PJ Day -AGAIN????? Kindergarten teachers think I'm stupid. I'll retort, you decide.

Below is a comment that was left on my PJ Day post from a kindergarten teacher called Jmac :

Julie,

I am a kindergarten teacher and I just want to say that your message made me very sad! The thing is that there are a lot of bad and evil things in this world and if you are always looking for them.. you certainly will find them.. PJ day is FUN... you can look at it any way you want, but kids are kids! And they should not be expected to behave like adults.

Sometimes we have to look at the world from a childs perspective! Can you not see the silliness of PJ's and how that could make school that much more fun. Silliness and happiness is contagious in a school!

I came across your blog when I was looking for child and parent PJ day activies... Was I ever shocked to read your blog!

OH wow... that is classic. Your indoctrination into the liberal mindset of public school thinking has been complete and thorough. They must be very proud of you.

You know something like this has me wriggling with anticipation and I just have to answer, since she got everything all wrong. So Jmac - this is for you, baby!

It is laughable how you are unable to discern the actual gist of my post – comparing my post on PJ day to looking for things that are evil or bad. That may be your interpretation of my post – but not what was stated at all. And it's laughable how so many kindergarten teachers feel the need to talk down to me and figuratively wag their fingers in my virtual face like I'm a bad girl.

Ooooh hoo hoo hoo baby, I AM one bad mama-jama.

What was said specifically about PJ Day is that it is inappropriate and that wearing PJ’s outside of the home is taboo. It just ain’t done sweetie. Or are you going to tell me that you wear PJ’s to the store or mall to go shopping, or to work to teach the kiddies…???

Nope, didn’t think so. And you know why? Do I have to reiterate this again? I guess so. It’s not appropriate, and we just don’t do it (that’s the taboo part, honey.) The fact that you say this post made you sad sounds like maybe you need to be taking a little prozac for your mental health… may I suggest you get yourself to your nearest psychiatrist as soon as possible so you can deal with those feelings?

I mean, really…

It's because kids are kids - and not adults - that I make these choices for my girls and go about my business as a parent teaching my daughters how to think critically about things. I do NOT go for the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy - that is what excuses people from analyzing their actions and the possible consequences, and that is exactly what gets them into trouble. I do not ask my kids to be adults, but I am preparing them for the future when, as early as their preteens, their reasoning faculties will be tested by their peers trying to get them to do something the other kids are doing because "it's fun". Can you get my drift now? Sometimes you need to be able to discern what is really fun (and safe) and what is perceived as fun (but will get you into trouble) because you just don't want to be left out.

I'm sure you've heard this phrase: "If all your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?" THAT was all of our mamas trying to teach us critical thinking.

My dear, I have to ask you, at what point do you suggest that children learn critical thinking? Would you suggest they don't need to learn how to analyze situations and make assessments and judgments regarding those situations? Or are we going to wait until they get into their preteens or teenage years to try to instill in them the ability to understand what the consequences will be when they make their choices?

The earlier you begin to teach a child a thing, the more they internalize that teaching.

Let’s save the “shock” for something that really deserves it, such as, the day you find out one of your kids is being molested by a family member or neighbor. Now that’s shocking. It appears liberals are easily shocked by anything that doesn't conform to their views of what is normal, okay, "right", etc.

I will agree that silliness is contagious in school – seems the so-called adults are getting sillier all the time. (That means, y’all aren’t exactly basing your decisions on how to have fun at school by using a little common sense.) I think we had a better education system when we stuck to the basics instead of coming up with "new and improved" ways to educate kids. And let's not ignore how teachers now spend as much time trying to correct behavioral problems that stem from no discipline (or poor discipline) in the schools and home, which further degrades the quality of the education our kids are getting.

What I can “see” is the inane “logic” of the school officials for doing something that has no business in education. Understand, sweetie? PJ’s are not necessary in order to teach part of the curriculum. One can learn to read and appreciate Dr. Seuss in other ways.

Hey - I got an idea! How about a mismatch day – where kids can wear nonsense clothes and look silly, the way the characters in Dr. Seuss stories do - that cuts out the questionable clothing issue altogether, as long as underwear isn’t worn on the outside of clothes.

Damn! With that kind of logic, I think I missed my calling. (I can hear my friends in the background yelling at me not to quit my day job. Thanks for the reality check - that's why you're my friends.) By the way, I have many liberal friends, but they haven't opened their minds so much that their brains have fallen out. The ones that I can count as my friends are those who use common sense to make their decisions about their beliefs and their kids. I really love those people! We don't have to see eye to eye, but at least their beliefs are based on something that can be quantified by reasoning, not their feelings.

By the way – are you a mother? You note you teach kindergarten, but fail to tell me if you are a mother. I always love it when I write something about my kids and how I'm raising them and people who have never raised a child go about telling me how I do it all wrong. That’s pretty laughable, too.

I find it "laughable" how so many teachers jump to the conclusion that I am somehow incapable of understanding what the intent or purpose of PJ Day is… yeah, ya want the little boogers to have a fun time, let their little imaginations run amok… but it is my belief that parents need to intervene more often and tell the schools that there are just some things that aren’t acceptable. Too many parents abdicate that responsibility, or are afraid they will be ridiculed. They don't want to make waves or be labeled as a trouble-maker.

Go ahead – make fun of me, denigrate me, make it sound like I am the spawn of hell, tell me what a fuddy duddy I am. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a perfect parent - kids don't come with instruction books that tell us how to raise them. It's learn as you go.

But go ahead, tell me how I just don't "get it". I can take it. What about you?

Jmac, I'd love to know how you made the leap from my post to the extremes you stated in your comment. Couldn't you just read it for what it is, instead of projecting your highly indoctrinated way of thinking into it? I thought teachers went to college and eventually had to get a Masters degree in order to stay in their teaching jobs – wouldn’t that suggest that you had to have some kind of critical thinking skills of your own?

Perhaps not. I knew a young woman who had her Master’s degree in education (wanted to be a teacher) and she couldn’t tell the difference between the formula for figuring out perimeter versus how to figure square footage, no matter how many times I showed it to her or explained it to her. Well, I’ll chalk that up to me not being able to teach at all… I know how to do the math, but passing that on to another person is just not my forté. But if she was any example of what our colleges were turning out for childhood education and she was supposedly qualified to teach elementary school kids - then it's no wonder America's education system is in the toilet.

A good teacher would never disparage a parent for doing what they think is right for their child... you are not accountable for those kids' lives... unless there is a darn good reason you think you should intervene (suspicions of abuse). You need to respect the parents and their knowledge of their kids (whom most have raised from birth - not you) and they have a better handle on what they want to teach their kids. You do not have the ultimate responsibility of raising the child. You get that child for a few hours in the day, five days a week (not accounting for snow days and holidays and teachers' conferences, Christmas Break, Spring Break, yadda yadda yadda), for nine months out of the year. But we, the parents, are ultimately responsible for what these kids learn about life and the choices we make.

I guess I get ticked off that the (public) schools and their faculty tend to focus on the short term without any regard for the bigger picture.

As for looking at the world from a child’s perspective, I think we have a handle on the fun stuff for our kids. Our kids do roller skating, take dance lessons & gymnastics, play dress up at home, take swimming lessons and go to the pool in the summer, take them to a children’s museum every chance we get, go to the park and play on the equipment – and they have just about every kind of toy and game one can imagine – and they still prefer to play with the simple cardboard box over the fancy doll house, or play outside with bubbles on a warm day.

One day of not being with their friends to participate in what has become some kind of goofy ritual isn’t going to scar their little psyches.