Happy Dia Del Nino (Children’s Day)! Although this is a basically unheard of
holiday in the United States, in Mexico, and apparently throughout much of
Latin America, it is a highly celebrated holiday. Schools, parks, and other venues throughout
the city have been holding events to celebrate the day for the last week. There are performances, parties, piñatas and
lots and lots of dulces (candy).
On Friday Eli’s preschool held their celebration. The school simply sent home a letter
informing me of the celebration and that children were expected to be dressed
in cowboy/girl attire. So we bought Eli
a cowboy hat from one of the local costume stores, dressed him up in jeans and
plaid shirt, skipped his usual Thursday school day and brought him to school on
Friday instead, so that he could join in the festivities (treats, songs, and
games related to a cowboy theme I assumed).
Friday afternoon I came to pick him up at the usual time and
was invited in for the end of the celebration.
The moms and others picking kids up were all called up in front of the
kids, cowboy hats were placed on our heads, the older kids told us about all the
party food and the songs they had learned, and then music came on and we were
all expected to sing and dance for the kids.
I did my best to keep up, but I’m definitely not familiar with Mexican
cowboy themed songs. Next, the kids were
all given bags of candy (just what my 1.5 year old needs!) and stick ponies to
take home (Eli had managed to ride his occasionally, but mostly swing the stick
around like a weapon). And then we
headed home.
It wasn’t until later that evening that I found out there
was more to the day’s festivities. My
brother and sister-in-law apparently sent along a camera with my niece so that
the teachers could get pictures of her enjoying the festivities. They were nice enough to get several pictures
of Eli as well….
RIDING A PONY!
Nope, that wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the take home sheet
or when I dropped off or picked up my child.
I can’t imagine a preschool in the U.S. bringing in ponies without some
sort of hefty consent form being sent home well in advance and inviting parents
to be there for the event. But this is a
little local preschool in Mexico…things are different here.
All of this to say, next time there is an event at the
school I’ll be sure to ask a few more questions about what activities are
involved. I might want to actually stick
around to see my kid ride a "large" animal for the first time
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