Going to step-sons 8th grade "graduation". Help me.

[KDOG]

Oh for the love of all that is holy, kill me now. I can't stand this. An 8th grade "graduation". I'm one of those that think its nauseating. A huge production over something that should be an expectation. Oh and you should see the house! My wife did it all up while I was at work. It fricking looks like the kid graduated medical school or SEAL training. And did I tell you about the f'ing "money cake"? Yes, a @#%&%( MONEY CAKE. $200 worth of 1's rolled up tight in a 3 tier "cake" with ribbons etc. Its disgusting. I can't help think of the movie "Billy Madison" where he gets a ridiculous celebration for every grade he passes. But dare I say something against this and "slight" the little monster, er kid there would be hell to pay. Ugh I can't wait till its over.

 

[Chapbass]

Sounds to me like theres deeper issues here than a graduation. Sounds like you don't really like the kid, graduation or not.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Oh for the love of all that is holy, kill me now. I can't stand this. An 8th grade "graduation". I'm one of those that think its nauseating. A huge production over something that should be an expectation. Oh and you should see the house! My wife did it all up while I was at work. It fricking looks like the kid graduated medical school or SEAL training. And did I tell you about the f'ing "money cake"? Yes, a @#%&%( MONEY CAKE. $200 worth of 1's rolled up tight in a 3 tier "cake" with ribbons etc. Its disgusting. I can't help think of the movie "Billy Madison" where he gets a ridiculous celebration for every grade he passes. But dare I say something against this and "slight" the little monster, er kid there would be hell to pay. Ugh I can't wait till its over.

You would love him if he was flesh and blood.

 

[waggy]

sounds like you have some other issues.

but i do agree it's going overboard with graduation shit. i have seen parties for graduation for 8th grade and KINDERGARTEN!

fuck that.

 

[KDOG]

Hmmmmmm Ill concede that I have issues with the fact that he is a spoiled hellion, but this has more to do with the mentality of his mother and people like that. I see this alot even "preschool" graduations. Its just ridiculous.

 

[PenguinPower]

sounds like you have some other issues.

but i do agree it's going overboard with graduation shit. i have seen parties for graduation for 8th grade and KINDERGARTEN!

fuck that.

My daughter had a Pre-K graduation...

 

[smackababy]

Sounds to me like theres deeper issues here than a graduation. Sounds like you don't really like the kid, graduation or not.

From the sounds of the graduation, I'm going to guess the kid is a spoiled, entitled twat. I don't like him already, and I've never met the kid!



OP, I feel sorry for you. You're going to be supporting this kid until you get a divorce.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Hmmmmmm Ill concede that I have issues with the fact that he is a spoiled hellion, but this has more to do with the mentality of his mother and people like that. I see this alot even "preschool" graduations. Its just ridiculous.

Good job marrying her. :thumbsup:

 

[Chapbass]

From the sounds of the graduation, I'm going to guess the kid is a spoiled, entitled twat. I don't like him already, and I've never met the kid!



OP, I feel sorry for you. You're going to be supporting this kid until you get a divorce.

Not necessarily. As OP mentioned a few posts up, it could very well be his mother that is doing all of this, and the kid couldn't care less. You very well could be right, but it may not be that way.

 

[smackababy]

Not necessarily. As OP mentioned a few posts up, it could very well be his mother that is doing all of this, and the kid couldn't care less. You very well could be right, but it may not be that way.

The kid might not have cared in the 1st grade, but a constant showering of gifts for basic things is going to cause problems.


OP, does he get gifts for waking up on time and wiping his own ass as well?

 

[mcurphy]

My daughter finished 7th grade this year, and I just heard about these 8th grade graduation parties within the past few weeks. I was shocked to hear it is even a "thing". When did this happen?? I do not agree with it at all and told my wife it wasn't happening. She thinks we are "supposed" to do it, since everyone else does it, which pisses me off even more. We'll see what happens in a year...I could change my mind, I guess.

 

[Chapbass]

The kid might not have cared in the 1st grade, but a constant showering of gifts for basic things is going to cause problems.


OP, does he get gifts for waking up on time and wiping his own ass as well?

You're still just guessing. An educated guess maybe, but you're still just guessing.

 

[Mixolydian]

There's 5th grade graduation too.

One for each "platform" of education - "graduating" from elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school, etc.

