Do you/ does your school celebrate your kids’ graduation?

I’ve recently read a few posts by parents who think that celebrating graduation, whether pre-school, kindergarten or grade eight, is simply too much and gives kids self-entitlement issues and opens the door to spoiling.

Celebrating a milestone like graduation makes kids self-entitled? Celebrating an educational milestone is spoiling our kids?

Let’s think about this for a minute.

If not a school graduation, what should we be celebrating?

I can see how extravagant birthday parties and buying children everything they want would be setting up some kids up for some issues down the road.  Some parents take the extreme and over-celebrate everything our children do. 

But if we’re talking about praising our kids for a job well done in school, advancement in their education, an accomplishment for their learning efforts – I can’t see how that spoils our kids. Does it?

It doesn’t matter if the kids are graduating kindergarten – it’s a memorable milestone, from pre-schooler to school-age. That precious time in a child’s (and parent’s) life should be celebrated.

In my children’s school, kindergarten graduation is a small ceremony celebrating the kids and they receive little diplomas and sing a few songs.  I don’t see any harm in that.

What I’m reading/hearing is that parents are feeling that we shouldn’t be praising our kid for every little thing they do, whether it’s graduating kindergarten to getting trophys in sports.  But doesn’t that start in the home?  Are you clapping your hands at everything your child does?  Giving him stickers and rewarding him for every single task?  He then may grow up to expect praise for every job – whether it’s well done or not.

But at school, graduation time is something to commemorate.  Whether as a parent, you decide to reward your child with a huge party or a small dinner – that’s up to you.  If you decide to reward your child with an expensive gift or a modest one, again, it’s the parents’ decision.

As for kindergarten graduations, I think they are adorable – children are realizing that they are growing up and becoming “big kids”.  I think every milestone doesn’t have to be a huge celebration but something small to commemorate is okay.

What do you think?