As I was catching up on email this morning, something caught my eye– several emails on the elementary school list serve discussing school uniforms.
Let’s start with my overall stance on school uniforms. Here it is: who cares?!
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into the email. Lira goes to a DC Public Elementary School, where school uniforms are mandated by the District. Apparently, there was a survey earlier in the year (which I ignored) asking parents at her school how they felt about adding extra color options for the uniform shirts. Right now they’re white; the survey asked parents if they’d like the option of dressing their kids in navy or light blue as well. Now parents are asking about the results of the survey.
This is clearly an important issue because… well, because… yeahhhhh. Why are we even talking about this???
Is the issue up for a vote? Nope.
Will the results of this survey change things once way or another? Nope.
The only people I can think of who actually should care about any of this are Wal-Mart and Target, so they can stock up.
But as usual, my gauge of what’s important to parents on the Hill is way off. Apparently, there are some very strong opinions on both sides of this issue.
In this side of the ring… the White Supremacists (too harsh?) who want to keep the white shirts and nix the blue idea. They’re saying things like:
- “Long live OxyClean happily married to my washer’s power boost setting!” Because it’s apparently impossible to get stains out of colors other than white.
- “If your child is on a field trip and gets lost, you now know what colors s/he was wearing, but if that happened, that is a potentially 50% less accurate description.” Maybe we just tell everyone to wear the same color on field trip days?
- “Why give up the ease of all-white with no real gain, just added tantrums?” You know, because kids can’t deal with choices.
While the Blue Brigade, who is sick of the white shirts, says things like:
- “I am forever sending my kids in clean but stained white shirts. I would love a Navy option.” Because kids are worried about stains while they’re rolling in the dirt at recess.
- “Options would be great! Why do we need such rigid uniform standards?” Is it bad that if my kid wants, I’ll let her wear a light blue shirt with her uniform anyway?
- “Let’s decide because I want to get a head start on my back to school shopping!” Yeah, me too. Not.
There are so many other things to waste your time and emotions on. Things like… making sure your kid gets invited to all of her classmates’ birthday parties, arranging play dates with all the “right” families, and refereeing all of your child’s playground fights.
Hey, maybe I should start my own pointless survey that won’t accomplish anything!
You can leave your answers in the comments section or on my Facebook page:
- What’s your stance on school uniforms?
- Do you care?
- How cute does Lira look in her uniform? (Just kidding. You don’t have to tell me; I already know.)
Lira can rock any outfit, whether it be a tutu or navy polyester uniform, so it is obvious why this is not important. She’s gonna look good in whatever they choose. Maybe some kids just aren’t that fortunate, and their parents are trying to help them out. 😉 Now, I wore uniforms my whole life, and I would have liked options other than our white shirts, but ours were the button-up, blouse type which weren’t as practical as the knit kind. They were stiff, unconfortable, and really thin And forget it if they got a little wet, they were straight up transparent. Not cool, so I always wanted a different shirt.
Wow, I’m sure that I spelled uncomfortable right the first time. My fingers are too fat for these iPhone keys, and I missed a period. smh :/
I’m to tired to notice typos.
Well yes… it’s one thing if they’re uncomfortable and yucky.
Oh snap! Update: navy blue is now an acceptable shirt color to wear under uniforms. Well color me excited.
Now that’s exciting! 😉
Under uniforms, what does that mean?
What’s your stance on school uniforms? Do you care?
– I care only to the extent of how much it’s going to cost me. Remember the days when you could only buy uniforms from 1 vendor or 1 store (maybe that’s still true for some schools). But that’d TOTALLY suck.
How cute does Lira look in her uniform? (Just kidding. You don’t have to tell me; I already know.)
– She’s cute, of course. Pretty name too.