About Rebecca Eckler
Since becoming pregnant with her daughter Rowan, Canadian journalist and author Rebecca Eckler has penned three hilarious books, including the best-selling Knocked Up. Catch Rebecca’s weekly unique perspective on motherhood and single parenthood.
I’m sure this was one of those mommy moments that I could have handled better. Meaning, maybe I should have handled it, instead of basically ignoring it all together.
“Mommy, I can’t wear that T-shirt to camp,” my daughter said worriedly. “People will make fun of me.”
The T-shirt in question was actually one of mine. It says, “I love Elmo” on it, and my daughter actually loves the shirt and begged me for it. That is, she loved the shirt until she started day camp and realized that kids make fun of each other and, when you’re almost seven, it’s no longer cool to like Elmo (at least not publicly).
I knew it was the time for me to tell my daughter that, “If they make fun of you for what you wear, then they’re not nice people!” Or, “If they laugh at what you wear, they’re not worthy of your time!” Or, “But you love this shirt! What do you care if they make fun of you?” Surely, there was a lesson in here, right?
Instead, all I said was, “OK.” Then I got my daughter another shirt.
Cut me some slack. It was 7:11am and I had had a bad night’s sleep. Also, I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle it. Also, did I really care what my daughter wore to camp?
The truth is, while I could have told her the lesson in this, the brutal thought of my daughter being “made fun of” outweighed my decision to teach her that lesson. Was I going to force my daughter into wearing something just to prove a point?
Also, would a lesson really work? I don’t think so. Meaning, I’m sure my parents taught me not to care if someone made fun of what I wore (when I was six!) but I still worried about it when I was 15. Heck, I think maybe I stopped worrying about what I wore just last week. (Wait…I have a meeting in two hours….what should I wear to impress them? See? Maybe I’ve never stopped worrying and it’s just a part of life.)
I think I did say to my daughter, “It’s not nice to make fun of people’s clothes,” as I tossed my daughter a T-shirt with a butterfly on it.
But my daughter is not the one “making fun” of other kids. It’s the other kids. Don’t they need the lecture?
So, did I do wrong? What do you tell your child who’s worried about other kids making fun of them? Would have you let your child change outfits because it was easier (and less stressful) than the thought of them being made fun of?
And is it still OK for me to wear the “I Love Elmo” T-shirt. Or is it totally uncool? (Joking!)
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