Post Halloween question about costume appropriateness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have one PK and one 1st grade student in a public school this year. There was a school-sponsored Halloween event a few days before the holiday where the whole school was invited. Two or three kids in older grades wore grotesque and scary masks. They were so inappropriate that my 4 year old screamed for her life and came shaking and crying into my arms and we basically has to hide from the kids the whole time and left early. Now, she's sensitive, but she's definitely in the range of normal. Am I totally unreasonable to expect parents to set limits on what their kids can wear to school events where they know the pre-K kids will be present? Why would any parent think it's okay to let their kid wear a mask that I find creepy? Now, on Halloween out on your own, wear whatever you want. That's the hazard of the holiday, but I have a hard time believing I'll totally forget that 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be really spooked by bloody zombie freaky masks. It's so antisocial.

I think your expectation that costumes not be scary is unreasonable. It sounds like your child is sensitive and like your solution to that challenge is to shelter her from things that scare her rather than help her work through being frightened without, you know, telling other people's kids what they are and are not allowed to wear. My response in this situation would be, "Oh, it's okay, sweetie! It's just a scary mask. A lot of kids like to wear creepy scary masks at Halloween, but under the mask, they're just kids like you!"

Your parenting issue doesn't need to become the school's issue.

I totally agree with this. OP, what do you expect will happen if you avoid things that aren't actually dangerous, but that your child is afraid of? It's just going to maintain--and possibly even strengthen--those fears over time. Basically, by avoiding, it doesn't allow your child corrective experiences where she sees the scary masks, but learns that nothing bad will actually happen.

I have no problem not exposing my child to horror flicks and the images that come from them until they are old enough where I don't have control over that. I don't think it's good parenting to force a 4 year old to look at horrifying images like that in some misguided attempt to toughen them up.

I'm the original PP with the "reasonable" response.

No one is "forcing" you to make your 4yo look at "horrifying images." You took her to a party where some kids were wearing masks. By your own admission, it wasn't a "scary" party - no scare games, haunted houses, etc. There were some kids who were wearing scary masks, and your kid couldn't handle that. When my kid can't handle a social situation for whatever reason, if I can't work with her to figure out a way to make it enjoyable for her, we go home. She's a few years older than your daughter, though, and I completely understand that a lot of development happens between 4 and 7.

To me, this is an opportunity for next year. Talk about it throughout the year. When your daughter is choosing her costume for next year, talk about how some kids pick scary costumes because that's a thing that happens at Halloween. Remind her that under the scary costumes are just regular kids. I can definitely understand how a child who has not been exposed to any scary imagery would find scary/gory masks alarming, but I think that you need to be proactive and prepare your kids for stuff like this. Your child is in an elementary school, not a preschool containing only 3 and 4yo, and you have to accept that all-school activities are going to be skewed toward the middle grades, not the early ones.

For what it's worth, I have a first grader who, at 3, was scared of all "scary" stuff but at 6, she LOVES scary stuff. So it could change between now and next year, and it's really important that you give her a safe space to react in her own way and not shelter her from normal experiences.

Honestly people. PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE IF YOU WANT TO RESPONSE. I never said anyone was forcing me to make my kid look at things. Ugh, this is so frustrating. It's not like I never spoke to her about this stuff. My comment was simply to see if it was reasonable to expect other parents to be considerate and I gather it's not. Okay, end of discussion. Stop twisting my words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents like you, OP, our school cancelled Halloween festivities altogether. If your kids are easily scared, don't bring them to events like that.

Have you read anything that I wrote since first post? Did you read the whole first post? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

The whole point of Halloween is to be scary and grotesque. If there's a requirement that's out, lets make a bunch of requirements that fit to my views too.

