Yikes...here comes School

Yeah, sounds crazy right in the very middle of July. But there I was tonight sitting on the couch with my "grumpy to be thinking of wearing a stiff khaki skort five days a week" teen wearing out the pages of our Lands End Uniform Catalog.

Then...I realized it's an All Uniform Year. Yep, my little kindergartener will be part of the Khaki Skirt Brigade this year. Only she can throw in a navy blue one when she feels like mixing up things.

But back to my Skort Wearing Teen. I said something I maybe shouldn't have tonight. I told her that figuring out school uniforms with her was less than my favorite thing to do. Nothing against her. It's difficult when you are 13 to stomach too many rules and regulations on a regular basis as it is. Tell a teenage girl she has to wear a stiff skort down to her knees and watch the buzz on the internet as they figure out ways around it...or at least how to live through it.

Their tricks are very clever. Well, duh...of course. ;-) Until tonight the only one I secretly knew about was the rolling the waistband down five times trick (okay, I exaggerate) which drastically changes a skort's length. Their newest idea...and oh my gosh it's really going to work...is to order at least two sizes down in a plus size. Same measurements as their regular size only the tops of their knees will see some sunlight. Nothing too short, just looking for a little room to move around and, yes, perhaps hoping to appear a tiny bit more fashionable.

One teen I know has such deep thoughts about wearing a uniform that she wrote to Teen Vogue last week remarking on their August Back to School Fashion Spread. She explained how excited she was about Teen Vogue's advice and how quickly she looked through the magazine to find the photos. She explained that she was immediately disappointed because she - along with many of her friends - is required to wear a uniform "back to school". And she wondered if the magazine possibly could run a fashion spread (did I make up that term?) on how to maintain your sense of fashion or something like that when your only wardrobe choice Monday through Friday is a Forest Green shirt and, yep, a stiff Khaki extra long skort.

Hmmm. Don't know if she'll get an answer or if there is an answer to that particular question. But I do think it's pretty cool that she wasted no time in expressing her thoughts and, more importantly, asking if they could do something different.

Yeah, I think that's very cool. For 13. You know, complaining could have come naturally but asking for a specific solution...not so much.

So maybe this year our 10 month long debate over catalogs and hems and such will be overshadowed by the birth of a teenager's investigative reporting mind. But the question is...just how far will she take things before she's satisfied with an answer?

Kidding, just kidding. Time for Mom to be quiet now.

Night. :-)