Here we are, at the end of another school year, where countless graduates will be leaving the world of academia and stepping into the world of adulthood. Graduation is a huge milestone, marking the next chapter in life. However, in recent years, a growing trend has emerged: celebrating the graduation of 5- and 6-year-olds from kindergarten with as much exuberance as high school or college graduates. A quick visit to your local Hallmark aisle will reveal Kindergarten graduation cards and money holders adorned with Mickey Mouse, sitting right alongside those for high school and college seniors.
Yes, if you didn’t already know, today’s kids are donning mini caps and gowns, paired with fancy dresses and suits in school colors, as they walk down the aisle to receive their “diplomas” at preschool graduation ceremonies across the country. Sure, kindergarten is the final step in preschool and marks a time in your child’s life when they’ll move on to more advanced learning, leaving behind Crayola creations and after-lunch naps. But is a full-fledged graduation ceremony really necessary?
The Over-the-Top Kindergarten Graduation Trend
Many parents feel that a simple classroom party, with treats and sweet drinks to commemorate the last day of school, would be sufficient. After all, today’s kids are already indulged, and while kindergarten may be the “final step” in one part of their learning journey, it’s not such a monumental achievement. With the rise of extravagant graduation ceremonies, parents are now lavishing expensive gifts and praise on very young children for simply coloring within the lines and following the “trophy for all” trend of parenting. Today, a 5- or 6-year-old can barely manage to complete an expected task without feeling they deserve a prize or reward for doing so.
Sure, completing preschool is a bittersweet moment. It’s a threshold that you and your child walk through together, and you’ll undoubtedly feel the weight of your little one growing up. The problem is that when we overemphasize events like kindergarten graduations, we set the bar for other life successes at an unreasonably high level. Kids begin to recognize the difference between a true accomplishment and simply moving to the next stage in life. If you’re spending hundreds of dollars to celebrate a kindergarten, fifth-grade, or eighth-grade graduation, how will you celebrate a high school or college graduation?
There isn’t a parent out there who doesn’t beam with pride when their child accomplishes something. This pride helps build children’s self-confidence and motivates them to do well in all areas of life. Yet, there should be many moments in our children’s lives that deserve a simple “Great job,” rather than an extravagant celebration. Children shouldn’t be lavished with gifts for behaving at the dentist’s office or given participation trophies for being on a team—even if they didn’t contribute much to it. Parents shouldn’t break the bank by spending hundreds of dollars on a birthday party for a one-year-old. And a $700 outing to American Girl or Build-A-Bear for a 5- or 6-year-old, who will barely remember the event, is a bit excessive.
In the past, high school and college graduations were the major milestones, long-awaited rewards for academic success. Today, even graduations at these higher levels often come with extravagant gifts like cars, apartments, and tens of thousands of dollars. While these milestones are undoubtedly a big deal, a typical kindergarten graduation simply doesn’t compare.
Certainly, celebrating our children’s successes is fun. It’s incredibly cute to watch a kindergarten class perform a class play and show off their year’s worth of artwork. But a full-blown kindergarten graduation, complete with photos, caps and gowns, extravagant gifts, huge parties, and family gatherings, seems somewhat excessive. Just recently, a kindergarten graduation in Cleveland, Ohio, led to the arrests of eight parents after an incident where one parent accidentally spilled punch on another. Perhaps this event was just the result of the pressure on parents to make the ceremony “special” for their kindergartener. (Now, that’s a graduation the kids will remember!)
Regardless, it seems kindergarten graduations are here to stay. Each year, we can expect bigger and better celebrations at the end of the kindergarten school year. As parents, however, it’s worth considering whether too much, too soon, might have detrimental effects on our kids.
