Displaced Beachbums

In July 2003, FG was thrown out of kindergarten ~ literally! It’s a great tradition they have at the German kindergarten she attended in Neunkirchen. FG started kindergarten at age 3 and learned to speak German fluently. Good thing because she became our translator 😉

When it’s time for the kindergartners to move up to the first grade, usually at age six or seven, the teachers host a sleep-over party in the school with pizza, french fries, hay rides, lots of games and music. While on the hayride, they stopped at the house of the 1st grade teacher. That was the fun thing about the school ~ everyone lived in the same small town. The morning after the sleepover, the teachers threw the children out onto a mattress ~ symbolically letting them know they were no longer part of the kindergarten:

It was FG’s first sleepover and I knew she was in safe hands with her favorite kindergarten teacher, Lisa. Here is FG (with Lisa) cuddled up in her bear sleeping bag and holding ‘Opus’ the stuffed animal she STILL sleeps with:

Needless to say, there were more than a couple of tears shed by both parents and teachers. After 2 or 3 years, the teachers had developed close ties with the students. For the parents, it was another reminder of how fast children grow up.