Article: Let's Abolish Pajama Day

[mae141]

At the school I teach at, things like PJ day are used as rewards. We have school-wide goals, and when we meet them, we get something oh-so-exciting like PJ day. We're not allowed to use food as rewards, we don't have time for extra recess or movies, so PJ day it is. Most kids wear PJ pants and a t-shirt, and for whatever reason it's so much fun. Thankfully I teach upper elementary and the kids don't care that I'm not in my PJs.

[lilles]

I don't like pajama day or other theme days but it is mostly because DD1 has so many issues with what she wears, DD2 doesn't care. Pajama Day is the easiest for us because since I'm always shopping sales I usually have a couple of new pjs waiting for such occasions. So they switch out of the ones they wore at night and put the new ones in the morning.
I do realize that is a luxury we have in having so many pjs plus new ones for that day.

Other theme days are a nightmare because DD1 will have meltdowns about the clothes. For example last week for St. Patrick's the school sent an email the NIGHT before at 6:00pm about wanting the kids to wear green to school. DD1 is not a fan of green and had three green tops but none were the right shade of green. She wanted Kelly green. So cue the one hour meltdown about which shirt to wear. Not fun.

[lolalolalola]

I'll be honest. Every year have to go buy my kids a pair of acceptable pyjamas for pajama day. They wear old tshirts and leggings with holes in them normally, or in a tank top an underwear, and yes my size 8/10 DD is wearing size 5/6 pj's because who cares (no need to feel sorry for her). .

So I get her because it always seems to sneak up on me too.

[imojoebunny]

We forget Pajama day 1/2 the time. My kids mostly sleep in their regular clothes, so they just say their PJ's are regular clothes. I have a hard time believing that a mom with time to worry about PJ day and blog about it, doesn't have at least one pair of PJ's for her kids, especially if they attend a school where moms buy fancy nightgowns.

Don't get me started on character from a book dress up day, though. DS went as Dr. Who in kindergarten, at his persistent insistence. I had to buy a book of all the doctors, borrow a suit, and order a bow tie.

[CheeringCharm]

I think she needs to file this under Things That Are Really Not a Big Deal. 

My daughter had pajama day yesterday at her preschool and didn't want to wear them so she wore a dress instead. She was perfectly happy and no one said anything. No biggie.

[bbonanza]

Don't you take away Pajama Day from kids, lol! We've missed the last two at daycare and DD3 was soooooo upset. In tears. So today is Pajama day, and she made sure to pick out and put her pjs out last night so that Mommy didn't forget. She was so frickin' excited!

[meltoine]

Wow. She's coming across very martyr-y. If she's really having that tough of a time I hope she's able to find some help to lighten her load.

[pooh8402]

Oh good grief

[CheeringCharm]

Mar 24, 2016 8:17:31 GMT -5 meltoine said:

Wow. She's coming across very martyr-y. If she's really having that tough of a time I hope she's able to find some help to lighten her load.

I agree. She reminds me of the blogger who complained about having to fill out reading logs and listening to her kids who actually wanted to read to her! Or the one who got upset about "fake" holidays being celebrated in school like St. Patrick's Day. Jeez, way to suck the joy out of everything. It doesn't take that much effort to order a new set of pjs on Amazon Prime or fill out a reading log.

I really hope the whole mommy blogging phenomenon goes away soon. It's been done to death, especially if this post is anything to go by. She is really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. 

[londoncalling]

Mar 24, 2016 7:48:30 GMT -5 lishie said:

This is one of the most ridiculous articles I've read. I have two boys who refuse to wear anything but their underwear to go to sleep, and even they have pajamas that fit.

Despite their hate of pajamas for sleeping, they were so excited when school made pajama day part of read across america day this year. Instead of dressing in their usual clothes, when they got dressed in the morning they put on the pajamas they never wear and were so excited to go to school.

I'm not down with crazy over-the-top themed days (and luckily our school doesn't do them), but complainling about pajama day? This woman is crazy.

