28 - North Shore News —

Wednesday, May 31, 2000

Bright young kids make expense irrelevant

From page 1$

there was no ceremony, no
renting of tuxedos, and no
opportunity for my mother to
boast to friends about how
proud she was of her son, the
scholar.

For my part, abour half
way through Grade 12 I was
caught smoking on the school
grounds twice on the same
day. Despite the fact that a
scant couple of weeks later
smoking was allowed at my
school, I was immediately
expelled.

To be honest, I probably
wouldn’t have passed the year
anyway since I never went to
class. The following year I

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made up the courses 1 had
missed and continued on to
UBC, where I did, in fact
graduate. But according wo
my Mother, it’s not the same
kind of grad so it doesn’t
count.

My little brother went
through the whole graduation
exercise, but it was, he con-
fessed a vear or so later, a
total farce, since he barely had
enough credits to pass Grade
11. Once again, a university
graduation years later didn’t
soften the blow for my moth-
er. She stubbornly maintains
that she’s been cheated of an
important milestone in her
parenting carcer.

And having just experi-

enced my first child’s gradua-
tion, [ have to admit she has a
point.

From the perspective of a
parent, high school gradua-
tion is an exciting, inspiring,
and emotional event. It can
also be very expensive. Most
of the parents [ taiked to
footed the bill for their grads,
as did we. To illustrate my
point, here’s a rough run-
down of what grad costs:

The tickets for the big
banquet were $75 a piece,
times three (Mom, Dad, and

grad).

oe Then there's the cost of
the limo rental for the kid —
in uur case a group of grads
chipped in $150 each to

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secure the limo for the whole
night, including after grad
activities that apparently don’t
end until well into the next
day.

Most of the boys graduat-
ing rented tuxedos for about
$150.

Then there were the $75
shoes, can’t wear the ald
skateboard runners with a
tux, the haircut (I adminis-
tered a few freebies, but a lor
of the guys paid $20 to pro-
fessionals), and the $30 cor-
sage for the date. All in, I fig-
ure the average boy grad cost
roughly $500.

That's cheap compared to
what the average girl grad
cost. The girls at our grad
were decked out in fabulous,
floor length ball gowns. One
grad mom bragged to me
about the great deal she got
on her daughter's grad frock.
It was a steal at $400.

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Another mom sheepishly
confessed that she paid close
to a thousand bucks for the
specially made party dress her
grad wore. Of course, there
Were new party shoes
required ($100), a day's
preparation at the beauty par-
lor ($100), and the special
bra for the strapless dress
(S40).

Add to that the cost of the
tickets and the limo, and the
grad girl expense totals some-
where between $1,000 and
$1,500.

Plus, there’s more to grad
than just the banquet. There
were pre grad events that
required special attire. We got
lucky, our boy borrowed a
suit from his uncle John and
one of his dad’s ties to get
him through, buc the girls
had to have at Jeast one other
dress.

Of course, to see your

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child decked out like royalty
for grad‘is awesome itid RS;
and even this cynical old |
cheapskate experienced some
misty-eyed moments. + |

My gosh, the clumsy troop
of rwerps [ remember from *
elementary school have = = ¢
grown into bright, beautiful’:
young men and women. |
They're full-of hope and
promise, and they have their
whole lives in front of them
to fulfill their dreams.

J loved seeing that, feeling
that.

It made the expense seem
irrelevant, and my mother’s
lament justified.

Still, Pve got tvo more
grads coming down the pipe
(with any luck) in the next
three years, and one of them
is a girl. I'd better start bud-
geting for it now.

Anyone out there got a
good stock tip?

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