School drop offs are just that school drop off right? Who cares what parents wear!
Well… Clearly that’s not the case. I recently read a very interesting post that had gone viral on Facebook about a school in the UK who’s school principal had sent the kids home with a special request note. She noticed the increase in parents dropping their kids off at school in pyjamas and at times even adorning this nightwear at school assemblies and school meetings Insert mortified face.
This was met with such upheaval and disapproval by some parents some even protesting this ‘instruction’ by wearing their pyjamas with dressing gowns in protest.
Okay fine… I hear dropping off the kids at school pyjamas but school events too! No way! Say it ain’t so!
Does this kind of stuff happen in SA though?
I do get where this principal is coming from though. I am so guilty of this tendency. Before you judge me, I don’t necessarily mean dropping my kids off in pyjamas (Ok, maybe that one time) but I am guilty of getting out of bed, brushing my teeth, tossing some splashes of water onto my face and heading straight out the door with either a beanie or doek draped onto me uncombed hair. Admit it now! You’re guilty too!!
Whilst my kids trot into class, here I am shaking hands or waving at another parent yet I, technically, am still in bed.
So who are we to be judging each other based on what we wear when we drop our kids off at school? At least they are on time and the school better be grateful their school fees is paid on time, right? Wrong… We don’t realise this but we are leaving such a negative long-term effect on our kids in this ‘minor’ act of laziness of ours. Yes, I called us all out! We’re being lazy!
We do indeed have the right of freedom to dress how we want, when we want but have we thought about the effect of this freedom? Our children watch and imitate what we do, not what we say. We set a standard for them and a path for them to imitate the things we do.
The principal at this school might have perhaps failed to articulate this principle but the fact of the matter is; as I get out of bed a little later, a little scruffier and drive with just a little more sleep each morning, my child’s aspirations of one day growing up to model mom and dad are only to be a little lazier, with more sleep and less effort every morning.
Ever wondered why our kids don’t wake up early and bath on weekends? We may nag over and over yet they look at us as if we’ve lost our marbles? Are we practising what we preach or are they walking in our literal footsteps?
So at a recent Mom Me Time event, one of the moms told a story of how she went to her son’s school with face mask, pyjamas and a gown on to embarrass him for not waking up on time and being lazy to go to school. Oh, his school is down the road from where they stay do and it was a damn long walk for Mr Cool Guy and he never missed a beat off the alarm clock since (let’s hope he’s still diligent at it).
If need be, I guess that should be the only circumstances we go to our kids’ schools with bed-wear on… In all other cases let’s wash and get dressed in the morning parents and guardians… Let’s commit to bed-less clothing when we drop off the kids. When we make the effort, they notice and imitate.