parents

Parents at the school gate in pyjamas, I salute you.

 

A head teacher in the UK has had to send a note home in schoolbags asking parents to please put on some clothes before they drop their children at school.

No, there’s not a run on naked parents turning up to turn out little Johnny for prep. It’s just that the mums and dads at the gate are not bothering to get out of their pyjamas.

Kate Chisholm, head of Skerne Park Academy in the north of England, wrote:

“I have noticed there has been an increasing tendency for parents to escort children to and from school while still wearing their pyjamas and, on occasion, even slippers.

“Could I please ask that when you are escorting your children, you take the time to dress appropriately in daywear that is suitable for the weather conditions.

“We are trying to raise standards and get better outcomes for the children and we noticed a lot of the parents are turning up to school as well as meetings and assemblies wearing pyjamas, if we’re to raise standards it’s not too much to ask parents to have a wash and get dressed.

“I have had loads of support from the community and people saying it’s about time something was done. I have had far more positive responses than negative.

“If I get the parents on board then we often get the children too and in order to get the best chances for the children we have to raise the bar with the parents.”

I have one thing to say to these parents.

Lucky, lucky you.

Confessions: The time I felt like a terrible mother (post continues after video):

Don’t need to be anywhere after drop off? Haven’t got a boss looking at their watch while you dash from playground to public transport to parking your bum on your office chair? A boss who would expect you to wear, you know, CLOTHES? You don’t have to get straight to the doctor with a toddler/supermarket to get nonexistent milk/swimming lesson to feign interest in doggy paddle…

Lucky, lucky you.

Planning on going back to bed? Or lying on the lounge binge-watching Nashville in your snuggie?

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Lucky, lucky you.

Comfortable enough with your bed-head self to be seen without the armour of a work suit, heels, a full-face of make-up?

Lucky, lucky you.

Learned to shrug off the disapproving glances of all the other mums in their Lulelemon — and the head-teacher in her shirtdress, as it turns out?

Lucky, lucky you.

Perhaps your pyjamas are a fashion statement. I recently read a Day In The Life of a super-stylish magazine ed who “dared” to spend the day in her Celine PJs, a pair of killer-heels and a screw-you smile.

This doesn’t work so well if we’re talking Dora the Explorer flannels and fluffy slippers, but hey, each to their own.

As for everyone who’s wedded to the the idea that you need to get out of bed, have a shower, do your hair, put your face on, find shoes, feed everyone, pack several different bags, lunchboxes and achieve the perfect pigtail before you step out of the door…

Well, you’re just living under the thumb of The Man. Get a life, lovelies. Loosen up.

Yes, that includes me.

The day I can do school drop-off in my pyjamas is the day I know I’m living the dream, my friends.

See you in Nirvana. I’ll be the one with my hot water bottle and no-name Uggies.