Now I really understand why some schools just abandon the whole thing. I'd rather have that than proposing to celebrate the holiday, then tell people they can't celebrate the holiday in the manner its usually celebrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have one PK and one 1st grade student in a public school this year. There was a school-sponsored Halloween event a few days before the holiday where the whole school was invited. Two or three kids in older grades wore grotesque and scary masks. They were so inappropriate that my 4 year old screamed for her life and came shaking and crying into my arms and we basically has to hide from the kids the whole time and left early. Now, she's sensitive, but she's definitely in the range of normal. Am I totally unreasonable to expect parents to set limits on what their kids can wear to school events where they know the pre-K kids will be present? Why would any parent think it's okay to let their kid wear a mask that I find creepy? Now, on Halloween out on your own, wear whatever you want. That's the hazard of the holiday, but I have a hard time believing I'll totally forget that 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be really spooked by bloody zombie freaky masks. It's so antisocial.

I think your expectation that costumes not be scary is unreasonable. It sounds like your child is sensitive and like your solution to that challenge is to shelter her from things that scare her rather than help her work through being frightened without, you know, telling other people's kids what they are and are not allowed to wear. My response in this situation would be, "Oh, it's okay, sweetie! It's just a scary mask. A lot of kids like to wear creepy scary masks at Halloween, but under the mask, they're just kids like you!"

Your parenting issue doesn't need to become the school's issue.

I totally agree with this. OP, what do you expect will happen if you avoid things that aren't actually dangerous, but that your child is afraid of? It's just going to maintain--and possibly even strengthen--those fears over time. Basically, by avoiding, it doesn't allow your child corrective experiences where she sees the scary masks, but learns that nothing bad will actually happen.

I have no problem not exposing my child to horror flicks and the images that come from them until they are old enough where I don't have control over that. I don't think it's good parenting to force a 4 year old to look at horrifying images like that in some misguided attempt to toughen them up.

I'm the original PP with the "reasonable" response.

No one is "forcing" you to make your 4yo look at "horrifying images." You took her to a party where some kids were wearing masks. By your own admission, it wasn't a "scary" party - no scare games, haunted houses, etc. There were some kids who were wearing scary masks, and your kid couldn't handle that. When my kid can't handle a social situation for whatever reason, if I can't work with her to figure out a way to make it enjoyable for her, we go home. She's a few years older than your daughter, though, and I completely understand that a lot of development happens between 4 and 7.

To me, this is an opportunity for next year. Talk about it throughout the year. When your daughter is choosing her costume for next year, talk about how some kids pick scary costumes because that's a thing that happens at Halloween. Remind her that under the scary costumes are just regular kids. I can definitely understand how a child who has not been exposed to any scary imagery would find scary/gory masks alarming, but I think that you need to be proactive and prepare your kids for stuff like this. Your child is in an elementary school, not a preschool containing only 3 and 4yo, and you have to accept that all-school activities are going to be skewed toward the middle grades, not the early ones.

For what it's worth, I have a first grader who, at 3, was scared of all "scary" stuff but at 6, she LOVES scary stuff. So it could change between now and next year, and it's really important that you give her a safe space to react in her own way and not shelter her from normal experiences.

Honestly people. PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE IF YOU WANT TO RESPONSE. I never said anyone was forcing me to make my kid look at things. Ugh, this is so frustrating. It's not like I never spoke to her about this stuff. My comment was simply to see if it was reasonable to expect other parents to be considerate and I gather it's not. Okay, end of discussion. Stop twisting my words.

Then stop twisting ours. You were the one who brought up forcing her to look at scary things. I think that there is a huge difference between "forcing her to look at scary things" and "skipping the party all together." Your child was shaking and crying after seeing some kids wearing scary masks. You were not able to redirect her. That indicates to me that you need to attend to this issue and help your child to become comfortable with seeing scary things one day a year. If you were talking about a regular Friday, my answers might be different, but your answer has consistently been "Fine, we just won't go then." At what age do you think she will be able to handle it? How will you know if that ages is next year if you refuse to participate?

