School Uniforms

My son attends a private Catholic School.  He has never had a certain dress code until this year.  He has to wear a solid color shirt with a collar.  All shirts must have collars.  He can wear jeans but they cannot have any holes or faded look to them.  He is 9, so if you ask him he absolutely hates it! I on the other hand really like it.  I am all for uniforms in the schools.  I think for one kids are so mean, especially these days, and if one kid doesn’t have the “best of the best” then he tends to be picked on a lot more.  Kids don’t have a good understanding of what it takes to live and that material things ultimately do not mean a thing. I try to instill it in my boys and give them a good understanding of what it means to be courteous to everyone.  With that said, I also have a 5 year old boy that tests my patience!  He is not as easy for me to get through to. 

Secondly, I have read that professionals say that kids in school uniforms typically take school more seriously. They have done studies that report when kids dress in “work clothes” rather than in everyday clothes they make their studies a priority while in school.  It also promotes discipline.  Reduces fighting and violence while helping to build school spirit. It instills a feeling of belonging.

Individuality, however, is one of the most common complaints that come from kids wearing uniforms.  Educators will argue that an academic program encouraging students to pursue their individual thoughts is much more important than what they wear to school. I personally disagree with this.  I believe that you can still be an individual person without wearing the clothes you want to wear to school.  If nothing else, not worrying about fitting in with a certain crowd may help to boost your confidence and be the person you want to be. 

One of the most important things in a child’s life is their education.  If there is any step we can take to help push them in the right direction and get them focused about school then we should at least try it.  Wearing a uniform may not be the answer but until there are more schools that push the issue we will never know.  In my opinion, there are too many positive studies that have come of it to just brush it off.:) 

Gripe Fest About My Son's Doctor!

It all started about 3 months ago when my son started with a fever.  I took him to the doctor and was told he had an upper respiratory infection.  After 5 days of 102-103 fever, I had to take him back.  She changed his antibiotic and finally on the 9th day he started to break his fever.  It scared me a little because he has never ran a high fever like that for that many days.  I did everything to try to break it but it just didn't work.  He missed over a week of school.  About 2 weeks later he started the same thing all over again only this time he broke out in red bumps from head to toe.  I once again took him back to the doctor and she told me I needed to keep him home until it was cleared up.  She said it was possibly chicken pox but he has had the vaccination.  He was home for another week with a high fever and rash all over his body.  He made it back to school to only be sick 2 weeks later again!  This time it appeared to be the stomach virus.  He has complained of a stomach ache and body aches this whole time we have been dealing with whatever is going on with him.  He started to have blood in his stool.  I alerted the doctor of this but she didn't seem to concerned and just told me to give him pepcid.  He returned to school a couple of days later.  He still continued to run a fever off and on.  Sometimes it would peak to 102 and sometimes it would stay right around 100.  Those were the times I just sent him to school.  Last week he had 2 other episodes of blood in his stool.  This time there was so much it scared me.  Not to get to graphic on you!  I had finally had enough, after 3 months of him being sick and not getting any answers or tests done from his doctor, I took him to the er.  After being in the hospital and them running tests to rule out cancer, which is what they said was a possibility more times than one, they said he tested positive for strep!  It was such a relief to hear those words.  I have never been so worried in all my life.  The doctor at the hospital said that he had this infection for months and was never treated properly so it settled in his organs.  This is why they say to not mess with strep.  It can cause some serious damage.  His regular doctor never once did a strep test on him or this would have never turned into this!  The doctor at the hospital ran that test, along with others, right away.  My son now has to go to the children's hospital in Kansas City to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist.  He could have some permanent damage to his stomach area which is what all the bleeding is from. 

The moral of me griping about this is to not only vent about his doctor not catching this, but to let any mother know that you know your kids and when you feel like something is wrong be persistent.  Mother's intuition is normally right. I should of never let it go on this long.  He was so sick and missed so much school.  There were times he would break down and just cry because he was so tired of feeling bad.  Thank god he goes to a private Catholic School and they have been so wonderful to us.  He has been able to do all his homework from home to stay caught up.  I was so worried they would hold him back or something for missing so much school.  He is doing much better now though.  We go back to the doctor today for a recheck and to find out when we see the specialist. 

Thanks for hearing my story and letting me vent.  It feels kinda good:)  Keep my son, Conner, in your prayers

Introduction

My name is Brooke Witt.  I am 31 years old, married and have two boys ages 5 and 9.  I am a junior this year majoring in Marketing and Management.  English is not my best subject so I am a little nervous about this class.  I am looking forward to getting to know everybody this semester.