[5freespirits]

My DH wants to know if wearing pyjama's till whatever time the kids want to is acceptable.
I can't believe I am actually posting this but.......I am looking for a little peace in our home.
We unschool, the kids are 7.5, 5.5 and 2.5 years. We get up in the morning usually between 8 and 9 and the days when we have no real plans I don't pressure anybody to get into their 'day' clothes. The fact is I try not to have any plans early in the day because I don't like rushing around getting ready!!
This really bugs my husband.
I think he is just jealous that he was not allowed to do this when he was a child!!!!! When I was growing up we were allowed to stay in our pj's on Saturdays till lunch time. My DH was raised on a farm and had to get up and do chores, therefore he got dressed. We used to do farming (my DH and I) and I always did the morning chores in my pyjamas! Maybe he never noticed!!
I know a lot of Homeschoolers (or School at Home) people that insist the kids are dressed before they start their lessons.
What do you all do regarding 'day' clothes???????
TIA ~~~Robyn

 

[lizzie]

My babies are still pretty young, but not only do I think it's OKAY for them to stay in their pajamas, I actually schedule "pajama days" into our weeks so that we don't feel compelled to be ambitious every day!! We (I? maybe the kids are fine with it) get overwhelmed, having playdates, going to a class here or there, having to shop and run errands and blah blah blah..

I'm not hugely into scheduling anything, and that's something I'm learning to balance with reality.. so if I know there are things we have to do that day that involves going out into the world, we get up, we get dressed, even it said thing to do isn't until late afternoon. But if there are no plans.. we stay comfortable and read or color and just kick back. Just helps us stay calm in the face of the mass hysteria going on around us.

lizzie

ps.. most of my h/s mommy friends have at least one sweats'n'jammies day a month, if not more often than that.

 

[UnschoolnMa]

There is absolutely nothing wrong, in my opinion-disclaimer lol, with wearing PJ's all day. I mean what is the point if you aren't going anywhere and/or doing anything that requires you to change clothing? We unschool (though that doesn't much matter as far as clothes go that I can tell) and there are many days I am in my pajamas until evening when I take a long bath or shower. Saves on laundry, and gives us comfort... two good things in one

I can't see why it would be an issue for anyone really. Best of luck with keeping the peace on this one lol.

 

[PumpkinSeeds]

My kids wear sweats and sometimes don't change for a couple of days especially now that it's winter. Otherwise we might change if we are going out, but not necessarily.

 

[SagMom]

My kids are pretty much on their own as far as clothes go. Ds1 doesn't usually get dressed until we're going out or someone is coming over, Dd gets dressed almost immediately upon rising. Ds2 will often be in pj's or varying stages of undress unless we're going somewhere. It's just not important to me.

They all know that if we're, say, going out to dinner, they should get dressed and choose something that's not torn or stained--I suppose they just learned this through observation, or from when they were young enough that I was choosing their clothes. Point is, they all have a sense of what's "appropriate" for different public events. At home, anything goes.

 

[5freespirits]

