The Nursery School Finale

Last Friday, our daughter Sophia celebrated her graduation, or finale, at Christ Church Nursery School. There were no gowns or caps or "pomp and circumstance" music in the air. Instead, the kids, under the guidance of their teacher, provided a program of song and dance for the proud parents.

And I was proud of my daughter, even though in a cold intellectual way, it could be argued there was little reason to be. I mean, nobody ever really fails to graduate nursery school and accolades such as valedictorian and salutatorian and thankfully a far ways away. But perhaps no different than most other children, I've seen her grow up and mature a little intellectually and socially. She's certainly much more comfortable interacting and engaging in verbal give and take with her peers (although my wife would argue that she's gotten too comfortable in the verbal give, a.k.a. sassy, with her).

The celebration was really a recognition of the girls and boys growing up. I saw a glimpse of this when they did a very basic square dance routine when boys and girls stood in lines opposite each other and she hooked arms and spun with the only Asian boy in the class, Richard. It's ironic, most parents are terrified of our children discovering the opposite sex, though when done as 4-year olds, we find it irresistibly cute and encourage it. This was an exchange my daughter and I had afterwards:

Me: Who was that boy that you danced with?
Sophia: Richard.
Me: Is that your boyfriend?
Sophia: Yeah, I guess.
Me: He's sort of cute, isn't he?
Sophia: He's not cute. He's a boy.

Oh well. But give me eight years and I'll have my shotgun oiled up and ready to go.

Some may think it's silly to hold graduations for nursery school, but I like my daughter reveling and self-appreciating milestones such as these. I want her to recognize that there are milestones that she is going to hit in the course of her lifetime that she should rightly savor. It's good to take a step back, lift a glass of pink lemonade, treat yourself to a cupcake or a nice meal and bask in a good day which the Lord has made. God-willing, there will be many others for her to experience. And given this world which tends to minimize and leave the smaller blessings in life unappreciated, I'd rather her get in the habit of being overjoyful than perpetually unimpressed.