Let the Dorkification Begin

I blame it on the parents. I always blame it on the parents.

I watch the second graders leave their parents each morning and walk that sidewalk to stand beside their peers. And it is blatantly obvious that some of the parents are just clueless. Oh, those poor poor kids. Their parents are dork-ifying them.

Take for example the little boy whose mom makes him wear the cotton t-shirt material shorts that are too short with the athletic socks pulled up to his knees, accompanied by the velcro tennis shoes. This is second grade people. It's probably going unnoticed now but it won't for much longer. Knee socks with short shorts = bad. And velcro is okay if you are in preschool or kindergarten but after that it's gotta go.

Or the littel girl who wears the Kmart-y slidey canvas shoes in black, with red socks. And nothing else that she is wearing that day is black or red. Not good. At all. They don't match the major floral pattern thing she put on that day either. And that is definitely not good.

I'm not a Tommy Hilfiger, Vans, Heelies, Gymboree kind of mom. I could be, but I'm not. Okay, well except for the Hilfiger - but only for myself. My kids wear average clothes from places like Target, Children's Place, Kohl's, etc. But it's clean, well fitting clothes that they put on their bodies. Khaki shorts and a polo shirt. Or Khaki capris with that pink camoflauge shirt I was conned into buying for the girls. Easy stuff that mixes and matches. Match being the operative word.

And it's not like the parents are dorks themselves. They look well put together and have clothes that are totally in season, in style, match and fit well.

So why are they doing it to their kids? Even if they don't have money there are other ways to have your kids look good. And you know....the times when we were tight on money, I always made sure my kids were looking better than me in their clothes even if I was wearing rags. I've already been through the hellish years of school and I know how awful the kids can be.

Time to stop the dorkification people.