Final Farewell To A Grand Era

I looked forward to Little Bee's graduation concert on 26 October with large dollops of excitement intermingled with equal helpings of bittersweet reluctance. With Little Bee's graduation, the days of preschool and kindergarten are officially over for me.

I would miss those carefree days of incessant beaming smiles, minimal homework, games and laughter in school. I would long for teachers with lesson plans that are fundamentally focused on nurturing thinking skills in children, rather than cramming them with exam techniques. Most of all, I would miss the teachers in Little Bee's school - teachers whom the students call by their first names, teachers who care so much for the little kids, teachers who hug and kiss these children daily. Teachers whom the children really love and look forward to seeing everyday.

The theme for Little Bee's graduation concert was "A Night To Remember", and they termed it as a graduation celebration. For it is a true celebration indeed - a celebration of the achievements and nurturing over the past 3 to 4 years, a celebration of the children's gradual but apparent maturity, a celebration of the kids' amazing talents on stage.

Unlike many other kindergarten celebrations, Little Bee's school does not involve stage performances where little kids were decked up in thick, unnatural make-up or elaborate, gaudy costumes. And that is exactly what I like about them. Instead, every one of them donned a simple school T-shirt and black slacks - and that's it. The stage was to showcase the raw talents of speech and drama for the kids. Their essence, their showmanship, their expressions. All these were showcased without any frills on stage, so that the children's pure presence could be magnified.

And magnified they all were. The students acted in plays, recited poems and lines from scripts so intricate that we adults would surely suffer from memory loss, danced passionately, narrated fluently. The 300+ parents' hearts swelled with pride and wonder as we observed our children transform from bright-eyed and excited kids before the concert to professional, adroit actors on stage. That transformation was awe-inspiring, and I hope this would be cultivation that would last them through their lives.

Little Bee's class performed 3 acts in the concert - a post-modernistic play about space exploration, a rousing Chinese drama about Singapore, and a spirited and energetic Bollywood dance number. Little Bee was one of 4 key presenters for the Chinese play, where her friends and her introduced the meaning behind the drama. She spoke confidently, with a loud, robust voice that was ringing clear.

She displayed zero stage fright, and relished her time on stage, getting under the skin of different roles and acts - and performing so passionately, as if she was in her own little world. As one parent told me after the concert, "Little Bee was so focused and immersed in her performances, so much passion, as if she lived for the stage - such a pleasure to watch!"

And that is my Little Bee - someone who truly enjoys being in the limelight, being on stage and performing. And I am eternally grateful to her school who nurtured this aspect of hers so positively, so encouragingly. I am definitely closing this chapter in her life (and in mine!) very hesitantly, very slowly - and I am going to miss it for a long, long time!