A school in the US has introduced a new dress code – for parents.
James Madison High School in Houston, Texas, sent this letter home in English and Spanish, in which items such as satin caps, bonnets and – intriguingly, shower caps – are forbidden.
Also on the ‘banned’ list are hair rollers, pyjamas, underwear, jeans “torn from your buttocks to all the way down showing lots of skin” and very low-cut tops – plus Daisy Duke hot pants and low rider shorts.
“We are preparing our children for the future and it starts here,” wrote Principal Carlotta Outley Brown, as reported by The Register.
It’s not the first time attempts have been made in the US to enforce dress codes for caregivers. In January, Memphis Democratic state representative Antonio Parkinson put forward his proposal for a ‘code of conduct’ for parents to forbid them from turning up at the school gate in “inappropriate clothing”, like lingerie.
But is it fair, or right, to dictate what mums, dads and carers wear at the school gate? Especially when – if anything like me – they’re lucky to have time to put on clothes at all?
My school run mornings go a little like this: hurl myself out of bed at 7am, wake up the kids. Chase the two-year-old around the house to attempt to get him dressed as he runs away, stark naked and giggling. Realise the seven-year-old has no clean tights, grab some that look passable from the washing basket, then make everyone breakfast. Run upstairs to have a 30-second shower, shove something on, realise the toddler has taken all his clothes off and begin again.
It’s virtually impossible to find time for yourself when you have school and nursery-aged kids, and I have every sympathy for parents who shove a coat on over their PJs.
Some mornings (those terrible ones, where nobody listens and everybody cries), it can feel nothing short of a miracle to leave the house at all. And if you haven’t had time to shower or to choose a killer outfit, well – so what? You’ve got the kids to school on time, and that’s much more important than an immaculately made-up face.
Mind you, I do have two secret tips I deploy to make it look like I’ve made an effort, when the reality is anything but:
1. Choose a bright dress to wear (nobody will notice unwashed hair if you dazzle them with print).
2. Lipstick: pink, bright red, even orange.
Though the real secret is that I don’t do either of those things to please the school staff, or to pass as a capable parent in the eyes of the PTA. I do it because it makes me feel good.
And an enforced dress code isn’t likely to do that.