By Dee Murray, Inly Parent
I have been a part of the Inly community for seven years. I have three boys—Colin, 11, Sean, 8, and Andrew, 5—who have attended Inly since preschool. One of the most unique experiences at Inly I would like to share with families both current and prospective is the tradition of Special Day.
The Special Day celebration at the Children’s House level is a day chosen around the time of your child’s birthday. Parents are asked to help their child create a collage on a timeline to show how your child has grown over the course of his or her life. Each classroom celebrates a little differently but the tradition always involves having parents, siblings, and/or other significant family members attend.
The entire class sits on the floor in a circle and listens to your child talk about his or her collage and then they listen to a favorite book read by a family member. This year my two older boys took turns reading the book Andrew chose. Next your child walks in a circle around a table adorned with a representation of the sun while holding a small globe. Each walk around “the sun” represents a year in his or her life. My favorite part of Special Day is the end, when classmates are asked to share what they think is special about your child.
I have prepared for nine Special Days. Each time I got out my photo albums and looked through them with my son for that “special” photo that captured a significant moment in his life. The boys liked helping with this and always wanted their brothers to attend the event.
March 1 was Andrew’s Special Day. We constructed our collage but this year his teacher asked that we also write one fact for each year of Andrew’s life. I thought this list was just going to be hung next to his photo collage but instead it was read aloud as Andrew walked around the circle holding his little globe. Wow.
Andrew is in Kindergarten so this was his (and my last) Special Day. I will always cherish these memories and know that, for our boys, each day at Inly is special.
These events were a wonderful celebration for each child. I also fondly remember assisting in and attending Brett’s special day. So, this article is also a wonderful reminder to all alumni families! Thanks, my heart is a little bit warmer today thanks to this memory.