An Open Letter to School Picture Day’s ‘Dress Code’

Yesterday was picture day at school for our son. Ryan is in 5th grade and he has been under the assumption that you always get dressed up on picture day. We were proponents of that too until picture day rolled around. For some reason, we threw all of the dress code ideals out the window.

Yesterday, Jenn decided that instead of putting Ryan in a button-up shirt and khakis, she laid out a different outfit. Ryan was resistant. He saw the clothes that were there for him to put on for picture day and he, at first, said no. He looked Jenn in the face and told her that they are supposed to be dressed up for picture day. She put out a pair of nice-looking sweat pants and his Buffalo Bills jersey. Jenn talked to him about it and asked him if he'd rather be comfortable and himself in the picture. He reluctantly agreed to the outfit and went off to school.

When he came home, I asked him how his day was and he said that many of his friends couldn't believe that he was allowed to wear his Buffalo Bills jersey for picture day. He told the kids that he loved the jersey and wanted to be comfortable. They thought that was cool.

So my question is, Why do we think we have to get these kids all gussied up for picture day? Don't we want them to represent who they are while they are in the 5th grade? I don't think we should worry so much about appearances anymore when it comes to picture day. Let's leave that to Facebook. Plus Jenn made a great point, she said if the Buffalo Bills win the Superbowl this year, he will be in the winning jersey in his 5th-grade school picture.