You guys rock!!!
I knew you would all come back on this with the same thoughts I had.
I just got the DH to read your responses, he says 'you unschoolers are all
weiners!'. And to that I reply, 'Looks to me like you are the weiner'.
I totally agree it just shouldn't matter. When we do need to go somewhere,
no one has any trouble dressing appropriately.
So thanks again! There are more important concerns for me.
Good day to you all.
~~~Robyn

 

[khrisday]

I guess I'll be the lone voice here, but I don't think it's a good diea to have the kids just hanging out in jammies all day. We don't get up and rush around getting in neat and tidy outfits, but by about 10 am I expect us to be dressed even if we're not going anywhere. I find that when we don't get changed in the morning, we are less likely to get things done that we need to- either around the house or errands, we feel lazier, we eat poorer, and in general are less organized. I think it's a good idea to have a marked change in the morning from the bedtime clothes to have that distinction of :"this is our time to get things done", as well as changing into jammies (or at least clean undies) at bedtime, to settle down for sleep.

 

[USAmma]

I think you should do whatever is comfortable for your family. If that's the only thing your dh has to worry about life must be pretty good in your house.

For Abi, getting dressed is a mental transition to the rest of the day. That's the main reason why I ask her to get dressed in the morning. I don't always bother to fix her hair unless we go out though.

Darshani

 

[TiredX2]

We have "something" do do almost every day so we generally get dressed. I also like having that "start of the day" (now, that can be at 2pm :LOL) feeling. BUT, we often do have pj days

It's a bit different because both my kids are still in night diapers, so they usually at least want to put on sweats or something instead.

 

[shaywyn]

Well, we sleep in Tshirts and our house is freezing, so we generally get up and put clothes on, but not "going out" clothes or anything that would be approved by the flylady

Our hair stays quite atrocious if we are not going out, too

Doesn't appear to affect my little one's inquisitive minds, LOL! A little embarrassing if someone comes to the door and I don't have a bra on, not a pretty sight :LOL

Actually, some days I get "dressed" in my warmer pj's, LOL! I can't sleep in them, I get too hot at night.

 

[PrincessPerky]

I have to be the second the clothes help you get ready, for what it depends. In our house we like to go outside, it is alot easier to do if mommy doesn't have to spend several minutes getting dressed before the marathon of getting kids dressed. And I do not want the embarrasment of answering my door with kids in pjs and mommy in who knows what. Yes I am that particular about what a total stranger thinks. i want what they can see from the door to be clean, and I want who they see to be clean. However schedualing a pj day in insn't all bad, but don't be supprised if life goes wrong and that is the day the postman has to knock for a signature or something!

 

[TwinMom]

My kids rarely wear pajamas, so they usually look dressed. Unless they take a shower that night, they just sleep in their clothes. I don't know why, but they don't seem to mind. I sleep in a t-shirt, so sometimes I'll just throw on a bra and some yoga pants and consider myself dressed. Alec, who is 3, only wears a t-shirt and diaper (and starting today, underwear!!

) around the house, but it's easy enough to throw on a pair of pants if we need to go somewhere. I think if my kids did wear pajamas, I wouldn't care if they had them on all day IF we didn't have anything specific to do. Obviously, if we were going somewhere they would put clothes on, but even if we were doing some kind of cleaning or organizing or whatever, I would have them put clothes on just because of what others have said, the mental advantage of feeling like you're dressed for something. Dressed in pajamas means lazing around, IMO, not cleaning the bathroom. But, maybe that's just me!

 

[moondiapers]

I always have my children get dressed. They take a bath each night before putting their jammies on, and change into dayclothes first thing in the morning. Because of this I feel comfortable with us all wearing the same jammies for 3 nights in a row. I think jammies would get worn out and raggedy really fast if they were warn all day, they aren't made to hold up to that kind of wear.

Also, on the weekends I've found that the later we get dressed, the lazier we are, and the less gets done, and I end up rushing around to do things at the butt crack of dawn monday morning to get ready for daycare kids to arrive.

-Heather

 

[Marsupialmom]

My son declared one of the best reasons to homeschool was you could do it in your underwear. :LOL

So I feel good if they just get something more than undies in the morning.

I quit putting them in PJ's because they never woke up with them on.

 

[Queen Gwen]

We do not unschool, if that makes a difference.

9yo dd has observed that the day goes more smoothly if she gets dressed early, mostly because if someone drops by to play it's really annoying to have to slap on clothes, do hair, etc. and miss those precious moments of play time.

5yo dd is in jammies pretty constantly (which are homemade, so maybe they're a bit more hardwearing than storebought), although she gets on jags of wanting to sleep in favorite outfits. Her best friend lives next door, and when we see or hear BF out playing dd flies into dressing/hair/shoe panic...and BF's mom says the exact thing happens at THEIR house when WE go outside before BF is dressed. :LOL

 

[umbrella]

I don't think it necessarilymatters.

When I have a LOT of work to do, I work better in my pj's. They're more comfortable, and I don't worry about "messing them up."

We generally do get dressed early in the morning, but it's more of a "that's just what you do" than any good reason really.

Quote:

I guess I'll be the lone voice here, but I don't think it's a good diea to have the kids just hanging out in jammies all day. We don't get up and rush around getting in neat and tidy outfits, but by about 10 am I expect us to be dressed even if we're not going anywhere. I find that when we don't get changed in the morning, we are less likely to get things done that we need to- either around the house or errands, we feel lazier, we eat poorer, and in general are less organized.

Not everyone else is this way. Just as for anything in life, the way it is for some may not at all be the way it is for others. I simply can't imagine pajamas influencing me to eat poorer or do less work. Just people people are in their pajamas, doesn't mean they're "just hanging out" in them.

I can totally understand how pajamas are a such a signal for someone else even though they aren't for me, but I wouldn't make a sweeping suggestion on it.

 

[UnschoolnMa]

To me I guess it only matters if clothes help you change your frame of mind, or how you are physically feeling. I suppose for some folks wearing sweats or PJ's causes them to feel too relaxed (if I am understanding this right) to get anything done and to feel unfocused. For me and mine there is no such effect. Clothes are just clothes for us, no less and no more. If we want/need to do something we do it, and if we dont need/want to do something we just don't... what we are wearing is irrelevant

If it helps others to wear day clothes, go for it. I have a friend who operates that way as well.

 

[Fieryfly]

We had a similar discussion about this a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=215773

Honestly, my kids get dirty almost every single day and especially with my DD, they will change at least once(if not 2 or 3 times) a day. We don't have pj's either, and simply wear comfortable clothes to sleep. So in a way they can wake up and "be dressed" already. I let them choose their own clothes except when we are going into town, then I make sure the clothes match.

I am also one who feels the need to be dressed every morning in order to feel "ready for the day". I only wear the clothes I slept in if I'm sick or intending to laze around all day. It is just my preference. I don't insist that my children get dressed in the morning unless there is a need for it(outing, smelly, dirty, etc)

 

[lilyka]

We are absolutely lazy in our pajamas. So except for SAturdays I make the girls get up and get dressed before coming downstairs. we always have somehting do other then being lazy. Seriously I can hardly get a pot of coffee started before I get a bra on. I just don't function in my jammies. babies get to live in jammies for thier first couple of years but after that you are expected to pitch in and there for expected to get dressed. Anytime you are sick of course you get to loaf around in your jammies and saturdays re all about jammies and cartoons but every other day you get up and get dressed.

 

[5freespirits]

Thanks all for the replies.
I would say the responses were about half and half. This is good. It means that neither me nor my DH were too extreme. So we can agree to disagree I suppose and if he happens to be home with the kids in the morning and wants to bicker about wearing clothes versus pyjama's then go for it.
Personally I can totally relate to Unschoolnma, which I totally expected!

And for the record, we live way out of town so people don't ever just drop by, so we are never caught in our pj's!!! Whew!! We only even go into town maybe 2 or 3 times a week.
Thanks again ~~~Robyn