It’s time for a DRESS UP FESS UP.
Ok ok ok…so I am ALL FOR my kids not doing drugs. OBVIE.
But must we really have a full Red Ribbon Week of dress up to commemorate this desire that nearly every parent on the face of the earth shares?
Like I am sure a TON of teenagers who were about to smoke their first joint paused for a moment and remembered that day when they wore sunglasses to school in second grade— and thought, “My future’s too bright to do this.”
I’m gonna go out on a limb here but PROLLY not.
Or better yet, can we please sandwich said Red Ribbon Week between “Wear Orange for Anti- Bullying” day, “Wear school Colors” to the fall festival, “50th Day of School” fifties dress up, HoCo spirit week, and my church Trunk or Treat?
AND let’s not forget the ACTUAL dress up holiday we call Halloween happening in a week?
My kids have literally had to dress up for school 8 out of the last 10 days… and counting. Mmmmmmm K. We need to have a little talk.
If you have only boys, you may exempt yourself from reading the rest of this. Good for you. Dress up for 50th Day fifties attire for boys = jeans, a white t-shirt and hair gel. AMIRITE?
When you have a girl— or THREE girls like I do— dress up days call for all the feels.
All.The.Feels.
And it makes me want to say All.The.Words.
When you go to school with a bunch of kids who were raised on Pinterest, you get to experience all the outfit planning, all the crying, all the special hair-do’s, all the needs for the exact right shoes. Did I say all the crying yet?
None of my girls want to be Rizzo for fifties day and wear black. They want to be SANDY. And they want their hair curled. And they want an actual felt poodle on their skirt.
Can’t I just fry them an egg for breakfast and tell them “this is your brain on drugs, any questions?” and call it a week?
And guess what— since it is 80 degrees in Alabama, we don’t have our boots out yet to “Give Drugs the Boot!”. So I get to make a trip up to the attic to find three pair of said boots. Special.
Excuse me if I am a little preoccupied trying to keep all the little women alive and fed and clothed and free of head lice. Someone give me a break. Just say NO.
Red Ribbon Week is “An alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign.” Forget the fact that dress up week actually makes the parents want to do all the drugs.
Can we not just add in “Anti Bullying” and call it a day? Can we not just call it the “week we bring awareness to every single thing on the planet that we do not want our kids to do EVER”?
Because really— we do not wear orange in this family.
My thoughts are this:
LESS dress up = LESS angry moms who are LESS likely to be driven to drink by Red Ribbon Week = moms who are MORE intentional in training up their kids to not do drugs = kids who hopefully by the grace of God are LESS likely to do drugs.
Perhaps the real problem is the entitlement of my own kids in all the dressing up.
Moms of the Year, for the love, please tone it down for the sake of kids like mine.
As for the rest of you, if you see my people with a picture of a poodle safety-pinned to their skirt or with their socks inside out for “Crazy Sock Day,” I hope you can just smile and say, “That mom is my kind of people.”
I wish keeping masses of people off drugs were as simple as dressing up for a week once a year. I fear the problem is much, much bigger. And it needs far more attention than a dress up week at school.
Hopefully within the walls of our homes we can speak deeply into the hearts of our children about the decision to “just say no” to drugs. Your words and actions as a parent have far more power than fancy clothes to “out dress drugs” can ever have.
In the mean time, moms everywhere, raise your glasses to “Red Ribbon Survival Week” and let’s hope and pray those crazy hats and team jerseys (Go Dawgs!) “team up” and win the war on drugs for all our sakes.
#firstworldproblems
Ok ok ok…so I am ALL FOR my kids not doing drugs. OBVIE.
But must we really have a full Red Ribbon Week of dress up to commemorate this desire that nearly every parent on the face of the earth shares?
Like I am sure a TON of teenagers who were about to smoke their first joint paused for a moment and remembered that day when they wore sunglasses to school in second grade— and thought, “My future’s too bright to do this.”
I’m gonna go out on a limb here but PROLLY not.
Or better yet, can we please sandwich said Red Ribbon Week between “Wear Orange for Anti- Bullying” day, “Wear school Colors” to the fall festival, “50th Day of School” fifties dress up, HoCo spirit week, and my church Trunk or Treat?
AND let’s not forget the ACTUAL dress up holiday we call Halloween happening in a week?
My kids have literally had to dress up for school 8 out of the last 10 days… and counting. Mmmmmmm K. We need to have a little talk.
If you have only boys, you may exempt yourself from reading the rest of this. Good for you. Dress up for 50th Day fifties attire for boys = jeans, a white t-shirt and hair gel. AMIRITE?
When you have a girl— or THREE girls like I do— dress up days call for all the feels.
All.The.Feels.
And it makes me want to say All.The.Words.
When you go to school with a bunch of kids who were raised on Pinterest, you get to experience all the outfit planning, all the crying, all the special hair-do’s, all the needs for the exact right shoes. Did I say all the crying yet?
None of my girls want to be Rizzo for fifties day and wear black. They want to be SANDY. And they want their hair curled. And they want an actual felt poodle on their skirt.
Can’t I just fry them an egg for breakfast and tell them “this is your brain on drugs, any questions?” and call it a week?
And guess what— since it is 80 degrees in Alabama, we don’t have our boots out yet to “Give Drugs the Boot!”. So I get to make a trip up to the attic to find three pair of said boots. Special.
Excuse me if I am a little preoccupied trying to keep all the little women alive and fed and clothed and free of head lice. Someone give me a break. Just say NO.
Red Ribbon Week is “An alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign.” Forget the fact that dress up week actually makes the parents want to do all the drugs.
Can we not just add in “Anti Bullying” and call it a day? Can we not just call it the “week we bring awareness to every single thing on the planet that we do not want our kids to do EVER”?
Because really— we do not wear orange in this family.
My thoughts are this:
LESS dress up = LESS angry moms who are LESS likely to be driven to drink by Red Ribbon Week = moms who are MORE intentional in training up their kids to not do drugs = kids who hopefully by the grace of God are LESS likely to do drugs.
Perhaps the real problem is the entitlement of my own kids in all the dressing up.
Moms of the Year, for the love, please tone it down for the sake of kids like mine.
As for the rest of you, if you see my people with a picture of a poodle safety-pinned to their skirt or with their socks inside out for “Crazy Sock Day,” I hope you can just smile and say, “That mom is my kind of people.”
I wish keeping masses of people off drugs were as simple as dressing up for a week once a year. I fear the problem is much, much bigger. And it needs far more attention than a dress up week at school.
Hopefully within the walls of our homes we can speak deeply into the hearts of our children about the decision to “just say no” to drugs. Your words and actions as a parent have far more power than fancy clothes to “out dress drugs” can ever have.
In the mean time, moms everywhere, raise your glasses to “Red Ribbon Survival Week” and let’s hope and pray those crazy hats and team jerseys (Go Dawgs!) “team up” and win the war on drugs for all our sakes.
#firstworldproblems
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