Dreading school shopping? Try uniforms!
Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Shopping & recalls
With the start of the school year rapidly approaching, many parents are dreading the annual ritual of school clothes shopping. First, they'll spend hours scouring the Internet and newspaper for sales and deals to fit their shrinking budgets. Then they'll load up the kids for a long day of fitting rooms and check out lines -- not to mention negotiations over what is and isn't appropriate attire for school.
I relieved myself of this torture several years ago when my husband and I decided that a school uniform was the easiest and most affordable way for our growing family to deal with hectic mornings, rising costs, and trends in inappropriate fashion -- especially for girls.
At the beginning of August, I size my kids up and call the uniform company to stock up on whatever items they need or have grown out of. On average, we spend about $80 per child and the entire thing is delivered to my front door. With an e-mail order in to Zappos.com for shoes, my school clothes shopping is done!
But what do you do if your school doesn't have a school uniform policy? It's a great question. One I asked myself when I first enrolled my child in a Catholic school that did not require uniforms. My first thought was to initiate an optional uniform program with other like-minded parents. When faced with resistance, I decide that if the school didn't see the benefits, I wouldn't let it stop our family!
So, I purchased my then kindergarten daughter the cutest red plaid jumper and matching headband I could find. Now, all my school-age kids (ages 8, 6, and 4) wear uniforms even though they are the only ones in their small Catholic school who do. Thankfully, they love it. They get up, dress themselves, and come down for breakfasts. No fights, debates or last minute clothes changes.
If your kids' friends parents agree that uniforms help kids focus on school and not clothes, then you could try to encourage them to join you. There is strength in numbers.
My kids' uniforms are attractive and wear like iron; the knees are reinforced and they are stain resistant so I can pass them on to other sibs and keep my laundry duties down to a minimum.
One of the benefits of not having a uniform policy in place at your school is that you and your child can decide on the uniform for yourselves. When my kids switched schools (to another Catholic school that also did not have uniforms), my daughter and son were old enough to have a say in which style skirts, shirts and pants they liked. If you don't like the traditional Catholic school plaid, you can purchase a solid navy blue or khaki skirt, skort or pant. Old Navy, JcPenny's, and Land's End have large supplies of these basics for the many public schools that are transitioning to uniforms.
Certainly, starting this early has made it easier on my kids. They just accepted it when we introduced the idea and have now grown to appreciate the ease and simplicity of always knowing what to wear on a school day.
That said, your child's school and temperament should always be taken into account. If your child is certain to be teased or psychologically affected by it, it's not worth it.
Last year my daughter's 2nd grade teacher overheard a classmate ask my daughter why she always wears the same clothes. My daughter responded, "It's a uniform." She answered confidently and nonchalantly and that was the end of it. Neither my kids nor their teachers have ever reported any teasing or harassment as a result of their uniforms -- a reflection of both the spirit of the school and my kids' ages and personalities. I'm grateful for that.
As long as uniforms remain a non-issue for my children, I will avail myself of traditional school shopping and take pleasure in the slightly less chaotic mornings it affords this mother of five.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
the goddess anna 8-05-2008 @ 8:37AM
That actually seems like a good idea. With my oldest starting kindergarten this Fall, I'm not looking forward to spending money on the clothes I see in Walmart and Target. I don't know if I'll go with a plaid theme, but I think it would be a lot easier on me to have a set uniform. Thanks for the idea.
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Mom of Many 8-05-2008 @ 9:27AM
I would love to know where you are shopping for uniforms. I easily spend $ 250 per child and the uniforms do not last well enough to be passed down. My kids need warm weather and cold weather uniforms, then gym uniforms and shoes for both also. I do love the convenience of them wearing uniforms, which are required by the school. It makes getting ready for school much easier.
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Pavlina 8-05-2008 @ 10:42AM
Awesome! I am sooo doing this.
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Nicole 8-05-2008 @ 12:10PM
I love this idea! I would also love to know where you shop for your uniforms. I would love to try this with my family. I'm going crazy shopping the sales and finding cute/functional/appropriate clothes for my kids! Thanks for the idea!
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Maureen 8-05-2008 @ 1:37PM
What a wonderful idea! I love it because it cuts down on purchasing character based clothing, which are EVERYWHERE!
I went to Catholic schools growing up and I sometimes wish I could still wear a uniform.
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John Harrison 8-05-2008 @ 2:30PM
I run the fastest growing school uniform company in Europe - http://www.YourSchoolUniform.com
The good news: we make the shopping even more hassle free by offering it all online
The bad news: we don't cover the US at the moment! Sorry ;-)
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Kristina 8-07-2008 @ 2:00PM
My children used to wear uniforms, but are now so much happier being able to express themselves through their clothing choices. I am curious why others in your school haven't joined in the uniform idea. For younger children it is a great idea.