My comments were intended to help you think of ways to help your child enjoy the events, even if kids wear scary masks, rather than have to leave because she's not able to come up with a solution to the problem. You have consistently been defensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have one PK and one 1st grade student in a public school this year. There was a school-sponsored Halloween event a few days before the holiday where the whole school was invited. Two or three kids in older grades wore grotesque and scary masks. They were so inappropriate that my 4 year old screamed for her life and came shaking and crying into my arms and we basically has to hide from the kids the whole time and left early. Now, she's sensitive, but she's definitely in the range of normal. Am I totally unreasonable to expect parents to set limits on what their kids can wear to school events where they know the pre-K kids will be present? Why would any parent think it's okay to let their kid wear a mask that I find creepy? Now, on Halloween out on your own, wear whatever you want. That's the hazard of the holiday, but I have a hard time believing I'll totally forget that 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be really spooked by bloody zombie freaky masks. It's so antisocial.

I think your expectation that costumes not be scary is unreasonable. It sounds like your child is sensitive and like your solution to that challenge is to shelter her from things that scare her rather than help her work through being frightened without, you know, telling other people's kids what they are and are not allowed to wear. My response in this situation would be, "Oh, it's okay, sweetie! It's just a scary mask. A lot of kids like to wear creepy scary masks at Halloween, but under the mask, they're just kids like you!"

Your parenting issue doesn't need to become the school's issue.

I totally agree with this. OP, what do you expect will happen if you avoid things that aren't actually dangerous, but that your child is afraid of? It's just going to maintain--and possibly even strengthen--those fears over time. Basically, by avoiding, it doesn't allow your child corrective experiences where she sees the scary masks, but learns that nothing bad will actually happen.

I have no problem not exposing my child to horror flicks and the images that come from them until they are old enough where I don't have control over that. I don't think it's good parenting to force a 4 year old to look at horrifying images like that in some misguided attempt to toughen them up.

I'm the original PP with the "reasonable" response.

No one is "forcing" you to make your 4yo look at "horrifying images." You took her to a party where some kids were wearing masks. By your own admission, it wasn't a "scary" party - no scare games, haunted houses, etc. There were some kids who were wearing scary masks, and your kid couldn't handle that. When my kid can't handle a social situation for whatever reason, if I can't work with her to figure out a way to make it enjoyable for her, we go home. She's a few years older than your daughter, though, and I completely understand that a lot of development happens between 4 and 7.

To me, this is an opportunity for next year. Talk about it throughout the year. When your daughter is choosing her costume for next year, talk about how some kids pick scary costumes because that's a thing that happens at Halloween. Remind her that under the scary costumes are just regular kids. I can definitely understand how a child who has not been exposed to any scary imagery would find scary/gory masks alarming, but I think that you need to be proactive and prepare your kids for stuff like this. Your child is in an elementary school, not a preschool containing only 3 and 4yo, and you have to accept that all-school activities are going to be skewed toward the middle grades, not the early ones.

For what it's worth, I have a first grader who, at 3, was scared of all "scary" stuff but at 6, she LOVES scary stuff. So it could change between now and next year, and it's really important that you give her a safe space to react in her own way and not shelter her from normal experiences.

Honestly people. PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE IF YOU WANT TO RESPONSE. I never said anyone was forcing me to make my kid look at things. Ugh, this is so frustrating. It's not like I never spoke to her about this stuff. My comment was simply to see if it was reasonable to expect other parents to be considerate and I gather it's not. Okay, end of discussion. Stop twisting my words.

Then stop twisting ours. You were the one who brought up forcing her to look at scary things. I think that there is a huge difference between "forcing her to look at scary things" and "skipping the party all together." Your child was shaking and crying after seeing some kids wearing scary masks. You were not able to redirect her. That indicates to me that you need to attend to this issue and help your child to become comfortable with seeing scary things one day a year. If you were talking about a regular Friday, my answers might be different, but your answer has consistently been "Fine, we just won't go then." At what age do you think she will be able to handle it? How will you know if that ages is next year if you refuse to participate?

My comments were intended to help you think of ways to help your child enjoy the events, even if kids wear scary masks, rather than have to leave because she's not able to come up with a solution to the problem. You have consistently been defensive.

