Every autumn, our son’s kindergarten organizes a sports day for the children. The practice for this day begins after the summer holidays and the children work hard every day to prepare for the sports day when parents and relatives come to watch and join in some activities. This year our son, now being in the middle class, got to try his hand on new activities in addition to the by now familiar running competition and gymnastics exercises where the children jumps over vaulting boxes and somersaults over horizontal bars. New activities this year were dancing with flags and marching while playing music.
The marching band event was a joint effort between our son’s class and the oldest kids, and our son got to play drums. For me as a parent, it is a really happy thing that our son gets to try his hands on so many different activities at his kindergarten. The kindergarten’s philosophy of learning while playing is a perfect fit for our son and a day like this, comparing with the sports day one year ago, it is easy to see how much he has grown this past year. As for the flag dancing, this was our son’s favorite part of the day and we could see how proud he was, being able to perform together with his classmates. The teacher had choreographed a program and the children had made their own flags that they used while moving to the beat of the music.
My involvement this year was to participate in the parents’ tug of war competition. Each class has a parent team that competes against one another. Our son made sure to give me as much support as I gave him, and he was happy that his class’ parents came second. The day ended with all the children getting a medal. Just the way I think it should be for children.