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So I want to talk about school uniforms. My children have never been required to wear a school uniform before. However, that just might change. I received a letter from my middle daughter’s new school last week checking in to make sure we’re enjoying our summer and updating us on what’s happening over the summer at the school. It also invited us to a meeting to show us some school apparel and mentioned something about school uniforms for the 2014/2015 school year.
Up until now I hadn’t really expected that to be a reality. And well quite frankly if you had asked me what I thought about school uniforms a few years ago I would have said, “I can’t afford that!” And it’s true, the thought of having to buy specific uniforms and then regular every day clothes on top of that seemed like too much. And truth be told, depending on what it will cost for uniforms I just might be struggling to uniform my daughter and keep her clothed the rest of the year as well.
But the reality of things when your kids get to a certain age where there are specific stores they want to buy their clothes in, uniforms might be cheaper. Now, I don’t buy my kids clothes we can’t afford. If we shop at Justice it’s when there are sales. For the most part any of those brand of clothes come from consignment shops.
However, the older they get the more specific they get about the items of clothing they want me to buy them. Maybe this is just a girl concern. I’m already dealing with it. My oldest (going into high school) wants to shop in cool stores like Pink. She feels going into high school she needs to dress to impress. I want to give that to her, but I can’t afford all of the clothes she wants.
And before you go saying that’s shallow to be worried about clothes, remember this is a teenager. I want to make school as easy for her as possible. I won’t go into hock to do it though and she understands that. If I can I will try to get her one or two outfits from the place she really wants, but I’m telling you if she had to wear a uniform that wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
But I also remember how I would have felt about uniforms at that age. We tell our kids we want them to be an individual and then put them all in the same clothes. It’s ridiculous, right? Well, not that our kids are being so individual having to have the same clothes as their friends, but none the less that would have been my argument as a teen or preteen.
When I told my middle daughter she might have to wear a uniform next year she said she didn’t want to. Her reasoning was actually more along the lines of having twice as much clothes. She doesn’t know where she’d put it all. Of course she wouldn’t really need twice as much. She is going to have a very long day likely not getting home until 5 most night and leaving the house at probably before 7 in the morning. So it’s not like she’s going to come home and have to change out of her uniform. She’ll need a few outfits to wear on the weekend and days when she doesn’t have school. Most of her wardrobe would end up being the uniform.
I’m sure if I probed more it would end up having something to do with not getting to wear the clothes she likes, but that was her initial reaction. None the less, depending on what she will need for a uniform and how much it will cost I’m kind of liking the idea of this.
I just hope this isn’t a deal breaker for her in staying in the school. When she was nervous about starting this new school I told her to give it a year and if she doesn’t like it she can go back to her local middle school. She was good with that. I’m hoping she makes enough friends and enjoys the school enough that the possibility of having to wear a uniform is a sacrifice she’s willing to make.
So what are your thoughts on school uniforms?
