Rest for the Weary

Pre-school graduation time is drawing near. On Friday, February 26, all the kids I have been teaching for the last 7+ months will be donning miniature graduation robes and hats (which specific name I can't remember...mortarboard?). They'll march their little selves up, sing a little song, and toss their hats up in the air as a farewell to childhood.
Unlike the West, school in Korea starts in March. So, in just a few short weeks, these kids will begin elementary school. Once elementary school starts, it's over. "It" being childhood. Already as pre-schoolers they go to several other lessons after school. In elementary school, they will go to school, English school, math school, music school, Tae Kwon Do, possibly even Chinese school. Then they have to come home and do homework. I see high school students on the subway at 11pm, still in their school uniforms, because they haven't been home to change.
Now, I've recently just learned that apparently Korean parents are aware that this is a rather stressful schedule. So, in an effort to buffer it (or something) many of my preschool students are taking a week or two off here in the last few weeks of preschool. They get to stay home and you know, be kids. That way, when they're 16 and sleep deprived and on the verge of suicide because they may not get into Harvard (because that's where all my 7 year olds want to go) they're parents can console them, pat thier backs and say, "It's not so bad. Remember, you got to play that one week when you were 7."