Question of degree: Has the graduation craze gone too far?

GRADUATING is an expensive business. There’s the hiring of the gown and cap, a celebratory meal and professional photos to proudly display at home.

And after all that, the poor graduate is so tired they have a tantrum and are in bed by seven.

Welcome to the new craze of kids graduating from nursery to primary school.

Not in America but right here in Dundee. I wouldn’t have believed it if a pal hadn’t sent me photos of her wee lad’s big day.

At the grand old age of four and a half, he was posing in full graduation regalia.

“I know,” she said, “It’s ridiculous, but I thought it might tickle you. Cost me a small fortune. Maybe one for your Tele column?”

She directed me to her Facebook page where her son’s whole nursery class was pictured.

It doesn’t stop there. Graduation number two, from primary seven to high school, is a serious business.

Some girls get fake tans and nail or hair extensions, while the boys argue who’ll share whose limo to take them to the prom party.

One mum told me of a horse and cart being hired so one girl and her pals could make a grand entrance.

The graduation hat-trick is completed by leaving senior school, the only difference being that the price tag is upped — some teenagers spending hundreds on a prom dress.

Being a parent has always been expensive but it’s getting ridiculous.

Parents land themselves in debt just to keep up — while other kids are left to watch from the sidelines and are excluded because their family coffers can’t compete.

The actual graduation from university or college — the culmination of years of hard work for a degree to have the kind of start your parents never did — can’t be quite so special if you’ve already done it.

And how will the wee girl who was taken to the school hall by horse and cart top that for her wedding?

We want to spoil our kids, to make sure they don’t go without — but is there not a danger they are growing up too quickly?

Have I gone all bah-humbug and it’s just some cuteness and fun to be embraced?

Or has there got to be something to look forward to? Growing up is special because you get to do new things and celebrate milestones.

Is it not sad to think it’s all been done before you can legally get your round in at the bar?