What’s the perfect pre-k graduation gift?

This time of year at DadLabs, it’s rare to see all the dads in one room at one time. We’re all lurching from one end-of-school-year celebration to the next. Most of these concluding events get lumped into the “graduation” category. So many that you have to start to wonder, “How many graduations do we need?”

It’s the editorial equivalent of t-ball to go after pre-school graduations as excessive, and besides, we parents eat this stuff up. We love to go and see our kids celebrated, and maybe even pick up an award or just walk in front of a room. So much so we document every moment. Want to see the latest in digital camera gear? Just walk down to the local elementary and glimpse the audience for a 5th grade graduation. It’s why digital cameras were invented. And it makes you wonder if anyone is actually watching the ceremony.

I’ve got a great video of my college graduation ceremonies. Never watched it. And I was a speaker. (Maybe that’s why, come to think of it.) Makes me wonder just how often dads are going to spin up the Middle School graduation video. And for whom.

Speaking of Middle School graduation, the school my oldest son attends has a lovely one. The event is properly scaled and enjoyed by all. But the school has a 9th-12th grade. The graduates get a diploma, but they don’t go anywhere. (A little like Brad’s undergrad experience, I guess.) Which makes me wonder if other schools have similar “internal” graduations. Congrats! But kidding! See you in the fall!

I pretend to be cynical, and may even have some wise-guy cred — I skipped the ceremony when I got my grad degree entirely — but I’m not fooling anyone. In two years, I’ll lurch from Ri-ri’s 5th grade graduation to Bubba’s from 8th, only to blubber into a hanky with my left hand, careful not to disturb the Flip camera in my right.