Firstly, did you read the "forcing comment" and the comment to which it was responding? If so, you wouldn't keep bringing it up. I redirected her, but the child kept coming by. I don't think I really need to get my kid to be okay with that particular mask. She wasn't scared of the "Scream" style ones with blood coming down. How am I supposed to predict when she'll handle it? If you said that I need to accept this will skew to the older grades, then why would you criticize me for "refusing to participate"? You seemed reasonable at first but now you're trying to find reasons to attack me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have one PK and one 1st grade student in a public school this year. There was a school-sponsored Halloween event a few days before the holiday where the whole school was invited. Two or three kids in older grades wore grotesque and scary masks. They were so inappropriate that my 4 year old screamed for her life and came shaking and crying into my arms and we basically has to hide from the kids the whole time and left early. Now, she's sensitive, but she's definitely in the range of normal. Am I totally unreasonable to expect parents to set limits on what their kids can wear to school events where they know the pre-K kids will be present? Why would any parent think it's okay to let their kid wear a mask that I find creepy? Now, on Halloween out on your own, wear whatever you want. That's the hazard of the holiday, but I have a hard time believing I'll totally forget that 3, 4, 5, and 6 year olds can be really spooked by bloody zombie freaky masks. It's so antisocial.

I think your expectation that costumes not be scary is unreasonable. It sounds like your child is sensitive and like your solution to that challenge is to shelter her from things that scare her rather than help her work through being frightened without, you know, telling other people's kids what they are and are not allowed to wear. My response in this situation would be, "Oh, it's okay, sweetie! It's just a scary mask. A lot of kids like to wear creepy scary masks at Halloween, but under the mask, they're just kids like you!"

Your parenting issue doesn't need to become the school's issue.

I totally agree with this. OP, what do you expect will happen if you avoid things that aren't actually dangerous, but that your child is afraid of? It's just going to maintain--and possibly even strengthen--those fears over time. Basically, by avoiding, it doesn't allow your child corrective experiences where she sees the scary masks, but learns that nothing bad will actually happen.

I have no problem not exposing my child to horror flicks and the images that come from them until they are old enough where I don't have control over that. I don't think it's good parenting to force a 4 year old to look at horrifying images like that in some misguided attempt to toughen them up.

I'm the original PP with the "reasonable" response.

No one is "forcing" you to make your 4yo look at "horrifying images." You took her to a party where some kids were wearing masks. By your own admission, it wasn't a "scary" party - no scare games, haunted houses, etc. There were some kids who were wearing scary masks, and your kid couldn't handle that. When my kid can't handle a social situation for whatever reason, if I can't work with her to figure out a way to make it enjoyable for her, we go home. She's a few years older than your daughter, though, and I completely understand that a lot of development happens between 4 and 7.

To me, this is an opportunity for next year. Talk about it throughout the year. When your daughter is choosing her costume for next year, talk about how some kids pick scary costumes because that's a thing that happens at Halloween. Remind her that under the scary costumes are just regular kids. I can definitely understand how a child who has not been exposed to any scary imagery would find scary/gory masks alarming, but I think that you need to be proactive and prepare your kids for stuff like this. Your child is in an elementary school, not a preschool containing only 3 and 4yo, and you have to accept that all-school activities are going to be skewed toward the middle grades, not the early ones.

For what it's worth, I have a first grader who, at 3, was scared of all "scary" stuff but at 6, she LOVES scary stuff. So it could change between now and next year, and it's really important that you give her a safe space to react in her own way and not shelter her from normal experiences.

Honestly people. PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE IF YOU WANT TO RESPONSE. I never said anyone was forcing me to make my kid look at things. Ugh, this is so frustrating. It's not like I never spoke to her about this stuff. My comment was simply to see if it was reasonable to expect other parents to be considerate and I gather it's not. Okay, end of discussion. Stop twisting my words.

No, it is not reasonable to expect other parents to base their child's costume on your child's fears. It is up to you to figure out what to do in this situation.

[Anonymous]

New poster here. OP, my otherwise totally well-adjusted 7yo 2nd grader has a pretty intense mascot/costume phobia. Shaking, crying, literally bolting out of rooms or buildings and we have to chase after her. To see her go through it, it's a pretty primal fear that's triggered. We usually manage pretty well through preparation (we talk, prepare and make plans for when we go to sporting events, amusement parks, etc) and comforting her when she's triggered.

