middle school graduations with my children, and my own college stuff, I was not nearly as prepared as I had hoped for the pending high school graduation. What has complicated things for our family is that my second daughter decided that she was ready to be done with high school too and went and got her G.E.D. in a matter of weeks and is now enrolled to start college this summer too. So, I’ve suddenly got two daughters graduating at the same time! In addition to managing all the pounds of paperwork and trying to figure out how to celebrate (more on that later), we also have to wrestle with managing all of the family dynamics…
Since our family is a divorced family, we have the additional challenge of negotiating that. Even though we are all on good terms, it can still take some negotiations to determine who is doing what. Pretty much most of the planning, paperwork, and emotional support has fallen to me and I am fine with that—my kids no full well that they can turn to me for anything. Meanwhile, we have to figure out who gets tickets to the ceremonies and then there is the planning of the party.
My girls decided that they wanted to have a joint party. I was a little surprised by this, thinking they would want to celebrate individually but they are having fun with the fact that they are both going through this transition together (okay, maybe they are not always thinking it is “fun”—but they are trying) and now we are trying to come up with the joint guest list. Through all of this organization, I am also trying to manage my own feelings and make sure that no one gets left out.
I know that the focus needs to be on the accomplishments of my daughters and it is their celebration—but like all such milestones, there are other people involved too. Managing and negotiating the family dynamics is a key part of moving through a typical graduation.
Also: Getting Ready for Graduation
and High School Graduation 2008 in our Forums