DD1 is like this too.  Sleeps in underwear and then gets up and puts on pjs for pajama day - she only has two sets of pajamas  - one long sleeve and one short sleeve.  Target FTW.

The only problem I have with pajama day is that I feel judged when we run errands after school/daycare, but not enough to not participate or change their clothes at the end of the day.  No.

[meltoine]

Mar 24, 2016 8:19:59 GMT -5 CheeringCharm said:

Mar 24, 2016 8:17:31 GMT -5 meltoine said:

Wow. She's coming across very martyr-y. If she's really having that tough of a time I hope she's able to find some help to lighten her load.

I agree. She reminds me of the blogger who complained about having to fill out reading logs and listening to her kids who actually wanted to read to her! Or the one who got upset about "fake" holidays being celebrated in school like St. Patrick's Day. Jeez, way to suck the joy out of everything. It doesn't take that much effort to order a new set of pjs on Amazon Prime or fill out a reading log.

I really hope the whole mommy blogging phenomenon goes away soon. It's been done to death, especially if this post is anything to go by. She is really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. 

My first instinct was "Suck it up, buttercup" but on the off-chance that she really is a single parent with no family/friend support and in abject poverty, I don't want to be uncharitable. (I say "off-chance" because I've never heard of a single parent with no support in abject poverty who had time to keep a mommy-blog.)

[pinotgrig]

Sounds like her school has a lot of theme daysz . But of all the days to get up in arms about, she picks pj day? Really?

[lishie]

Mar 24, 2016 8:21:38 GMT -5 londoncalling said:

Mar 24, 2016 7:48:30 GMT -5 lishie said:

This is one of the most ridiculous articles I've read. I have two boys who refuse to wear anything but their underwear to go to sleep, and even they have pajamas that fit.

Despite their hate of pajamas for sleeping, they were so excited when school made pajama day part of read across america day this year. Instead of dressing in their usual clothes, when they got dressed in the morning they put on the pajamas they never wear and were so excited to go to school.

I'm not down with crazy over-the-top themed days (and luckily our school doesn't do them), but complainling about pajama day? This woman is crazy.

DD1 is like this too.  Sleeps in underwear and then gets up and puts on pjs for pajama day - she only has two sets of pajamas  - one long sleeve and one short sleeve.  Target FTW.

The only problem I have with pajama day is that I feel judged when we run errands after school/daycare, but not enough to not participate or change their clothes at the end of the day.  No.

We only  have one pajama day a year, but our school is right on our block, so in the off chance we did have something after school, we're able to run in and change easily.

[noodleoo]

Huh, usually I agree with these types of articles but this one is too much. Maybe PJ day is a good excuse for her to go buy her kids some Pjs that fit. But, I don't have kids in school yet so I have no experience with type of stuff maybe it is more of a PITA than it seems?

[motzie]

This doesn't sound at all like its a money issue. This is an "I can't be bothered" issue, like washing her kids faces apparently.

[crispnclean]

Look, I get that theme days are a pain in the ass and I'm a lazy mom who doesn't put forth any extra effort to participate. If it's blue day and we have a blue shirt, sure, I'm happy to put it on DS. If not, well, sorry bout your luck, kiddo. (Disclaimer: DS is only 2 so he doesn't yet have opinions about this stuff). But complaining about PJ day? That's the easiest theme day there is. If you don't have actual PJs, just send your kid in a tshirt and sweats. I just can't get it up for this.

[Ashley&Scott]

This seems like a silly thing to complain about. Pajama day is a favorite at our house.

[Deleted]

Mar 24, 2016 8:13:56 GMT -5 CheeringCharm said:

I think she needs to file this under Things That Are Really Not a Big Deal. 

My daughter had pajama day yesterday at her preschool and didn't want to wear them so she wore a dress instead. She was perfectly happy and no one said anything. No biggie.

This is my kid. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She has skipped half the spirit Days.

[kershnic]

Dude, I wish everyday were PJ day.