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Leigh 8-08-2008 @ 6:19PM
Two of my 4 children are in Catholic school and wear uniforms. Here's the Flynn & O'Hara website which makes our school uniforms (Blackwatch plaid --- love them!) with TONS of other great uniforms:
www.flynnohara.com
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Momof2 8-08-2008 @ 8:53PM
I realize that as a mom of boys (10 and 12) I probably have it easier, but here are my back-to-school tips: I don't buy until Columbus Day-ish at the earliest, sometimes as late as Veteran's Day in early November depending on the fall weather. Even though we live in a northern climate, I find that they can get by just fine on 1-2 pairs of last spring's pants, and it's shorts all the way on the Indian summer days with a sweater in the mornings. I also love the pants that zip off into shorts for this time of year!
I was never taken on a big back-to-school shopping trip as a kid, and I don't see the need to do that w/my kids. At most, I'll buy them one t-shirt they pick out when I buy sneakers in late August (but only if they need them ... many years, they haven't gotten a new pair of shoes until Columbus Day or later, when they need new ones).
They have 3 "school-day" outfits apiece, 1 sporty outfit to wear on phys. ed. days (which are conveniently on Mon and Fri, allowing for plenty of time to put them through the wash), and one dressier outfit. The dressy church-type outfits definitely get passed down from older to younger (or usually, bless him, from my nephew to my sons) as they're worn less.
Anyway, I guess this is our own version of a uniform ... but I think the key is to buy only what they need and then there is no confusion or craziness. Sure, I have to do laundry at least every other day to keep up with it so everything is clean when it's needed, but this has kept our clothing budget very stable over the years and I must say my kids look very clean-cut and put-together.
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World Habitat 8-11-2008 @ 11:43AM
My oldest daughters "uniform" for the longest time was anything DINOSAUR. Which posed a problem because there were no dino's clothes for girls - the solution: make them. Hence the birth of WORLD HABITAT, ORGANICS, being a tree hugger and post Hurrican Katrina and the Tsunami. We have things for little people and big people.
http://www.worldhabitatonline.com
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justjojo 9-17-2008 @ 11:24PM
Rachel,
After being so outraged by your Palin articles (both of them) as well as your repeated and still for me inexplicable appearances on CNN, I did a little researching on you, Rachel. I am amazed. The only reason you have the forum you do is because you are a pretty face who managed to get herself into the public eye in a trashy social experiment known as the "Real World," and then stretched your 15 minutes of fame by blowing your own motherhood horn all over the place. You have no qualifications for anything you are doing on this site nor on CNN. You act as if you invited motherhood. Newsflash! YOU DIDN'T. And now, something that I dreaded but hesitantly assumed has been confirmed: you're Catholic.
Oh Jesus Lord help us all. It is your ilk of ultra-conservative and narrow-minded Catholic who votes on the issue of abortion, stem-cell research and euthanasia alone and totally ignores the other and more highly compelling parts of Catholicism, namely social justice, helping the poor and sick, and opposition to the death penalty and war. You are the kind of Catholic who actually makes me feel ashamed that I am Catholic, too. Question: did you attend Catholic schools growing up? Because if you did, as I did for many years, you would be highly aware of how anathema Republicanism is to being Catholic. Go read some Thomas Aquinas. (If you know who he is....) Go read some St. Augustine. They may open your eyes. That's assuming you possess the higher skills of critical thinking and interpretation...
As I said in another thread - you really ought to be ashamed of yourself. You ought to go to confession and beg the Lord for forgiveness for your incredibly smug and arrogant and ill-informed spouting of Republican talking points on the national stage.
Give me a Joe Biden Catholic over a narrow-minded one-issue Catholic like you with NO humility whatsoever any day !!!!!!!!
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justjojo 9-18-2008 @ 12:25AM
P.S. Wait until your kids start going through puberty! Mark my words, those uniforms that they accept so readily nowadays will be the most hated item of clothing in their closet come 8th or 9th grade, with your girls maybe even a little earlier. And when that time comes around I imagine you'll write about it as if you discovered the nature of puberty and can help enlighten the rest of us. Ha!
My mother brought up 7 children from (all born within 8 years of one another) all alone after my father was taken away from us in Viet Nam. Now she's the kind of mom who should be writing about balancing parenting and working!!!
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justjojo 9-18-2008 @ 12:31AM
well, in my fervor and passion to write the above comment, I overlooked one major typing error...
that should have read: "...you act as if you INVENTED motherhood..."
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