Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Just put on your pants

Most of the time I take a pretty relaxed attitude about what the girls wear to school each day. I buy all their clothing, and I don't buy them anything that isn't appropriate for school. Ella doesn't really care about what she wears, as long as she can hang upside down from trees and monkey bars without showing her panties. Lily likes skirts and things with ruffles. But that's about the extent of their clothing preferences.

So on the mornings when Ella comes out with plaid shorts and a striped shirt, I shrug and figure that at least she's dressed. There are bigger battles to fight than whether her clothing matches.

Some days, though, I do put my foot down. Today was one of those days. Ella's class is going on a field trip to the San Antonio Zoo, which is a big deal for the kids. They're even riding on charter buses.

This morning the temperatures were in the low 40s, and today's high is supposed to be in the mid 60s. Ella came out dressed in shorts with her required "field trip shirt." I sent her back in to put on long pants. Five minutes later I found her on the floor in her room sobbing because she wanted to wear shorts.

Now, on a normal school day I would have let her wear shorts because they don't spend much time outside. But today she'll be outside all day long, and I didn't want her to be cold.

I tried reasoning with her, but I wasn't successful. So I resorted to yelling, "Just put on your pants!" Probably not my finest parenting moment. But I was willing to have her be angry at me if it meant she wouldn't spend the day freezing at the zoo.

Fortunately, by the time she left for school the excitement about the trip had helped her forget her clothing woes. She and her best buddy from next door were excitedly talking about who was going to sit where.

I just hope it doesn't get too warm. If she ends up being hot wearing her pants, I'll never hear the end of it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

ah, i yelled like that this morning too (and snapped my fingers after telling my son to put his shies on 5 times). not my finest hour either

donna said...

My 3 children wear uniforms to school....and I am SO grateful for that EVERY day :0)

Anonymous said...

Oy. Pants battles. *shudder* We have those at least weekly here, and I mostly take the same attitude about the clothes as you do - if they are appropriate and suitable for the weather, then so be it.

Hope she was comfy.

Holly Denghel said...

If it makes you feel better ... I live in Austin, and I have a friend who NEVER wears pants. Wears shorts even on the rare below freezing days. And he's the healthiest guy I know.