Most school dress codes are the same -- nothing overtly revealing, no gang symbols, and some even have uniforms. All these dress codes have one goal in common: to avoid distraction or allow anything harmful to interfere with our kids' day.

But what if your child's school decided their dress code applied to parents, too? That you couldn't set foot at their school -- even just to stand outside your car waiting to pick your child up -- if you were wearing a tank top or pajama pants? Worse, what if they claimed they'd make your child find an alternate way home if you chose to wear something that didn't fit 'the code'?

This is the reality for one school.

The mom says the topic came up when she and a friend were discussing moms wearing pajama pants, and her friend showed her the handbook that says:

We respectfully request that parents who drop off their children and pick them up from school follow all of the dress code expectations that students are expected to follow including the rule stating that pajamas are not to be worn.

Whether you get all sparkled up in the morning or not, that's not the issue. I put on jeans to run to the store, but they're not comfortable so my yoga pants are back on as soon as I'm home. I am not, however, going to get fully dressed to drive to my son's school, where I may not even get out of the car, except maybe to help him untwist the seatbelt before we drive away. Call me lazy. I work from home; I get the luxury of being comfortable and not make extra laundry for myself by getting dressed to be outside my car for three seconds. And in the morning? Forget it. It's enough work getting my son up and ready for school on time, while keeping my daughter out of trouble.

But I digress ... the school's handbook apparently further states:

If a parent does not follow the dress code guidelines, we will request that the child find another means of transportation to school.

"Just pull on some jeans, you slob!" isn't the answer. This is a public school, by the way. It's one thing to require a dress code for kids, but for parents? Yeah, not so much. Kids follow the rules because they attend that school and go inside all day. My jammie pants won't interfere with learning, I promise. Maybe if I were in a lacy nightie, sure! I promise if I showed up in protest wearing my Homer Simpson zombie pants, fuzzy bunny slippers and a tank top, I'd likely have less negative effect than the parents who constantly talk on their phones, cuss, or smoke next to their car with their kids around. There's a hell of a lot things worse than parents in PJs at school pick-up lines. Rock on, jammied moms.

Do you think parents should have to adhere to the dress code set for children?

 

Image via lululemon althletica/Flickr