Julep: bella figura

I just got the daily e-newsletter from school, which often features a few photos of what the children have been up to today. And I noticed today, as I have before, that my kid looks adorable and the other kids, not so much.

It's not that my children are physically so attractive - they are, but most of the other kids are also nice-looking. The difference is in wardrobe. The other kids might as well be wearing their pajamas. For instance, today the Bear has on khaki pants, a white oxford shirt, and a blue argyle sweater vest. And of course, his school shoes. The boy with whom he is building a block tower in the photo is dressed in a long-sleeved horizontally striped T-shirt, sweatpants with vertical striping on the legs, and plastic sneakers which may or may not light up.

The girls aren't much better. Mostly I'm seeing pants with long-sleeved T-shirts or T-shirt dresses with leggings. I prefer to send Little Bits to school in a dress, but I was caught short on the laundry this morning - they don't usually go to school on Thursday, and I don't have enough tights for four school days in a row. I could have sent her in play clothes, but instead Little Bits is wearing red corduroy overalls with black and white plaid trim, a white blouse with peter pan collar, and two hair bows. (She wanted white, and her brother was adamant that she should wear a red one to match her outfit.)

In a vacuum, most of the clothing items these kids are wearing are fine. I would let my kids wear any given item around the house for play time, or over to my mom's house, or even to Target or the grocery store. But even though they do a lot of play at "school" at this age, I just feel like school deserves the good stuff out of one's wardrobe. Yes, a lot of the time they come home with paint or spaghetti sauce on their nice clothes. I have a free hand with the Oxi Clean, and that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make so that my kids don't grow up to be the kind of people who go to their college classes in sweats or show up to traffic court wearing a Tweety Bird T-shirt and jeans with holes.

Twinks, I am expecting next year's school experience to be a step up. If nothing else, I know the Twinkle sisters will ensure that my two are not the only ones in the building who appear to have changed their clothes after rolling out of bed in the morning.

Julep: for laughs

I feel like you girls will appreciate these.

http://the-toast.net/2014/11/06/women-rejecting-marriage-proposals-western-art-history/

Julep: Nobody puts Baby in the corner

The Bear loves to sing. He sings to me, he sings to himself all the time. He makes up his own songs, he sings children's songs, he sings songs on the radio. He particularly loves to sing the songs from Frozen, including - especially, of course - "Let It Go." He knows every word. He will sing it with me when there is no music playing. Sometimes I can hear him singing it to put himself to sleep.

So yesterday we were driving home from school, he was singing something and I said, "I love to hear you sing, buddy." And he said, in the saddest little voice imaginable, "But I can't sing Let It Go anymore." I said, "Why not? Who said so?" And he said, "XX [a little girl in his class] told me. I'm not allowed to sing that song because I'm not a gril." (Not a typo - this is how he pronounces "girl.")

Y'all. My heart broke.

Needless to say, I immediately assured him that XX doesn't know what she's talking about, that just because Elsa is a girl doesn't mean boys can't sing that song too, that he should sing "Let It Go" anytime he wants to and he can tell XX that his mama says XX doesn't know shit from Shinola. (The last part was slightly more child-friendly when I said it out loud.) I think I convinced him. But. Little Miss XX has some thunder coming.

I'm sure the preschool director thought I was a nut when I called her today to report this story and insist that someone have a little chat with XX. I realize that XX is only 3, and this is an age where children are very interested in gender development and making distinctions between themselves and the other, and I understand that she didn't mean to crush him. But imagine the reaction if Bear had told XX she is not allowed to play with trucks, because trucks are only for boys. Or if someone told XX she is not allowed to sing "Let It Go" because Elsa is a white girl and XX is black.

Reverse sexism is still sexism, and I am having no part of it. If my son wants to sing diva show tunes until the cows come home, damn it, he can.