5/16/11

I Insist That You Come To School Partially Clothed!

Orangeboy said his teacher "insisted" that they wear their bathing suits this morning.  It was 58 F this morning.  Orangeboy is traumatically cold natured and yet, he wore his bathing suit. Today is AR reward day and there is a "Beach Party" for the students who met their Advanced Reading (AR) goal this semester.  What this really means is that they will go outside for an hour or so and play on inflatable bounce houses and slides; including one slide that has water flowing down it.   I was given a memo that said boys were allowed to wear swim shorts with a shirt and girls could wear their bathing suits under clothes.   They could also take a change of clothes in the event that they got wet at the "Beach Party".

Last night, I told Orangeboy that it was going to be unseasonably chilly for their "Beach Party" morning and that he might consider avoiding the waterslide since he is so cold natured and would surely end up quaking like a leaf in a storm if he got wet.  I didn't think to tell him that if he wasn't getting wet, he wouldn't necessarily have to wear his swim shorts.  Neither did I think to tell him to be sure and wear his jeans over his swim shorts, if he chose to wear them, so he wouldn't be cold on the way to school.   Last year, we went over this aspect of dressing for the same event and I didn't realize we needed to review.

I didn't see him until I was walking out to the car; since Father-figure is responsible for making sure the gang of three gets ready and I am responsible for getting myself ready and driving them to school.   Father-figure often fails to notice little details about Orangeboy's appearance and wardrobe misjudgements.  So I see Orangeboy getting into the car wearing a swimguard shirt and swim shorts with his bluing arms and legs sticking out in the morning chill.  This is when I questioned him and was told that his teacher had "insisted" that they wear their swim suits in the morning. 

I am certain that Orangeboy's teacher simply wanted her students to understand that they could come dressed for the "Beach Party" and just change into dry clothes after, rather than having to change twice.  Given that the morning temperature started out in the 50s, I'm sure she wouldn't have been upset to see students wearing appropriate clothes, either over swimwear or instead of.  But this is Orangeboy's latest rule-sy thing.  He throws in that "insist" whenever someone gives advice or instructions without prefacing with "In my opinion, you may want to..." or without giving a list of possible exceptions; such as:

"In my opinion, you should wear your swimsuits in the morning, since we will be going out to the "Beach Party" early in the day.  Then you can just change afterwards.   Of course, you may choose to wear clothes without a swimsuit and you can still bring a change in case you need them.  You can also choose not to get wet and then you won't need to wear a swimsuit or change.  It's up to you and your parents and what you think is best for you."

The world sure would be a lot wordier if Orangeboy were running things.  Although the word "implication" means nothing to him.

                                    

1 comment:

  1. This brought me back to when my son was more scared of making the teacher mad than me. I can remember so many times I would tell him, "I am SURE that isn't what she meant!".

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