Backward Pants

I have a friend with four kids, and she always makes sure they are dressed nicely, shirts tucked in, hair combed (pigtails tidy on the little girl.)

I know that with my kids, they often prefer NOT to undergo the fussing necessary to achieve that lovely end result. Especially Zoe. When I say, "let's go fix your hair." She protests, "No! It's fine! It's not getting in my eyes! I don't have food in my hair!" (This because the most common result of NOT having pigtails is that she gets food in her hair.)

Well, my friend pointed out that studies indicate that teachers (and others) treat the nicely-dressed-and-pressed children marginally better, with more love and patience and all things nice, than they give for the messy-smelly-muddy-face children. So, taking it to heart as much as possible, I've been letting Zoe know that hair brushing is not optional. The boys are a little more entrenched in their ways, but I'm trying to give them a quick examination before I send them out the door, at least.

Well, today Guy had on a perfectly clean and stain-free long-sleeved shirt and his hair was fine, and his clean khaki pants were....on backwards. I suggested to him that he switch them around, but he was against my idea (I think because 2 minutes removing and replacing pants means 2 fewer minutes to hang out at the bus stop...not a good trade.)

In the end, I decided to let it go, but I didn't want his teacher to think I was spacey, so I send her an email basically saying, "Yes, I know his pants are backwards and I decided to let him decide for himself how to wear them." Don't teachers give extra love to kids who are brave enough to stand out? (and standing IS easier than sitting when your pants are on backwards.)