Princess Tea Party/Kindergarten Graduation

Weeks of anticipation and planning blossomed into a two-hour colorful flurry of friends in gowns circling around my girl.  Come Monday morning all the princess charm is gone.  I sit with Bose headphones protecting my ears from the intense squealing over strawberries, wondering if princess parties are wrong.  Next week she "graduates" from preschool and he "graduates" from kindergarten.  Who came up with these most asinine ideas, right up there with applauding baby's burp?  What happens when all these self-appointed queens and kings come into power?  Will this uber-entitled bunch have any capacity for compassion, or will they all want one another's head on a platter?

By the way, I hired Lil' Stars to entertain the girls.  They were professional, talented and punctual.  I highly recommend them.

Back to graduation.  I have yet to be convinced that there is something positive about making ceremonial events out of routine growing-up steps.  "Graduation" refers to completion and termination, and inherently encompasses a certain sense of loss.  We typically say good-bye to certain people and ways of being.  We also refer to graduation as "commencement," implying the start of a new era, which bears a sense of anticipation.  

I know from speaking to the teacher (and some parents) that our kids are experiencing varying amounts of anxiety about all this.  Some are even losing sleep!  I wonder if this pressure is necessary, especially when they are merely moving from one classroom to another as they will again five more times at this school.  They will see the same classmates, staff, playground and buildings year after year.  There is continuity in what they learn, and they are certainly far from completing this type of education.  

Sometimes I think it's a sort of forum for parents; an opportunity to appreciate the passage of time and a chance to grieve our kids separating further from us.  Maybe we need to do this as a group, so we all get a chance to wet a tissue and release sad feelings.  Our babies are growing up.  Of course I'm not going to cry, unless I catch Dee Dee sniffling.