Hanging School Pictures

I am going to come right out and say it, I did not take good pictures in school. I don't remember being embarrassed at the time, but looking back on it, I didn't have a ton of help. See, my parents were divorced and I would live 6 months with my mom and 6 months with my dad. I was with my mom October thru March and with my dad from April thru September. Pictures were always in September.

My worst school picture, 7th 

A meltdown would usually occur when it came time to do my hair for school. Don't get me wrong, my dad would offer to help, but we were both lacking that skill set, big time. I was not a girly girl, but I loved when I looked pretty and I could sure as heck tell the difference. Occasionally my brother would be sympathetic, but most of the time he would just laugh, which never helped matters.

Beyond the hair, my wardrobe choices were less than flattering. I remember wearing the same terry cloth short-sleeve shirt for picture day two years in a row, on purpose! I thought it was perfect because it was colorful…which would also make it memorable (although looking back, not in a good way).

Skye's Kindergarten picture

All this reminiscing is because I'm getting my kids school pictures ready to hang, and I wasn't home for "Picture Day" to help get them ready this year. I tried to pick out their outfits ahead of time, figuring Spider would be easy and trying to give Skye a leg up. My daughter's clothes were set, but I didn't think about finalizing the hair situation, and it was traumatic. My husband was a rock star, and helped all he could. Skye wanted her hair curly, so he "curled" her hair…with a flat iron. Snickering to myself at the thought, I asked how she looked, and he said…"They do have re-takes."

Okay. Okay. At least my son should have been no problem. Before I left, we discussed it and he was to pick out a nice collared shirt and a pair of chords or jeans. Picture Day morning, he picked out his outfit and my husband said he looked so handsome. So, we’re all good. Then I get a call from his school asking if we wanted his picture today…the teacher's rational was "just wondering if you want him in that outfit." Having no idea what Spidey was wearing, I smiled to myself and said, "Well, he picked it out special for picture day."

The way I figure it, school pictures exist so you can make fun of yourself later. The less perfect the better.