Well, this year at the Halloween party at our charter, she was startled in the hallway by a staff member in a scary mask and (I'm told) lost her marbles. The staff was able to get her reasonably calmed, then call me and I talked to her for a bit, but she was still shaky. I planned to go over and get her. (No, I'm not a helicopter parent. I'm actually pretty invested in my kids learning independence and developing a sense of competence, but she was 7 and terrified!) I work from home, so it was not biggie to me. A few minutes later the staff called me and said they had her as a "helper" in the PK classroom and she seemed to be doing better. She was able to stay there for the rest of the party.

Our school rule is "no masks" so I was surprised a staff person was wearing a scary one. She told me that he took it off and came to talk to her an apologize. But, I know that most kids don't have the kind of visceral reaction that she does, so I don't think it would be appropriate for me to insist or propose that they alter their party. Now we know for next time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Better get used to them, OP.

Our old preschool lines up every year to watch the nearby elementary school parade for Halloween. There are ALWAYS scary, bloody and gory get-ups and I have yet to see a kid scream for his life or express any kind of fear.

Note that I've observed this every year for 6 years! The 4 and 5 years old from preschool squeal with glee and clap their hands at every costume, even when the "big kids" come around with zombie and werewolves masks, axes through their exposed brains, etc.

But OP's child is a super special, super sensitive snowflake.

Who will think of the snowflakes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. OP, my otherwise totally well-adjusted 7yo 2nd grader has a pretty intense mascot/costume phobia. Shaking, crying, literally bolting out of rooms or buildings and we have to chase after her. To see her go through it, it's a pretty primal fear that's triggered. We usually manage pretty well through preparation (we talk, prepare and make plans for when we go to sporting events, amusement parks, etc) and comforting her when she's triggered.

Well, this year at the Halloween party at our charter, she was startled in the hallway by a staff member in a scary mask and (I'm told) lost her marbles. The staff was able to get her reasonably calmed, then call me and I talked to her for a bit, but she was still shaky. I planned to go over and get her. (No, I'm not a helicopter parent. I'm actually pretty invested in my kids learning independence and developing a sense of competence, but she was 7 and terrified!) I work from home, so it was not biggie to me. A few minutes later the staff called me and said they had her as a "helper" in the PK classroom and she seemed to be doing better. She was able to stay there for the rest of the party.

Our school rule is "no masks" so I was surprised a staff person was wearing a scary one. She told me that he took it off and came to talk to her an apologize. But, I know that most kids don't have the kind of visceral reaction that she does, so I don't think it would be appropriate for me to insist or propose that they alter their party. Now we know for next time!

Why do you force your child to participate in Halloween if you know she has a phobia? Why not keep her home that day? It's cruel to send her to school on Halloween.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. OP, my otherwise totally well-adjusted 7yo 2nd grader has a pretty intense mascot/costume phobia. Shaking, crying, literally bolting out of rooms or buildings and we have to chase after her. To see her go through it, it's a pretty primal fear that's triggered. We usually manage pretty well through preparation (we talk, prepare and make plans for when we go to sporting events, amusement parks, etc) and comforting her when she's triggered.

Well, this year at the Halloween party at our charter, she was startled in the hallway by a staff member in a scary mask and (I'm told) lost her marbles. The staff was able to get her reasonably calmed, then call me and I talked to her for a bit, but she was still shaky. I planned to go over and get her. (No, I'm not a helicopter parent. I'm actually pretty invested in my kids learning independence and developing a sense of competence, but she was 7 and terrified!) I work from home, so it was not biggie to me. A few minutes later the staff called me and said they had her as a "helper" in the PK classroom and she seemed to be doing better. She was able to stay there for the rest of the party.

Our school rule is "no masks" so I was surprised a staff person was wearing a scary one. She told me that he took it off and came to talk to her an apologize. But, I know that most kids don't have the kind of visceral reaction that she does, so I don't think it would be appropriate for me to insist or propose that they alter their party. Now we know for next time!

Why do you force your child to participate in Halloween if you know she has a phobia? Why not keep her home that day? It's cruel to send her to school on Halloween.

As I said in my post, the school has a rule about no masks and I was very surprised they allowed staff to wear a scary one.

