Let's Rant about Spirit Weeks, Rah Rah Rah

Plus: Is It Your Fault If Your Kid Is Selfish?

The other day, I got this email from a subscriber:

Spirit Weeks! I would love to hear your take because, I kid you not, we are about to embark on our FOURTH this school year, and our THIRD for this month. Full weeks of PJs, “decades,” crazy hats, mismatched socks and other random themes. The only theme that has been repeated is school colors. It’s a lot! We got the notice for the latest one today (Wednesday) and it starts Monday. Plus, my eldest has anxiety and the decision on whether to participate is always agonizing. My husband is out buying peace sign necklaces right now (so thankful for Halloween stores) because the kiddo is legit in tears over participating in “Peace Sign Day” tomorrow.

Oh my god, do I ever relate. It’s Red Ribbon Week at our school right now, which is kind of like Spirit Week but for drugs, but we already had a Spirit Week, so why? Ours, thankfully, have not required the purchase of specific 60s-era symbols, but they are still a lot — my 9-year-old needs approximately three hours to perfect each outfit, which means that we’re almost always about to miss the bus and I end up yelling and sucking all the spirit out of spirit week and everyone’s crying.

But seriously, let’s vent. What do your school’s Spirit Weeks entail? Do you have other theme-related school weeks, too? Do you love them or do you hate them? If you’re a teacher or administrator, can you tell us why they are so beloved? I am all for kids having fun at school, but when these weeks require added family labor and costs, the fun seems less fun and more like a special version of hell in which everyone is locked in a classroom wearing pajamas and mismatched socks.

Is Your Kid Selfish Because You’re A Bad Parent?

And now for this week’s

Today I’m commenting on this Instagram post by responsive_parenting, which has more than 3,000 likes:

Here are my thoughts.