Yeah, this post shouldn't be coming from me, the queen of costuming. . . .
And that it is coming on St. Patricks Day, might say something too.
Because it was the one time I remember needing to wear something to school when I was a kid. You wore green or you got pinched all day long by your classmates. (Yeah some things do change for the better.) Our grandma hand crocheted these lovely little shamrock pins out of bright kelly green yarn and affixed them with a safety pin. I remember the pin was gold colored. Those important only to a 2nd grader details.
On Halloween you could come to school in your costume, and on St. Patricks Day you tried to wear green. And if you didn't have green, you told everyone your underwear was green. That usually solved things.
2 days. That was pretty much it.
Now, well it is a different story.
We have had, dress up as your favorite book character,
wear your slippers to school,
crazy hair day,
crazy hat day,
polka dot day,
orange day for color wars (every grade level wears a different color),
and wear a different color of the rainbow every day of National Nutrition week to represent the corresponding color on the food pyramid - though I'm not sure it is a pyramid anymore,
pajama day,
spirit wear day,
Dr. Suess Day
. . . . and that was just last month.
I am a creative person, but I am tired of rummaging through the closet trying to find a nonexistent orange shirt, and then driving to Walmart in hopes that we can find an orange T-shirt, and finally shelling out $10 at JoAnns, because that is the only place I can think of to find an orange t-shirt. And I know the teachers will say - "Oh don't go out and buy something." but even with a well stocked dress up bin - nothing fits the ticket, and you have the choice of shelling out time, effort, money and clothes all over the kids room, or sending your kid in a pink T and hoping that everyone will just think they got lost and are in the wrong room for the day.
and I thought they would grow out of it, that post elementary would be the end.
Boy was I wrong.
There are a lot of times you will be able to convince me that my student needs a certain outfit for school. I get that band members have uniforms and the orchestra concert has a strict dress code of white shirt/blouse and black trousers/skirts. I understand that costumes are necessary for the school drama.
But please, no pajama day in middle school, no matter how hard the student council pleads their case. Could we we have 1 dress up day for spirit week instead of the whole week long, and the food pyramid - really? Can we just learn about it another way that does not add clothing to closets - maybe like trying a new food?
I love all the "tiny homes" and down sizing and responsible clothing choices. But no one ever lived in a tiny home with students going to the public schools. Because after a semester the entire home would be a giant closet.
