Celebrating a parenting milestone

Receiving her certificate from Julia, who is an amazing educator.

Flowers were presented by Himself to her on stage - much to her glee.

Saturday 11 June 2011 marked a milestone in our parenting experience as we watched our little one graduate from Kindergarten. We have been very blessed to be able to find a school in Shanghai that fits so well with our values and parenting style and most importantly, a place where she has been able to thrive in her early childhood years.

We have been with the Julia Gabriel family since we were a few months old starting from the pioneer batch of PlayNest class then moving on to PlayClub. From there, we were one of the handful who were in the experiemental Pre-Nursery class which attempted to allow parents to continue with an attachment parenting style as the children transited to proper kindergarten.

Over the years, we have bonded with the families and it has indeed become part of a much larger entity. We know every child's likes and dislikes and we party and holiday together. We share viruses and germs of all kinds and sorts and it is amazing how the class's immunity has developed as one as the years have passed.

The K2 class that we are in comprise of more than 70% of children who have been together since they were 18 months old. Amazing bonds and I am glad to say, the bonds will probably continue to get stronger as many of them are heading to the same grade school.

I often joke that if any of them end up dating, we can actually use the line "I've known you since you were in diapers, young man, so don't try to pull anything funny!"

As I watched the little one perform on stage at her Celebration, I can't believe how much she and the other children have grown. They are confident, articulate, fully bilingual and very creative -they wrote their own version of the Monkey God classic and performed it as one of the items.

I think they are well-positioned to be confident little people who will hopefully remember all that they have in them to be fruitful adults.

Thank you teachers - many who have become friends (I know, I know, I need new friends now!) - for playing a part in helping the little one grow into the amazing kid that she is today. And little one, don't grow too fast - Mama can't imagine how heart rending it will be when the day comes for me to send you to university.