Casual Kindergarten

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a kindergarten graduation—one that did not involve my children. They, in fact, were still in school. So I didn’t have to film the event, or take pictures or even arrive early for optimal seating. I just showed up, stood against the wall, and basked in all the sweetness.

Now, I was raised to dress up for special occasions, and I insist my daughters do the same. But I’m not a fashionista, by any means. I’m against school uniforms. I’m for the Casual Work Place.

So I couldn’t help noticing that all the kindergarten girls looked like American Girl models in their skirts/dresses with matching dress shoes and hair accessories. But after a while I started to wonder what happened to all the American Boys. I counted four boys who were dressed up—wearing belted khaki pants and a tucked in shirt and dress shoes. I smiled deeply at the one boy actually wearing a tie. A large number of boys wore tennis shoes, khaki pants and dress shirts, but the shirts weren’t tucked in, and they weren’t wearing belts. The rest of the boys were wearing play clothes. Call me old-fashioned, but the Camouflage-Bermudas-&-Crocs look didn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong; these were all beautiful, well-behaved boys.

Interestingly, every father in the place was dressed in a suit and tie, or belted pants, tucked in shirt, and dress shoes.

Stores still sell boys belts and dress shoes, right? Are parents of boys so busy they can’t track these items down? Someone mentioned that Crocs Boy was a fourth child. Do mothers of large families eventually just stop trying on the fourth kindergarten graduation?

Maybe this “boy casual” uniform means nothing, but it seems like it means something—like it’s a metaphor for different standards for the sexes. I mean, mothers of girls are never too busy to run around putting together nice outfits for their daughters, right? And none of those girls up on the stage could be a third or fourth child, right?