One of the challenges of being a stay-at-home or work-at-home parent is finding the motivation to be presentable to the outside world. It’s even harder for me because the two people who see me the most, Full Speed and T.Puzzle, could care less what I look like. It doesn’t matter if I spend two minutes or two hours on my appearance, they think I look exactly the same. I actually appreciate this about them because it helps me remember in our appearance-focused culture, that what we look like really isn’t why our loved ones care about us.
On most days, I make at least a small amount of effort to put myself together. Granted, 90% of the time I’m in work-out gear but at least it is color coordinated, almost obsessively so, and I actually work-out.
This morning I did something I seldom do. I decided that I would drive the boys to school in my pjs. They thought this was absolutely hilarious. Frankly, I was surprised they even noticed. I figured we would get there early, as usual, and no one would be the wiser.
Wouldn’t you know it? The school PRINCIPAL was on duty helping kids get out of their cars. She rarely is on drop-off duty and to make matters worse, she was as early as could be. So much for going unnoticed. Never in my life did my Tinkerbell pajama pants taunt me so loudly. At least my hair was combed,… well, kind of combed.
I did the only thing I could do. I told the boys to use their manners, give her direct eye contact and wish her a good morning. My strategy was to disarm her with their adorable manners. Adorable manners are very powerful. She greeted us warmly and sent the boys on their way.
The moral of the story is, if you are going to wear pajamas to school drop-off, make sure at least your hair is combed, at least moderately so, and pray your school’s faculty are fans of your Disney character-themed pants.
Writes for all Mommies 