It's also wacky to me that you describe me as someone who is cruel and forces my child to do things. Read my post again. We talk, we explain, we prepare, we comfort.

[Anonymous]

15:40 again...and she ASKED to go to the party!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Better get used to them, OP.

Our old preschool lines up every year to watch the nearby elementary school parade for Halloween. There are ALWAYS scary, bloody and gory get-ups and I have yet to see a kid scream for his life or express any kind of fear.

Note that I've observed this every year for 6 years! The 4 and 5 years old from preschool squeal with glee and clap their hands at every costume, even when the "big kids" come around with zombie and werewolves masks, axes through their exposed brains, etc.

But OP's child is a super special, super sensitive snowflake.

Who will think of the snowflakes?

You guys are seriously making fun of a 4 year old for being scared of a gory mask? WTF?

[Anonymous]

I get it. One of my kids was terrified of costumes so we'd either skip an event or leave early. I wouldn't expect other kids to change their costume choice because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Better get used to them, OP.

Our old preschool lines up every year to watch the nearby elementary school parade for Halloween. There are ALWAYS scary, bloody and gory get-ups and I have yet to see a kid scream for his life or express any kind of fear.

Note that I've observed this every year for 6 years! The 4 and 5 years old from preschool squeal with glee and clap their hands at every costume, even when the "big kids" come around with zombie and werewolves masks, axes through their exposed brains, etc.

Good for you. But 3 parents of classmates told me the same thing. I have a hard time believing a 4 year old would think this mask was gleeful.

Why would a 4 year old trump a 10 year old when it's a school event? Why would you even presume that everyone else should adapt for your child's comfort?

So that everyone can attend. You know, the SCHOOL event. Where my children go to school.

Your preschooler does not go to school there if it is a public school I'm assuming. So really you don't have any right to tell the school what they can and cannot allow children to wear for Halloween party and parade. I don't understand why you're not talking to your own child about the fact that it's fake and pretend in order to help your child not be scared. For what it's worth my child's public school had a policy that you couldn't bring fake swords, knives, guns or where anything with blood.

You clearly don't actually live in DC where many public schools have PK3 and all have PK4.

At our school dressing up is only for the PK4 and K students to parade around while the older kids line the playground and cheer them on.

No, I live in MD. Furthermore, I did not read anywhere in OP's original post where her child was in pre-K at the same school. She mentioned she had a first grader at the school and only one child at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Better get used to them, OP.

Our old preschool lines up every year to watch the nearby elementary school parade for Halloween. There are ALWAYS scary, bloody and gory get-ups and I have yet to see a kid scream for his life or express any kind of fear.

Note that I've observed this every year for 6 years! The 4 and 5 years old from preschool squeal with glee and clap their hands at every costume, even when the "big kids" come around with zombie and werewolves masks, axes through their exposed brains, etc.

Good for you. But 3 parents of classmates told me the same thing. I have a hard time believing a 4 year old would think this mask was gleeful.

Why would a 4 year old trump a 10 year old when it's a school event? Why would you even presume that everyone else should adapt for your child's comfort?

So that everyone can attend. You know, the SCHOOL event. Where my children go to school.

Your preschooler does not go to school there if it is a public school I'm assuming. So really you don't have any right to tell the school what they can and cannot allow children to wear for Halloween party and parade. I don't understand why you're not talking to your own child about the fact that it's fake and pretend in order to help your child not be scared. For what it's worth my child's public school had a policy that you couldn't bring fake swords, knives, guns or where anything with blood.

You clearly don't actually live in DC where many public schools have PK3 and all have PK4.

At our school dressing up is only for the PK4 and K students to parade around while the older kids line the playground and cheer them on.

No, I live in MD. Furthermore, I did not read anywhere in OP's original post where her child was in pre-K at the same school. She mentioned she had a first grader at the school and only one child at school.

The first sentence starts "I have one PK..."
Your post is just confirming OP's claim that nobody is reading anything. And this thread is just confirming my belief that the Internet is a sad place where people go to be angry and negative and express harsh and ill-informed opinions.