with camera to capture my DD in her cap and gown next week because it's cute and I don't feel it will detract at all from HS or college. The easy way to explain it to a little kid is that "big people graduations are different".

After preschool, DD will not have any promotion ceremony/award night (which they officially call it) til the end of 5th, then 8th, then 12th (only 12th grade gets cap and gown). I always rather enjoyed the transitional ceremonies for myself. SS did not get the 5th grade one (changed schools) and we made him go to the ceremony in 8th because we knew he'd regret it (which he said later was true) if he didn't. He won an award and got some kudos for a job well done.

We don't have parties for each of the younger graduations. Only the older ones. If they even want them. Nana will have a little something for DD next week, but she's Nana and she gets to do that. Mostly it's a good bye from one school and an nudge toward another chapter in her little life.

Most of these kids have never accomplished something like this. For many it is their first experience in school and it was a lot for them. They need to understand that when you accomplish something great it is cause for celebration and acknowledgement. However that celebration and acknowledgement needs to be appropriate. When my daughter graduated preschool they had a little ceremony where they sang some songs and had cookie and lemonade. it was super simple. there was a mom however who went OVERBOARD. She had 20 "guests" there. There were no chairs for the adults set up at all, so it was standing room and her posse hogged the entire front area. They ALL had cameras and no one else could get a pic of their own kid. She made these huge goodie bags for all of the "cool" boys and made a big deal about them. The really sad thing was there were only 13 kids in the class. 8 of them boys and she did the goodie bags for her son plus 5. So only 2 boys were left out. I was like at this age you do it for all the kids or at the least ALL the boys. Leaving 2 out was tasteless. and then to top it off she had a hummer limo to take her son and family who the heck knows where. For age 4????? no way that is insane. My mom came with me and my husband got there just as it was starting and then we went out to lunch. Simple. Oh we did give her a balloon and a flower and I think a card. that is it.

I'm a Kindergarten teacher and 'we' are ready to perform, receive a certificate, and get promoted to 1st grade! The students and parents are excited for this to happen. Kindergarten typically does not get to participate in some of the school activities throughout the year for several reasons (maturity, size of classrooms, 1/2 day v full day, etc.), so this promotion is just a way of honoring their maturity, success, and moving up to 1st grade. The remainder of their elementary school years will just be presenting certificates and honoring good grades and attendance. The end of fifth grade is another time to honor their maturity into middle school. So, they're leaving one school to another. I know that many Kindergarten children cry at the thought of leaving the teacher and classroom that they feel comfortable and safe in all year, so this 'promotion' event helps them to understand that it's time to move on. (And sometimes it helps parents, too, to realize that their children are not babies anymore.). 😊

I believe coming of age ceremonies are important. Our culture does not provide many opportunities where our young people might be recognized and mentored as they walk through important phases of their growth and development. While I find these graduations somewhat trite and empty of meaning, I think they are better than having nothing at all. :-/

It's overdone in terms of pomp, circumstance, gifts and so on. Kids usually HATE wearing caps & gowns, being in a procession, and so on. And they start expecting presents for just getting through the school year. Then they want something every year, and they don't think a major thing like graduating high school is important.

I taught in a couple of K-8 private schools, and I think an 8th grade graduation is appropriate in that case, as the kids have been the leaders of the school and they are all leaving as a group and heading off in different directions.

I think a "moving up day" to help with transitions is great for preschoolers and kindergarteners, and saying goodbye to the teachers is important. Kids need to be given the confidence to transition to the next school. But the rest of it is nonsense. It can actually backfire and make the "leaving" so traumatic for some kids, because they are scared by all the "final days" hoopla and they can't really look ahead 3 months and imagine a new scenario.

And frankly, it's a huge hassle for the teachers who are making certificates and scrapbooks, writing a profile of each kid, and so on. I'm all for a "last day" party and gifts for teachers, but enough already.

I don't think it diminishes anything but the way some take them seriously is laughable. I often joke those that celebrate them with vigor have latent concerns that they will never see their child in a real graduation due to failure so they make the most of the one they got.

My divining line is if it doesn't go on a resume, it isn't a real graduation.