Just Thinking Out Loud

A reminder came up on my phone calendar the other day about the first down payment for my son's graduation dance party.  The first payment I would have had to pay to secure my son's spot at his 6th grade prom.  In Costa Rica, middle schools out do themselves with the most massive graduation dance parties for the kids, a special graduation gift as a send off to high school in style.

The kids dress up in their best outfits; the girls in sparkly, frilly, fancy dresses and the boys in a rented suit and tie.  The venue is usually decked out in festive lights, beautifully decorated tables and centerpieces and a deliciously catered meal. A DJ spinning all the latest jams and a few fun surprises are also thrown into the mix.  It's supposed to be the culmination of all the hard work achieved for the year by all the students. It's the fun farewell before the actual graduation day.

It's a day everyone looks forward to, with girls dress shopping months in advance for the big event and the boys working on their dance moves on the daily. However, the reminder got me thinking that with everything going on this year with the pandemic, will the kids get a graduation dance party this year?  Obviously, it's the least of our worries but it's also something I think we as parents should talk about.  In the states and even a few schools here decided to forgo an actual graduation event for the kids.  Proms were cancelled and kids were devasted.  Their special events were taken away from them and they were stripped of that one opportunity to say an actual goodbye, a proper farewell to the end of an era.  We still have a few more months ahead of us before any decisions can be made, but I won't be surprised if dances and even actual graduation events are cancelled at the end of the year.  This was a random blog but I was just thinking out loud.