The Clothes Conundrum

It’s not even the end of the first week of school and the looks, snickers and strange looks have begun.  No I am not talking about the other kids; I am talking about the other parents.  And you know what? I don’t even care.

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For the first day of school, I selected the Big One’s clothes.  On the second and third days of school, I “guided” her choices.  So today on the fourth day of school I let her pick whatever she wanted.  And boy did she pick a doozy of an outfit.

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She proudly came out of her room wearing hot pink, blue and green striped pants with a “matching” striped shirt. The problem is the shirt, while it has stripes they are pastel colors – purple, pink, yellow, and blue.  I tried to convince her that the striped pieces would perhaps look better when paired with a solid piece.  But she insisted that they were both striped, so therefore they matched just fine.  

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I was too tired to really argue the point, besides who am I to squash her creativity?  It’s not like she packed her own lunch full of cookies and candy.  Or that she is playing with matches in the dead grass.  She picked her own clothes and I let her go to school like that.

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GASP!  Shocking I know.  How could I let her out of the house like that!

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We walked to school just fine. The teacher who supervises the crossing guards gave us a big smile and winked as the Big One walked by.  I think she understood.  But as the kids were all lined up waiting for their teacher to take them into the classroom, I felt the looks and saw the smirks from the other parents. Some of them gave me the “you pick your battles” look while others were clearly shocked that I let my child out of the house like that.  Seriously, they are five-years-old, who cares what she wears?

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And you know what someday when the Big One is an astronaut, an engineer or otherwise saving the world, nobody will care that she wears stripes and polka dots together!

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And for the record, her teacher made sure to tell me yesterday that she pulled out some puzzles for the kids to work on.  The Big One picked an addition and subtraction puzzle and completed it with ease, something “most kids her age cannot do.”  So there you go clothes snobs… Her clothes may not match, but the kid can do math!!

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