Posted By Tough Cookie Mommy on October 30, 2009

This past Tuesday, my son took pictures at his school. He attends a parochial school so his uniform consists of navy blue slacks, a light blue polo shirt with the school logo, and a navy blue cardigan sweater that also has the school logo on it. I made sure that I sent his sweater with him that day and I explained to him that I wanted him to take his photo with his sweater on because it looks neater.

When I arrived home from work that afternoon, my husband told me that we needed to talk because something happened at my son’s school. He explained to me that some students did not bring their cardigan sweaters for picture day so the Principal went around “borrowing” the sweaters of the students who had brought them in in various sizes. My son’s sweater was one of the sweaters that was borrowed and many, many students wore his sweater as they took their individual photos. The worst part of it, my husband further explained, was that my son’s class did not take their pictures until late afternoon. This meant that my son had to wear his sweater after everyone else had worn it in order to take his photograph.

I immediately called the school’s Principal to share my outrage with her and I was shocked at her reaction. She proceeded to tell me that it is a common practice to do this during picture days among parochial schools and that it is a way of teaching the kids to share. My response was that I don’t consider lending articles of clothing an appropriate way to teach the value of sharing nor did I consider it to be a sanitary practice. I went on to say that I have no problem with my son sharing the contents of his bookbag with his classmates, including paper, pencils, erasers, sharpener, etc. I do not, however, think that it is hygienic to have other kids wearing my son’s clothes during a Swine Flu Pandemic, a Bedbug epidemic in NYC, and because of germs in general.

I could not believe that the Principal was actually turning this around and acting like I wasn’t doing my job as a parent by not teaching my son to “share” his clothes with his entire school. How freaking ridiculous is this? She even had the nerve to tell me that she was sorry that I felt that way and that she would not ask my son to share his sweater with other kids in the future. It was an extremely bizarre conversation where logic seemed to be suspended, on her part, and I found myself doubting whether or not I was sane.

Since this incident took place, I have discussed this incident with many friends, family members, colleagues, and acquaintances. Everyone that I have spoken to seem to agree that it was inappropriate and disgusting for my son to have been expected to let nearly half the school wear his clothing. My sister went as far as to say that I should bring the sweater to the cleaners and submit the bill to the Principal in the “spirit of sharing.” I’m just curious what you guys think…

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