Lesson of the Day

Back in my college days some friends and I used to do what we called "Stares and Glares" days.  We would put on the most outrageous, revealing or ridiculous get-up we could find and go do mundane things like walk about the mall just to see the looks we got from people.  It was entertaining to see people stare or glare at us.  It made us giggle to see reactions from people pointing, staring, dropping their jaws.  The guy that actually snapped a picture will live forever in my mind!

Nowadays though, as a mom, I have a different take on "Stares and Glares" days.

I'm really not one of those people that looks in the mirror twenty times before walking out the door.  Nor do I lay out my children's outfits the night before according to what we have scheduled for the next day, due in large part to the fact that our lives aren't scheduled and the fact that Daughter has her own sense of style already and usually picks her own outfits and helps me pick out Son's outfits too, so sometimes we step out the door without thinking about what other people may think.

Before I go too far, I must explain I live in a VERY conservative area.  I mean, LITERALLY, there are two churches I could throw a rock at from my front door, five more that I could walk to without breaking a sweat and several people still adhere to the "no work on Sundays" idea.  OK, that being said, we went to the library the other day.  I walked out the door in a Miller Lite "I'd Tap That" T-shirt and a Jack Daniels hat from my bartending days carrying a skull and crossbones denim diaper bag.  Daughter was wearing a pair of jean shorts with skull and crossbones leg warmers and a Breast Cancer Awareness shirt that says, "Find a cure before I grow boobs."  Son had on a "hear no, see no, speak no evil" sock monkey onesie with skull and crossbones baby boy leg warmers.  I thought nothing about our outfits.

We walk into the library and the first woman behind the counter looks at us head down, over her glasses, pursed lips, disapproving.  An older woman that was there with her grandchildren literally steered her granddaughter away from my daughter when my daughter said hi to her.  I said hi to another mother when I realized she was staring at me and she quickly looked back down at her book.

All of a sudden it hits me and I look at our outfits...and I decide I couldn't care less about what these people think of me!  And this could be a fun and teachable moment all at once.

I crouched down in front of Daughter and in a little overly loud voice, said, "Honey, the reason that Grandma didn't want you playing with her granddaughter is because she's judging us by our clothes.  You know how I always tell you to never judge a book by its cover?" Nodding.  "Well, all these people are looking at our clothes and automatically passing judgment on us.  It doesn't feel too good does it?"  Shaking of her head.  "Yeah, it's sad when adults haven't learned lessons they should have learned as children but I love your sense of style and I know you're an amazing little girl so don't let these adults that are behaving poorly change a thing about what you think about yourself!  Let's go find you some books babe."  We walked to the children's books section and had a great time.  I highly enjoyed the shamed looks on a lot of the adults' faces and I also got to reinforce a lesson with Daughter.  You couldn't have knocked the smile off my face with a Louisville Slugger at that point!

I don't think any of those adults enjoyed their lesson of the day!