September 06, 2006

Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM) - Back To School Division

Well, today is the Six Year Old's first day of first grade lower elementary at St. Marie of the Blessed Educational Method.

I dunno what conditions are like at other Montessori schools, but our headmistress comes from a solid Catholic school background. Therefore, all the elementary kids wear uniforms.

The S-Y-O was so excited about suiting up for the first time that she was out of bed and dressed well before six ack emma. I suppose the novelty will wear off soon enough, but even when the child has to be lifted out of bed with high explosives, it'll be a helluva lot easier to get her dressed and breakfasted in fifteen minutes if you know exactly what it is she'll have to wear. This is one of the nifty things about school uniforms.

Here's another one. The S-Y-O has inherited her elder sister's hand-me-downs. The Eight Year Old, in turn, got many of her dresses from another family at the school, whose own girls had outgrown them. Once the S-Y-O gets too big, she will, in turn, hand them on to her younger sister. (That is, if the Four Year Old doesn't get bigger than her first, a distinct possibility.) And once the F-Y-O is too big for them, I'm sure we'll pass them on to somebody else.

You can insert your own cheap Scotsman joke here, but I derive an immense amount of satisfaction from this arrangement.

UPDATE: Lileks is ranting today about incompetent school bus drivers. I have to admit that one of the things I'll miss about summer is not getting stuck repeatedly behind these yellow behemoths on the way over to the Metro.

Posted by Robert at September 6, 2006 08:34 AM | TrackBack
Comments

What's so funny about being thrifty? Not to mention, all the enviro's must be happy; you are recycling.
(With both Dutch and Scots blood in me, I strive to be cheap, er, thrifty.)

Posted by: rbj at September 6, 2006 08:55 AM

Nothing wrong with being thrifty where clothing is concerned, especially with kids. One of my SIL's sends me clothes her daughters have outgrown and it's wonderful. The clothes are in great shape and I hardly had to get my daughter anything in the way of summer clothes.

Posted by: GroovyVic at September 6, 2006 11:50 AM

"The S-Y-O was so excited about suiting up..." Good for her, I hope she has a great time.

And as someone who wore uniforms for 12 years, I can tell you they are the best. You always know what you're going to wear and you don't have to compete with the rich kids.


Posted by: ak at September 6, 2006 11:16 PM

When we lived in SoCal we were part of a snow suit co-op. Taking the kids to the cold? Check in with the co-op. Buy something because what you needed wasn't in stock? Turn it over to the co-op. This really was great and, the kids liked it too.

Posted by: Babs at September 8, 2006 09:18 AM