Amy is going to Intermediate next year, and on Friday it occurred to me that I may never again have the chance to take a photo of all three school-aged kids wearing their original school uniforms at the same time. Our school has this unique uniform policy – only shirts, and only on Fridays. That makes sense, says NO ONE EVER. And although the shirts are also supposed to be worn on formal occasions none of the Junior teachers have got the memo about not doing painting, dyeing and other stainy activities on Fridays so our whole collection of uniform shirts are now fairly un-formal. And yet, I still wanted a photo of them all looking matching. Daniel couldn’t see the sense in this at all and my explanation that it’s just the kind of thing that mothers like to do didn’t hold any water with him. Daniel has been on a photo-smiling boycott all year. I think it’s a protest against having to go to school which, in his mind, is a mammoth waste of valuable playing time. If he were to be caught smiling in a school photo it might give someone the idea that there was a split second in the year during which he was not actively hating being there. I was present when this year’s school photo was taken (I had to be, to make them re-arrange their whole schedule so my toddler could be in the photo. It says on the envelope that only children enrolled at the school will be photographed, but who’s going to pay for a photo with someone missing? I don’t have time for that sort of carry-on) so I was watching Daniel refuse to smile. I was threatening. I was bribing. I was telling him that I was paying for this and he’d damn well better be looking happy. We did achieve a slightly less scowly scowl but that was it. I wasn’t there for his class photo or soccer photo but it wouldn’t have helped anyway.
So, I had this great idea of assembling three tired, hungry and grumpy children after school on Friday and expecting them to look pleasant. Noah thought this was a great idea. Amy went along with it with the usual resigned pre-teen eye-rolling which happens every time I say, do or look anything in her general direction. And Daniel. Yes.
So this is what I got.
Yep. So glad I tried. Maybe when they’re all in high school uniform and can be bribed with better stuff.