Making The Best Out Of A Kindergarten Graduation in 2020

My 6 year old daughter had a pretty big milestone yesterday. She officially graduated kindergarten. Normally we would pack into the bleachers at the school gym and celebrate this day. She'd get her moment of celebration in front of a crowd, which knowing her personality, she would love. Like when her older brother graduated a few years ago, we would go out to dinner as a family as a special treat. Now in 2020, it was noticeably different with the coronavirus pandemic.

We've had a couple of months now of at home learning. It's amazing how fast we adjusted our schedules to the "new normal." But now that kindergarten is officially over, it was a fresh new feeling. Her graduation consisted of a couple of her teachers driving by and giving her a diploma. She waited by the window staring out at every car driving by. The entire class was getting a drive by diploma, so we knew it would take a while. I can't tell you how excited she was to see her teacher. Her excitement turned to worry after waiting for about an hour. "Did my teacher forget about me?" she asked. We assured her that they had a lot of kids to see and she would still be coming.

A few hours later the teacher arrived and my daughter was through the roof. We celebrated with a mini dance party, dilly bars from dairy queen, and she got to watch Frozen 2 for her special day. Instead of going out to eat, she got to pick her meal: nachos. (We have it like every Tuesday, but whatever it's her choice.)

We made the best out of it, and honestly I think the kids are handling it better than us. It's hard as a parent to see how much they are missing their friends, and knowing they didn't get the proper goodbye to their class. Here's hoping school is back in the fall. I know we won't take it for granted.