 

[KDOG]

Not quite but he's 14 and can't make himself a sandwich.
His mother (my wife) really does stuff like this I think because she honestly wants to make him happy.
But yes he has had this sort of over indulgence his whole life. I fully expect him to not be able to function on his own when he's older.

 

[irishScott]

My daughter finished 7th grade this year, and I just heard about these 8th grade graduation parties within the past few weeks. I was shocked to hear it is even a "thing". When did this happen?? I do not agree with it at all and told my wife it wasn't happening. She thinks we are "supposed" to do it, since everyone else does it, which pisses me off even more. We'll see what happens in a year...I could change my mind, I guess.

When I was an 8th grader back in 2001 we had a "party" and it was a little bigger than previous end of year parties because everyone was going to different high schools and such, but nowhere was the term "graduation" mentioned, and there certainly weren't individual cakes.

I'm WTF about this as well. My future kids can have a long night out with friends at an arcade or movie or restaurant or something. There will be no serious use of the term "graduation" until they finish high school. It's like the equally repugnant "super sweet 16" has moved down a few years.

 

[smackababy]

My daughter finished 7th grade this year, and I just heard about these 8th grade graduation parties within the past few weeks. I was shocked to hear it is even a "thing". When did this happen?? I do not agree with it at all and told my wife it wasn't happening. She thinks we are "supposed" to do it, since everyone else does it, which pisses me off even more. We'll see what happens in a year...I could change my mind, I guess.

Don't do it! The only dropout rate for 8th grade I could find was CA and it was less than 4%. So, 96% of people are able to complete 8th grade. That is not deserving of a reward.

 

[SamQuint]

Dinner out and a home made cake was all I got for 8th grade graduation.

I wasn't expecting anything. I knew that high school and college were a much bigger.

 

[mike2fix]

It seems this is the way of the world these days, same as the "award" system in general, they make crap up to make sure every kid gets an award of some type. Way to prepare kids for life in the real world.

 

[NutBucket]

Meh. I went to grad night but there was no reward from my folks. It was more of a chore I guess. Then again I really didn't care for MS so I couldn't wait to ditch the place.

 

[Red Storm]

Sounds like there are bigger issues here.

 

[mmntech]

I had a grade 8 "graduation" back in, oh, 1999 I guess it was. All I remember is it was monstrously hot.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Had 8th grade "graduation" for my stepson just last summer. There was an actual ceremony and everything which I thought was bullshit. Only positive was that my stepson was chosen to do a speech since he got straight A's. My wife didn't go overboard with the money cake and shit, just had a family get together and <gasp> even invited his dad and his wife over. Everything turned out ok, but I really hated the fact this "graduation" and all it entailed took place to begin with.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Sounds like there are bigger issues here.

That. A grammar school graduation isn't really that out of the ordinary. It's not like the kid accomplished anything special, but parents enjoy marking milestones in their kids lives. It's important to his mother to make a big deal out of it, so it should be important to you too. If it's not either your relationship sucks or you're just a giant asshole.

 

[LegendKiller]

I can't stand this whole "graduation" thing. We won't be having any of those parties. We'll go to the "ceremony" but that's it. I find it nauseating that we have to celebrate the most minor accomplishments like they are a surprise. I graduated with my mba and I just had my parents and my wife's parents. When I got my cfa charter, which was more difficult than the mba, I only had my wife. So now I'm supposed to be super excited my kid graduated from blocks to 1+1?

It's just another symptom of helicopter parents being far to doting on kids.

I see it every day with my 3yr old. Even the teachers are ridiculously upbeat. The ECFE teacher my son had began the mid-year review with "Ohh, we love having your son in class so much, he just brightens our day". Fuck that, tell me what he's doing right, wrong, and give some suggestions on how we can fix it. I don't need sunshine up my ass, I know my kid is good, but I also need to know what he, and we, could be doing better.

 

[DrPizza]

I'd give my own kid $50 not to go to an 8th grade graduation; and would take him to an amusement park or something on the day of the ceremony. I'd explain to him that it's an expectation to pass 8th grade, not an accomplishment. Fortunately, we had no such thing here.

To the "oh no you wouldn't" - he won an award at his college for highest average or honors or some such thing in his major. We were there. But, for his college graduation - he didn't want to go, but was going to because he thought it was important to me and my wife. I set him straight. Saved all of us from a few hours of heat and boredom. So, no. He didn't attend his college graduation, with my blessing.