Actually, this milestone seems to have hit me at full speed without warning. My daughter is 5, turning 6 in September. If we stayed longer in Czech Republic, she would’ve gone on for another year in a kindergarten and then to school in a year. If we decided to move to Russia, she would’ve also gone to school only next year – kids start school at 7 there. However, the plans are now in full motion and we’re preparing our move to UK, where kids start Reception year at 4 and Year 1 at 5. Meaning that the last days of kindergarten we have here before summer holidays are the last days of kindergarten for my daughter full stop. Considering that she only started going to the kindergarten 4 months ago, this fact is a little hard to process.
I won’t even start here about my worries, how she will adapt at school in UK, how she will deal with another language, how she will have to go through the process of finding new friends again. I will actually write about it a lot, but lets leave it for another post (or ten). Right now, I have two main thoughts in my mind:
1. God, time flies! My daughter is not a baby anymore and she’s not that tiny as well (although, she’ll probably remain a tiny expat for me for ages). She will be starting school very soon! Uniform and all. Books, tests, exams, homework. I think, it would take quite some time for all of that to sink in.
2. What should I do for her last day party in the kindergarten? As there’s a number of expat kids there, last day parties throughout a year are not so uncommon. My daughter already attended 3 parties like that – one for her Japanese friend, another for three Swedish kids and the last one for her best friend from Turkey. She always talked to us how she wants to have a party as well, when she leaves, but the leaving part came all too sudden, so I’m at loss. I guess, a cake is a must, but anything else? I know that for the last day of the Japanese friend, there was a day of Japan, where the girl’s mother showed kids how to make origami, how to eat with chop sticks and lots of other cool stuff. I’m not even trying to reach that level of awesomeness, but my imagination is obviously on holiday somewhere, as I’m completely out of ideas. Any advise would be highly appreciated (the party is next week)!
Anyways, even though the kindergarten period was very short for us, I think, our daughter really enjoyed it. Here’re some snaps from their daily life:
tinyexpats.com 
I am certain your last day party will be the best! No worries… that age group is so easy to please. Decorate their own cookies or cupcakes… an art activity that is fun… a couple of games they love to play maybe at kindergarten that they all knew… and you have it made! My daughter once had an orange party… everything was that colour and the kids came dressed in orange. It was simple but unique.
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Thank you for ideas! All noted :))
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Wait untli they start school to find out how quickly time flies! I can’t believe my eldest will be 10 in September :O It feels like she started a week ago! Oh and don’t do ANYTHING for the last day, just a cake is fine! The Japanese lady sounded like she had WAY too much time on her hands (or was just MEGA organised…)
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I wish I was that organised, but Just thinking about it makes me panic :) Just a cake is definetely the best option as far as I’m concerned!
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I know how heart aching it can be – already my oldest will be in year 1 from September and my beautiful baby boy starting FS1 at the big school, wearing uniform – he will only be 3!!!!! I love the idea of them starting school the year they are 7 and just getting to play and enjoy up until then. It’s a real shame the pressure international school places can place on these kids.
The best parties we have are no theme, no games, just let them play and be kids, take loads and loads of photos and let them do what they do best! Do you have anything from your home countries you could leave the other children as a very small parting gift? A small key ring, paper doll, just a photo of them playing printed out? Pictures of my daughter with her little friends were my favourite gifts when we left London.
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All great ideas, thank you! I don’t think we have anything like that – we tried to make our relocation here as light as possible.
I also think it’s nice for kids to be kids and play a lot. Here, kindergarten is just for play and kids go to school at 6 (in case of our daughter, as she’s born in September, it would be almost 7). In Russia kids also play up until a year before school and then maybe go to some classes to learn letters just before going to school. In the end they graduate school at 17, ready for uni, so enough time for everything.
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