Your child is graduating from high school and we know that you are sooooooo excited, moms! Sooooooo incredibly excited that you wanna whoop and holla. You want to scream it from the rooftops. My kid graduated from high school! My kid (hopefully) is going to college! My kid has a future! Whoop, whoop, whoooooooop! Did you ever think that this is, I don't know, kind of disrespectful and annoying? No, of course you didn't. Because it's all about YOUR KID. Whoooooooop! Well, one mother in South Carolina learned the hard way about being too loud at graduation. Her whooping and hollering got her arrested.
Shannon Cooper was escorted out of her daughter's high school graduation, placed under arrest for disorderly conduct, and put in a detention center. I'm not sure what a detention center is, but it doesn't sound like the way a mom wants to celebrate her daughter's graduation.
Shannon reportedly told a local news station:
Are y'all serious? Are y'all for real? I mean, that’s what I’m thinking in my mind. I didn’t say anything. I was just like okay, I can’t fight the law.
Apparently excess cheering had gotten to be such a problem at graduations that police had warned parents beforehand that there would be a "zero tolerance" policy. Those cheering too loudly would be expelled from the ceremony and even arrested if need be.
I completely understand the bursting pride that must come with seeing your child graduate from high school. But other parents want to hear their child's name called too. And imagine you are a child who follows a kid who had 50 people whooping and screaming -- and you've got one person politely clapping. Or nothing. Not all kids have big families, or even ONE parent to watch them graduate.
The time for whooping and hollering can be after the ceremony at a private celebration. Should parents be ARRESTED for this activity? No. An arrest record is serious business and can disrupt finding employment. Should a parent miss her child's graduation because she can't control herself? Yep.
Do you think parents who cheer too loud should be arrested?
Image via scot2342/Flickr
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Comments 18
At most graduations it is announced that you should hold your applause and cheers until the end. I'm sure if they actually had to arrest her she was doing much more than letting out a three second whoop. Unfortunately a lot of people get carried away and the parents for the next kid don't hear their child's name called and can actually miss them walking across the stage.
Yeah. The problem is if you don't arrest people then no one pays attention. I'm sure in prior years people were shown out before that asked to quiet down. the problem is by the time you're shown out others have already missed hearing their kid's name.
The point that is continued to be missed in these conversations is this: The student/child is graduating, it is about them, NOT the parent! These parents that do this are not celebrating their child they are screaming and yelling "look at me" "look at Me", "I need some attention". It's shameless and does not provide a "lifetime" memory moment for the student, and let's be real honest, if you are older than 25, looking back was your high school graduation ceremony really that earth shattering? If so you might want to think about moving on with your life.
Again it's poor parenting and the dreaded "how can I cause a ruckus and get some attention" syndrome. I'm just sayin
I wonder.........has any school tried doing it the other way around? Have we heard of a graduation where the school lets people clap and cheer and holds the next name until it quites down? Maybe the person calling the names waits a minute then holds up their hand to say "that's enough, next"? Of course then there would be complaints that the ceremony was twice as long (although I wouldn't complain if the took out a few speaches and songs to compensate but that's just me).
I'm not necessarily advocating for this, I guess I'm just wondering why people always seeem to have to do things the hard way and clamp down on behavior instead of sometimes just having fun with it.
PS: I also agree with CAP1015 - I tried my damndest to get out of my HS Graduation and my Parents made me walk. To this day I wish I'd stood my ground on that one.