The Shared Motherhood Experience Of Looking Like A Hot Mess At School Drop-Off
There are a lot of things I judged before becoming a parent. Toys left in the yard, babies wearing only diapers, serving chicken nuggets for dinner more than once a week — but nothing has quite humbled me like the judgment I had for moms who look like a wreck at school drop-off. How hard is it to put on decent clothes, I wondered. Is it really that tough to brush your teeth? Honestly, how busy can you be that you leave the house without a bra to take your kid to school?
Haaaaaahahaha.
A mom on Reddit felt the same way. In the subreddit /Mommit, the original poster (OP) shared how much she loves seeing every mom walk into school drop-off looking like an absolute disaster — but their kids always look nice and clean.
“I love how wrecked all of us moms look at school drop-off in the morning,” OP wrote. “I love walking my daughter into kindergarten and seeing all of these tired moms shuffling along with their daughters. The girls always have their hair beautifully done up in perfect little pigtails and bows, and the moms smell like a cloud of hairspray, making it obvious they just busted their tired asses combing lumps out of ponytails and tying ribbons. Meanwhile, they're all in pajamas with messy buns sagging off the side of their heads. It's just such a perfect representation of what motherhood looks like sometimes. Making sure our kids look and feel their best at 7 a.m., even though we have spaghetti stains on our t-shirts.”
AMEN.
The comments were a mixture of solidarity and awe. Solidarity for those who also look and feel like a zombie shoving their kids out of their minivan in the drop-off lane, and awe for those parents who have to go into an office right after school drop-off and need to look like a functioning human being.
“If you can’t handle me at my school drop off then you don’t deserve me at my school pick up 💅,” one commenter wrote.
“I already feel like I’ve done a lot when I have to put on a bra to send my daughter to daycare,” another wrote.
“This is why I love the colder months — wear whatever but throw a long coat on and suddenly you look 60% more put together,” one mom added.
(Honestly, that’s sound advice and I’m convinced hoodies were made for this reason.)
I especially love the moms talking up other moms who do look put together when they show up at school — and those moms seemed to appreciate the accolades.
“On the flip side, when I see a mom at drop-off dressed to the nines professionally and carrying herself like a queen, I give her a respectful wide berth and stare in awe,” one mom wrote.
“I work really hard to get myself and my daughter ready looking nice for work/school at the same time so we can be on time, so that respect is appreciated,” a mom replied.
Another mom added, “Same. I wake up earlier just so I can shower and get myself presentable before I tackle getting my kids presentable. The tone of the day for me starts with feeling put together.”
While I have yet to take my kids to school in my pajamas, I’ve definitely done the no-bra, giant sweater, flip-flops, and unbrushed teeth look a million times. Listen, sometimes it’s just too much to get a whole kid ready *and* make yourself look presentable, especially if you’re just peeling into the parking lot and having them do a tuck-and-roll out the door to get to first grade.
Unless you have to go inside for a reason you weren’t expecting, like one commenter shared. “My son’s school has a carline drop-off which I love because I just drink my coffee and don’t get out of the car. Unless I have to take him in for some reason. Recently he had a mental breakdown in the car over his breakfast burrito I made for him that he always loved and now hates for some reason. He would not get out of the car so I had to take him in the school, no bra and looking like an insane person. Then my toddler proceeded to scream because they gave my son a muffin and she also wanted one,” the mom wrote. “I love getting home from drop-off and feeling like I already lived a whole day while it’s only 8:30.”
May we all give more kudos to the moms wearing actual pants at drop-off and more solidarity to the moms with syrup in their hair and a screaming kid. Turns out, we’re all just trying to get to 9 a.m.
source https://www.scarymommy.com/parenting/looking-wrecked-at-school-dropoff
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