This morning I attended my daughter’s Pre-K graduation ceremony. I’ll be honest. I’ve always thought it silly to have all these “graduations” starting with Pre-K then on to Kindergarten, 5th grade, 8th grade.. I mean really?? High school and college graduation I can understand. I’m just not a fan of all the pomp & circumstance surrounding the minor milestones. I feel similarly when kids are given trophies just for participation in an activity. I really think it feeds the cultural attitude of entitlement among today’s youth.
I digress. I’ll admit it was fun to see my little blondie enthusiastically singing the songs, doing the motions (she makes an awesome statue, btw) and looking fabulous in her graduation gown which happened to be her favorite color RED! When each kid walked forward to receive their certificate from the principal, the teacher shared with the audience something that student learned during the year and what that child wants to be when they grow up. My daughter apparently wants to be a baker. She wants to make treats for others. She makes the best imaginary treats for me everyday, mostly the play-doh variety.
That got me to thinking. I wonder how many of these kiddos will actually follow these childhood dreams. My firstborn was obsessed with video games at a very young age, and by the time he was 5 year old he was telling people he wanted to be a video game developer. I’m sad to say I used to roll my eyes at this. I figured he was just saying that because he thought he could just play video games the rest of his life and eventually get paid for it. But guess what?? He’s graduating high school this week and moving out, and HE IS DOING THE THINGS! He’s amazing at computer programming, coding, and creating video games.. and he even gets paid now for playing games! Who knew?! It’s incredible to me how our children are each so special and how their unique design is evident even from their very early childhood! What a cool Creator we have.
Think about what you liked to do as a young child. What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing something similar now? I always wanted to be a wife & a mom. I loved to play house, and I always insisted on being the mom. Don’t you dare try to be the mom! There were a few other jobs I thought would be cool including flight attendant, nurse (been there, done that), missionary (that, too). In another life, I’d be a storm chaser and/or a sommelier. Not that you needed to know all that. Just some fun facts.
Anyway, back to graduations. I’m glad I went to the Pre-K ceremony this morning. I know it meant a lot to her to see her Mama & Nini in the crowd. I about lost it when they marched in to “Pomp & Circumstance” though. I was flash-forwarding (is that a word?) to Thursday night when it’ll be for real. My son has reached a big milestone. How is it time for this already?!?? I mean it doesn’t really feel like yesterday that he was a baby. A lot of life has happened since then. But seriously, how?? They say the days are long, and heck yes they are! They can be especially long with a house full of Littles. They also say the years are short. And goodness, that’s true, too! I’m thankful for this big-picture perspective and hope that it will help me be a more present, patient mom for my younger ones because, golly, they’ll be grown soon, too! If you haven’t reached this milestone yet and you have littles at home, just take my word for it. Love them the best you can every single day. They will fly the nest all too soon!
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