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"There is no 3rd Grade Show in our school system, and it&amp;#039;s making me very melancholy. Today is my very last 2nd Grade Show -- the last time I&amp;#039;ll watch one of my kids singing and dancing in an elaborate program which he and his classmates practiced all year. As I see it, it&amp;#039;s also the end of childhood. Okay, so the 2nd Grade Show isn&amp;#039;t exactly a bar mitzvah or a wedding, celebrating a child&amp;#039;s journey into adulthood. But to me, it&amp;#039;s the closing ceremony of childhood innocence. Why? Because this fall, my son will move out of our kindergarten through 2nd grade school and move up to the next school.  Starting in September, he&amp;#039;ll ride the school bus with iPod-wearing, cursing 5th graders who would probably make fun of a kid for buying a stuffed panda bear in a Yankees uniform. Or for kissing his mom good-night every night. Or for singing and dancing in a school show. By the end of today&amp;#039;s 2nd Grade Show, when he&amp;#039;s done singing &amp;quot;Food, Glorious Food&amp;quot; dancing in circles, and waving to me from the stage, my son will be one big step closer to tween-hood, that stormy period between hugs and kisses and grunts and eye-rolls. And I&amp;#039;ll be one big step away from the sweet years when everbody loved Mommy, and nobody thought she looked silly in her gaucho pants and matching top. There&amp;#039;s only one thing to do: Campaign for a 3rd Grade Show. And I&amp;#039;ve got a year to get it done. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a2098/good-grief-blog-052207/?src=shelter_footer>