Latest parendting fad: Graduations for FOUR year olds
American idea: The US-inspired ceremonies often involve a graduation outfit, costing £19.50
It was standing-room only, the throng of parents jostling for the best camera phone angle. As anyone attending their child’s graduation ceremony knows, it is a milestone involving complex emotions. As my daughter stumbled shyly across the room to collect her scroll last week, there were cheers and, I’ll admit, hastily shed tears.
Her purple satin graduation gown reached almost to the floor, her matching mortar board tilted at a rather perilous angle. When, finally, following several encouraging prompts, she turned to grin at us, I mentally cursed myself for failing to trim her blonde fringe, which fell haphazardly over her eyes.
She was self-conscious, but struggling to suppress an excitement bordering on hysteria.
And who could blame her? After all, she’s only just turned FOUR.
But this month she became one of thousands of British children to ‘graduate’ from nursery â€" a perplexing trend, but one which is rapidly gaining momentum. Children as young as three are taking part in these formal end-of-term ceremonies, designed to mark the transition to primary school.
There are no figures on the number of nurseries staging such ceremonies, but the National Day Nurseries Association, which represents 15,000 private and public sector-run nurseries, agrees there’s no doubting the huge popularity.
And, yes, there’s a lucrative commercial side.
Hampshire-based firm Marston Robing, which supplies the £19.50 miniature graduation outfits, says it has already sold more than 100,000 to nurseries in the United Kingdom â€" enough to give one to every pre-school child â€" a nd that sales have doubled in the past five years alone. Images of beaming toddlers wearing this kind of academic garb were all over my social media feed this week. Most can sing the ABC song, have made an imprecise stab at phonics and understand the concept â€" if not the practice â€" of sharing the latest Paw Patrol toy. True, there is much to celebrate in children of this age. But a mortar board?
Such practices are, of course, an American import, much like the now ubiquitous high school prom, and there is plenty of scepticism around. But Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, defended their adoption here, saying: ‘They can be a great way for children to publicly demonstrate they have reached their first milestone in their educational journey.
‘These celebration events do not have to cost money or involve the traditional caps and gowns. But making an event of the move gives yo u the chance to say goodbye to your little ones, and friends and family can see the extent of the children’s individual progress and talents.’
Inevitable, then, that some nurseries will spend increasingly more time and effort on their ceremonies. At the Tiny Stars nursery in Keighley, West Yorkshire, children received a certificate and a photograph of themselves in full graduation attire from the mayor, before enjoying a party with bouncy castle and face painting.
Children as young as three are taking part in these formal end-of-term ceremonies, designed to mark the transition to primary school (stock image)
Staff at Children 1st nursery in Grantham, Lincolnshire, held three graduation ceremonies over two days, which involved a performance of The Gingerbread Man and a formal scroll presentation.
And children leaving Bright Beginnings in Gravesend, Kent, even got a chance to recreate a university tradition by tossing their caps into the air.
My first taste of what was to come began months ago when my daughter inexplicably began singing George Benson’s The Greatest Love Of All while dancing around the kitchen, insisting: ‘No matter what they take from me, they can’t take away my dig-naah-teeeeee.’
She confided in whispers that she and her classmates were learning the s ong ‘for congradulation’. She was three at the time â€" the fact that she couldn’t even say ‘graduation’ was an irony which was not lost. Despite my â€" I might say rather powerful â€" doubts, the ceremony itself at her South London nursery was, in fact, rather touching. The wonderful staff, who she adores, had spent months rehearsing a musical play about pirates, helping each child make hand-designed outfits. There were touching speeches. It made for the very real sense of an ending.
But many nurseries are avoiding the trend. Purnima Tanuku explained that some ‘don’t see the benefit for the children, and feel it is more about parents’.
It is a sentiment shared by Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent. He cautioned they could even be damaging for children. ‘These ceremonies are the educational equivalent of a selfie,’ Prof Furedi said.
‘There’s an impulse to create these consumerist, meaningless celebrations from nursery to hen nights. By inflating the meaning of such events, you unwittingly make children more afraid of such transitions later because they take on more meaning than is strictly necessary. Traditional rites of passage also become more meaningless.
‘Celebrations should be about real achievement. There should be a relationship between effort and outcome.’
As a parenting milestone, this moment does indeed feel like a real â€" and exhausting â€" personal achievement. So perhaps it’s the parents who deserve the certificates. Simply for putting up with it.
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