Wow - two posts in one night. Maybe that third cup of coffee wasn't such a wise thing! On Friday my son had his final marching display at kindergarten. Every March the fire department asks them to do their marching at the Usa shrine and also at the local supermarket to help raise awareness of the risk of lighting fires. Every year it is freezing cold and every year the kids do a great job of ignoring this fact and doing a wonderful di
splay - despite having numb fingers. Every year the fire chief starts his speech at the end of the display with the same words: "the children must be at their limit in this freezing cold" and then proceeds to speak about random things for 10 minutes while the kids stand there extremely patiently, shivering in their shorts and thin shirts hoping that their reward for doing so will be some delicious snack... bad luck kids this year was a big stack of origami paper! Just what you want to nibble on in the bus on the way back to kindy!
Wow - two posts in one night. Maybe that third cup of coffee wasn't such a wise thing! On Friday my son had his final marching display at kindergarten. Every March the fire department asks them to do their marching at the Usa shrine and also at the local supermarket to help raise awareness of the risk of lighting fires. Every year it is freezing cold and every year the kids do a great job of ignoring this fact and doing a wonderful di
splay - despite having numb fingers. Every year the fire chief starts his speech at the end of the display with the same words: "the children must be at their limit in this freezing cold" and then proceeds to speak about random things for 10 minutes while the kids stand there extremely patiently, shivering in their shorts and thin shirts hoping that their reward for doing so will be some delicious snack... bad luck kids this year was a big stack of origami paper! Just what you want to nibble on in the bus on the way back to kindy! 
I am a huge fan of Marching Bands, esp in College, and school, the huge parades in NYC... this is my first time seeing one here in Japan...Boy do I miss them...
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha . Had to laugh out loud at the fire chief's speech- so true!!
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of jealous of the marching band. M goes to a very no-frills, free play is the best thing kind of kinder and I do think the bands are so cute... Oh well!
And that's a really musical fire awareness program- we have a whole parade of people walking around banging two pieces of 2x2 together. Clack, clack, clack.
Oh, they look so cute! Did they sound as good as they looked?
ReplyDeleteGirl Japan: the kindergarten that my kids go to are pretty amazing - not only in their marching, but in the way they teach the kids and make them enjoy it. Every child is involved regardless of their ability and they all do a fantastic job and gain a lot of confidence through it. Not exactly American marching band level, but not too bad for 4 and 5 year olds!
ReplyDeletethefukases: the balance between free play and structured things is difficult, isn't it. I was initially against the marching thing, but the confidence they have gained has definately been worth it. They also have so much time for free play that I am not complaining!
Anchan: yip - they sound even better than they look - not that I am a biased parent or anything!