Happy & Healthy
Does your schoolyard outfit count, or is life before ten o'clock just for show?
Having a child is incredibly fun, but what I find a huge disappointment is the school run. When I no longer had to go to school myself and therefore, thank God, didn't have to show up anywhere at half past eight, I crossed an early start off my to-do list as the first thing. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with rush hour and getting out of bed before dawn for my entire adult life; better for everyone, believe me, because of morning moods.
Until my daughter turned four and had to go to school. Here we go again, I thought. Damn. Once again, getting up inhumanly early and pretending to be cheerful before the respectable end of the time slot at 10 o'clock against your own little one, dealing with traffic and mothers at school, because you can't bother everyone with your extraordinarily terrible morning mood – right? Waking the little one, folding a sandwich, showering, getting dressed – it doesn't happen automatically with those little humans. And then pedaling through the super busy Amsterdam morning rush to school. There's no worse way to start the day than that.
”In the past, yes in the past, I used to wear nice clothes”
You understand that some core values quickly fell by the wayside. And showing up presentable for the day is one of them. In the past, yes in the past, I used to wear nice clothes, with a little earring here and a bracelet there, but now I settle for yanking a pair of jeans out of the closet and my beloved sports grey sweater (which is always good – but still: this, every day, and you just have a uniform). And a dab of foundation, the rest comes later. Quick enough, I don't have to think about anything and it saves at least a quarter of an hour of nest time. At least.
But when I helpfully advised my friend to just bring her kids to school in pants and a sweater and then later get dressed up, we could hear the thunder in Cologne. There wasn't a hair on her head that thought about going to school not dressed to the nines. Clothes, heels, makeup, matching bag… this, that, everything. Sweatpants? Or without makeup? Hell no. She found it shabby. ‘But I have showered, right?’ I protested, but my dear friend didn't want to hear it. It might save time, but it was the most ridiculous idea ever. Outside the door, you maintain your decorum.
”Ehm, the mirror claimed the exact opposite”
Ouch. So I thought it was possible. I also see other parents showing up at the schoolyard with bed hair and in slightly too easy pants. Admittedly: if I suspect they rolled out of bed onto their bike, I find that a bit shabby too, a kind of disinterest in yourself and your appearance, but I thought I could get away with being showered, makeup-free, and in clean clothes. Ehm, the mirror claimed the exact opposite. Look, I had never done that either, looking in the mirror in the morning. No time, right.
Well, now I have a problem. Because now I know it looks mega stupid, like this without fluff and frills. Boring. Gray mouse-like. As if life isn't smiling at me. Which it isn't before ten, but after that, it's fine. Do I want to present myself like this? Or do I not care what people think? Can we please agree that what happens at the school run stays there? That we have the unspoken rule that you are not, never, the person who shows up at the schoolyard at half past eight? That your real self only comes out around ten or so? Great, that's settled then. What a relief.
Written by Kalinka Hählen
