Decided

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Apparently I just needed a little prodding and maybe just thinking about the issue in way of a post was it. And I decided on...a compromise. We will have a uniform, of sorts. Peach will wear a white blouse, of which we have a few and of which I ordered a few on clearance (sweet?), and a skirt that is already in her closet. She has enough to wear a different one every day of the week. Noah will wear a navy blue polo-style shirt and khaki shorts or pants. My greatest con was cost, and because Noah wears a man's size clothes, I was afraid the outlay for new clothes for him would be outrageous. A sale at Kohls.com proved fortuitous and I was able to get both kids outfitted for under $75. I bought Noah shorts for now, and since he needed some shorts anyway, I killed two birds with one stone. I will purchase a few pairs of twill athletic-style pants when the weather turns cold.

Unlike Jennie's kids, my kids aren't mucking stalls during the school day, so I believe they can stay reasonably clean as to not ruin the clothes, even if they wear them after school. I hope this decision does not double my wash -- if the kids wear two outfits a day, I'll have gone backwards instead of forwards (although with Peach, two outfits a day would probably be cutting back).

Primarily, my decision to push forward with uniforms was two-fold. I want my kids to consciously distinguish between school time and playtime. Peach was having a particularly difficult time doing that, as she was known to slip away from the school table and out the back door to play while I was working with Noah. I also want the children to look nice for Mass. Secondarily they will look nice if we have to go to the doctor's office. The bottom line is, my children were wearing clothes I wouldn't have let them wear to school, even to public school, and I think that they were carrying the sloppiness over into their school work.

Time will tell, if it makes a difference.

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