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10:00 PM, Friday, June 30th, 2017:   I'll preface everything by saying this entry won't end without a parenting rant but I'll try to pretend I'm not thinking of it throughout...   ...so Vienna graduated from preschool today. Wow.     Amazingly she turns 5 this fall and, well, I guess the entire goddamned entry will be a rant because I couldn't even make it past the video. Ugh. Here, I'll get the rant out RIGHT UP FRONT and then waz poetic. Fair? Fair.   So Vienna has a September birthday and misses the cut for Kindergarten unless we get an exception or pay a fortune to have her in a private school. We applied for the exception where she's already enrolled in a transitional Kindergarten and were denied. And I could accept that without reservation if not for one, glaringly annoying fact: the schools are now having to deal with children being held back that are WELL within the cut because that's just SOMETHING YOU FUCKING DO now in our community. To any parents who happen upon this nearly hidden blog post please know I have nothing against you personally - we all do what's best, blabba blah blah blah. Ahem. Talya's mother has kids turning FUCKING NINE in 2nd grade. People are keeping their kids in preschool because it's MAGIC and Kindergarten is too academic. And truly, if you look at a Kindergarten playground nowadays? The kids are indeed demonstrably bigger and older. It's happening at a pretty alarming rate and it annoys the fuck out of me because my daughter shouldn't lose an entire goddamn year learning shit she already knows because you decided it was best for your BOY to turn SEVEN in fucking Kindergarten. Holy fuck. How is this possible.   Now, there is a possibility that while IN transitional Kindergarten they will feel she should jump to 1st grade the following year, or be transferred within the year but that is very very rare and again, considering the age discrepancies - she's not merely a couple weeks young, now she's a YEAR and a couple weeks young. Ugggggggggggggh.   See, when we first noticed Vienna advancing kinda rapidly her emotional maturity just wasn't there. I was totally fine with her bein older in Kindergarten and presumed she would be nearly 6 when she started - but then her preschool rocked and she became a leader of sorts. Personality with her friends, just a whole different person. Her excitement to learn new shit was awesome and we never pushed her. Just watched. There is no longer any doubt that she would be comfortable in Kindergarten...   ...if not for this "holding back" trend sweeping the AFFLUENT FUCKTARDS OF BEVERLY HILLS. WHICH IS A NEW REALITY SHOW I'D LIKE TO FUCKING MAKE. "Oh he's just not ready..." NO YOU'RE NOT READY. He's been FIVE for 3 months. He's fuckin' ready for Kindergarten when he's 5 1/2. GODDAMNIT.   And the really annoying part is? Had we been those asshole parents who pushed and pushed and got her tutors and just drilled shit home, they would've let her go to kindergarten just so they didn't have to deal with HOW FUCKING ANNOYING we'd be. But we didn't. We're laid back. I noticed early on that I could've been a very successful flash-card dad with that kid and I couldn't do it. It'll all work out eventually and I will not spend our free time instilling this competitive bullshit about vocabulary words. She will excel in school no matter what I'd rather be goofy and bonding and make her laugh.   So I guess I'm all over the place - I lost an entire year for the same reason and I'm fine... but clearly annoyed. I WAS bored in school. I did all the gifted and talented shit but it wasn't challenging and it did create problems. It did however make me BUST THE FUCK OUT the moment I could because I wanted to do challenging things. Who knows. I'm just annoyed that this trend is hampering my kid.   Now, let me also say - if we were in SWEDEN? Or wherever the fuck they spend the first 7 years of a kid's life doing fun shit before they hit academics? I WOULD BE ALLLLLLLL ABOUT THAT. We don't live there. Would like to! We don't.   So I guess the bright spot is Vienna won't necessarily be the oldest like I was which meant fuck-all because I was bored, but I pray that they find ways to challenge her because now that she's about to get on that academic train? I want to see JUST how amazing she can be. I want to watch her brain explode the way it has been the past few months learning about science, etc. She has the brain to be exceptional in some pretty cool ways and I'll be incredibly annoyed if her schooling can't keep up.   Time will tell.   Adam