Fashion Statement

As a mom, you sometimes (always?) have to pick and choose what battles you want to fight. Usually, it is important to me that my children leave the house looking somewhat reasonable, and not too much like severly neglected street urchins. Today, that was not the battle I chose to fight.

Julia, age 8, woke up cranky. She had a little sore throat, and a tiny cough --- not enough to stay home sick from school, but enough to be a little miserable. It was one of those mornings when I wasn't sure I could get her dressed, put together (school bag, homework), and on her way without completely losing my temper. She was cold.....she didn't want syrup on her waffles.....she couldn't find her homework, then realized she had forgotten to do some of it.....she couldn't find her library book, and it was overdue....... EVERYTHING was a catastrophe resulting in tears.

I sent her to get dressed while I took a shower. When I emerged, already more than 10 minutes behind schedule, Julia was, in fact, dressed. Amazing! It was a pivotal decision moment though --- this is what she was wearing:

1. Silver fleece sweatpants (she had slept in these), about 2 inches too short
2. A hot pink suede belt (with sweatpants, no less!)
3. A blue and white striped T-shirt (also a little small -- some tummy exposed, so you can see the belt really well!)
4. Black patent leather dress shoes with white athletic socks (also clearly visible, because the pants are so short)
5. A long, V-neck magenta sweater with a hood
6. Purple fleece gloves

She looked like a rather well-fed street urchin. BUT, she was dressed, and we were both running late, and i KNEW even one critical word would result in another bout of tears.

So I made an executive decision and sent her off to school as she was. At least it was appropriate for the temperature outside.

Sometimes I wonder what her teachers think. Do they think she is neglected at home? Or just a creative kid given a lot of choices? Goodness, I hope it is the latter!!!

I wish I had a picture. But by the time we were finally ready to leave the house, we were both late and neither of us was in the mood to capture the moment.