A Note for the Teacher of my Disheveled Looking Children

Dear Teacher -

Despite how it may seem, I promise you that our family is doing fine.

I know that my daughter came to school today in the same sweatshirt that she had on yesterday, and the day before that...and the day before that. But believe me, she does have other clothes. This has just become her favorite sweatshirt, requiring that we do a very small load of laundry, at least every other day. We've explained to her that everyone now knows she has this great shirt, but it's been to no avail. She'll probably have it on tomorrow, too, so I don't want you to be concerned.

Yes, the other child came looking as if we have lost our hairbrush. We've just found it easier to brush her hair in the evening, with the comfort of p.j.'s and a bowl of ice cream. By the time she tosses and turns in bed and pulls a shirt on over her head in the morning, her ponytails may get a little crooked and look a bit frizzy. Her hair isn't as neat as it was prior to going to bed, but it really has been brushed, at least in the last couple of days.

As for her socks? Yes, I know they don't match and yes, it would be reasonable to go purchase more socks that match. But we have a terrible sock monster in the dryer and regardless of how many pairs of socks we buy, we lose one of each pair in the wash. The kids like the missed-match pairs. Really, they do.

I can understand why you are concerned about their outerwear and backpacks. It does look like the children have been dragged through the mud on the way to and from school. I can't really explain that, I wish I could. I've asked them and they just shrug and say something which I think is "I don't know."

And don't worry if they don't want breakfast at school today, they did eat at home. In fact, we do give them breakfast every day. And we send them with lunch every day, even if they don't eat it. And we do feed them dinner every night. We do include meat, vegetables, and carbs. Even dessert sometimes. They are more than well-fed.

So dear teacher, I do appreciate your concern, your note and calls. But yes, we are doing fine. We're just a growing family.



Regards -

A slacker mom of 4


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