[gerberdaisy]

I love pajama day, its so easy. But seriously, if its that hard for her, just send your kids in normal clothes. Its not like they can't walk through the door unless they are in their pjs.

[nachos]

I only moan about PJ day as a teacher because we're supposed to wear them too, and I HATE pajamas. But as far as theme days go, it isn't awful.

My kids? They love it, and usually wear flannel pj pants and t-shirts.

[jeaniebueller]

Mar 24, 2016 8:41:22 GMT -5 @bunnybean said:

Mar 24, 2016 7:48:40 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Bless her heart.

(btw we wear clean pajamas on pajama day, not the ones we slept in)

OMG, right!?! I have never seen a child wear like a Lanz of Salzburg nightgown in public. It's all about what cute character PJs you have. C just wore her Olaf PJs at Toddler PJ day. It was like her favorite day. And it cost me like $7.99 to buy them ages ago.

Lady, honestly, it's kind of basic to have some CLOTHES THAT FIT. Like, wtf is this? No one is asking you to make a giant paper mache head costume or something. You just have to own clothing that your child can wear. COME ON.

My DS was beyond excited to wear his Pokémon PJs to school for the last PJ day they had.

[mainelyfoolish]

Today is Thursday. Apparently all week at my DD's elementary school has been "dress in this particular color" to celebrate healthy eating or something. I forgot to write it down (all school notices are only online) and DD never mentioned it until this morning. Today is blue day, and DD intentionally selected a white shirt with narrow aqua stripes. Whatever. They didn't throw her out of school the first three days of the week for not have the right spirit color on, they won't care today, either.

[halfpint]

Mar 24, 2016 7:48:40 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Bless her heart.

(btw we wear clean pajamas on pajama day, not the ones we slept in)

We do this, too - my H is always like, why the eff are you making this harder? The point of PJ day is that we don't even have to get him dressed!


And I'm like, um, his pants smell like overnight pee diaper. Get me a fresh pair. 

[starlily]

This lady is angry about the wrong thing.

Pajama Day is a blessing for tired parents.

[ny96]

This just seems like a lazy mom trying to get other parents to be as lazy as she is so she can lower the bar.

[maryanne]

Mar 24, 2016 9:05:39 GMT -5 starlily said:

This lady is angry about the wrong thing.

Pajama Day is a blessing for tired parents.

Omg, yes!

Also, the worst is Twin Day. The.worst. You have to coordinate days (sometimes) weeks in advance, and it's so much work for the parents because I have to call/text her friends moms and coordinate. Such a PITA. It's also kind of socially stressful, I imagine!

[longtimenopost]

Ever since I switched A from zip up sleepers to tops/pants, we do pajama day like 4x a week over here... I don't have older kids but I'm pretty sure I'll always have a pair of pj pants on hand that fit her.

[Deleted]

I kind of get it. My kids PJs are not usually totally school appropriate and I got burned in Kindy because my oldest didn't have great PJs for school. That's a weird sentence. Anyway, now I just make sure they have a nice set of PJs for school for each season. It's not a huge deal. One of my kids sleeps naked most of the time, but she has a matching PJ set in long sleeve and short sleeve.

[nessness]

Mar 24, 2016 7:48:48 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Mar 24, 2016 7:41:35 GMT -5 nessness said:

DD only wears footie pajamas in the winter and onesies in the summer, so we don't do pajama day. But she's one and doesn't notice or care what the other kids are wearing. Once she's old enough to care, I'll make sure she has some proper pajamas.

Of all the spirit days, pajama day seems like the easiest. Go to Target or OUAC and get your kid a nightgown and be done with it.

The second part is what I have an issue with. Not every parent at our school can just do that. There are kids who can't participate in the book fair when parents are asked to send kids in with $5-$10 once-year, so I can imagine that having to buy a particular kind of outfit would be stressful. I'm very happy that our school adminstration recognizes that.

My response would have been different if she had said or implied that she couldn't afford proper pajamas. But the whole premise of the article is that pajama day requires too much effort, which...it doesn't.