Would wearing a suit make me a better parent?

Yesterday it came out in the press that a Headteacher had written to parents asking them to stop wearing pyjamas on the school run. If i’m honest my first reaction was to be a bit jealous. They have Mums that wear pjs on the school run?! Oh how glorious that must be. You see my school run is very different. At our school it seems like all of the other Mums are yummy Mummies and they all rock up looking wonderfully immaculate whilst wearing their beautifully ironed clothes and they are wearing actual make-up (not last nights). I on the other hand rock up with a birds nest for hair and mostly sometimes yoghurt stained tops and my mascara might be smudged. This is not because I didn’t take it off properly the night before. Absolutely not *cough*. By the way am I the only one who removes her mascara the night before but then finds that some has magically reappeared under her eyes the next morning? Yes, I’m more your slummy Mummy. The shame.

So I would quite like it if other parents wore pjs if only to make me feel less slovenly! However, I can also see the Headteachers point too. It is about the negative associations with wearing what should be your bed wear out of the house, it doesn’t create the best impression. Don’t get me wrong I love a good pj day but I would never wear my pjs out of the house.

But then again should this not be our choice to make? As adults should we not be free to decide what we want to wear on the school run? What I don’t like about the letter is that apparently it calls it a

 

“pretty poor indictment of the parenting skills of some of our families”

Now that I have an issue with. I don’t agree with the sweeping inference that is being made here. Does wearing pjs really make you a bad parent. Does the clothes we wear really reflect how good we are as a parent?

 

I mean if I wore a tracksuit does this make me a Mum that isn’t as good as the Mum who is wearing a suit? What do jeans say about me? I live in jeans.

 

Oh no now I feel like I have stumbled into a whole minefield. As well as getting my children ready for school, feeding them, washing them, brushing their teeth, making the packed lunch I now need to think about what I wear because it clearly is telling the whole world what I am like as a parent. So perhaps I need to go and invest in a variety of suits for the school run, so that I can create an impression of being a very busy and important person and therefore fantastic parent. Perhaps power dressing is the way forward for school runs.

Also will I be judged for what my toddler wears? This morning it was a princess dress over her jeans and top and finished with wellies. What does this say about me as a parent?

I do agree with the Headteacher to a certain degree but I do think that how she handled it could have been better. Perhaps a quiet word with some of the parents asking them if they would mind not wearing their pjs on the school run but I don’t think it was her place to tell them. The Headteacher is there to run the school and to ensure that the children are getting a good education so i’m not sure how a fews pjs on the school run impacts on this. But like or not we are judged on our appearances and perhaps this is something I need to remember more too.

But the Headteacher might want to realise that a lot of fashion can look like Pjs. In fact the spring fashion look is exactly that. Slinky nightdresses might start occurring on the school run. Now I would like to see what the Headteacher says then!