Proud Day

Some schools have kindergarten graduation ceremonies. The students all wear little caps and gowns and receive some rolled up paper that passes for a diploma of sorts. Not my kidlets' school. They have kindergarten Proud Day. Every student receives some sort of award for their talents or behavior. I think it is a much better concept than a graduation ceremony for six-year-olds, but I'm iffy on the name. "Proud Day" makes me wonder if we are supposed to be disappointed in them the other 364 days of the year, which should not be the case. I guess no one in a power position at school views it that way though.

When Horse was in kindergarten, she looked forward to her Proud Day ceremony. Unfortunately, she developed a random fever and was unable to go to school that day. This also meant that I was unable to witness a Proud Day ceremony. At the time, I was actually grateful. I had a one-year-old Pig Jr. and a three-year-old Rooster I was supposed to bring with me, and I had been dreading it. Looking back at it, I wish she had the opportunity to be there, regardless of whether I would be pacing the halls in the school while someone screamed bloody murder instead of sitting nicely for their sister's special day.

Three years later, I had the chance to experience Proud Day for the first time. Rooster was excited. They had been preparing for this special day for months now. Ages ago, we had to send in a plain white shirt for the kidlets to silkscreen with a "PROUD TO BE ME" smiley face. You would think they would tell us then that we would need a white tank top for the kidlets to wear underneath, but no. They waited until this Monday to send home that notice. That gave those of us whose families do not own tank tops a little more than twenty-four hours to come up with the required article of clothing. Thankfully, a friend of mine had a spare in Rooster's size, so that averted a minor clothing-store fiasco.

I had not counted on the fact that Rooster had not ever worn a tank top. She had no idea how to put it on properly. When she came out of her room, "dressed" for school, she had one armhole around her torso and she had somehow gotten the other shoulder wrapped over her head before putting one arm through the remaining armhole. By the time I helped disentangle her, the shirt was stretched beyond recognition. This also meant that the neckline sagged to her navel. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a barrette, pulled the back of her shirt together, and clipped the two shoulder straps together by her neck. At least now she would not be flashing anybody.

Off we went to school. I dropped all three kidlets off at their respective drop-off points and returned later when it was time for the Proud Day ceremony.

The ceremony was nowhere near as long as I thought it would be. The students filed in and sang and signed a song that I am still not sure how it related to being proud, going to school, or having anything to do with anything other than looking cute while ninety kidlets performed it. Then the teachers explained each award and called the names of the students who earned them.

I know I am a bit cynical about these things, but I cannot help but wonder what some of the awards really meant. Two children proceeded to cry through a good portion of the ceremony. Those two students both received the "Good Humor" award. At least one child who won the "Smile" award did not so much as have a twinkle in their eye, let alone a cheerful grin. When they got to the "Good Friend" award, I knew exactly what that meant. These kidlets must be the ones who would rather socialize than learn anything academic, and I was not surprised at all when Rooster was one of the chosen ones. I am fairly certain that the "Eager Scientists," who wanted to explore the hows and the whys, were the same kidlets who would dismantle their chairs when the teachers' backs were turned. I assumed that the "Eager Readers" were the students who had to be repeatedly asked to put down their books while the rest of the class had already moved on to another subject.

In short, I amused myself to no end by making up things while the awards were given out. If there was an award for "Runaway Imagination," I would have received it. Then again, so would my daughter. Rooster definitely takes after me in the imagination department. No wonder Pig gives me that look whenever Rooster goes off on a wild story arc.

After all the awards were handed out, the kidlets sang another song, this one about being proud to be themselves, and then the teachers closed the program. All in all, it was cute. The kidlets all ranged somewhere between petrified and soaking up all the attention like happy little sponges. Almost all of them participated in singing both songs. Most of them remembered to line up in a row with the others who won the same award, so the paparazzi in the form of parents and grandparents could gleefully snap away. Every child had applause just for them, too. Even with spending the vast majority of the time there applauding, it was still short and sweet. It ran less than an hour and then the teachers released the kidlets to their parents so they did not even have to complete the school day.

I know that we have the house on the market and would like to leave this school district should the house actually sell. However, I think it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have Pig Jr. be able to have a Proud Day ceremony just like this in another two years. But even if we move between now and then, I will still be proud of my kidlets.