Grateful for Glitter

I'm not much of a morning person. Sure, I get up, I go through the motions, I'm polite and mom-like, but really, I'm dreaming of, well, dreaming. One of my morning responsibilities is to get my son off to school. Like millions of kids, he rides the bus (which is safer and more environmentally responsible than car-riding, but that's another post). A handful of other parents and I dutifully stand around the bus stop for 10 or 15 minutes each morning, keeping the rough-housing down and grilling the kids on their spelling words. It's a mom's life.

This year, however, there's a new trend that's pretty hard on the sleepy morning eyes. This year, in the early morning sun, little girls everywhere are covered in glitter. Apparently their innocent, angelic childhood glow is insufficient, so they have sparkles on their clothes, their shoes, their backpacks, even their tiny little fingernails. It's like saying "Good morning" to a dozen little disco balls every day.

I know my own daughter will grow into some similar fad when she's older, and Lord knows I blinded more than a few people with my fashion choices when I was a kid. In truth, though, I'm glad glitter is the trend - in fact, I wish the boys could get away with it too. I think kids should wear bright happy colors, plaids, polka-dots, or whatever makes them happy. More importantly, though, I think kids should be impossible to miss. I think of it as a visual "scream". If a kid yells for help, I want to hear it. I want everyone to hear it.

I recall hearing from a police officer that the camouflage trend was the worst thing that ever happened to search and rescue missions - how do you find and help a child who's dressed to disappear? To this day, my kids don't wear camouflage - in the woods they wear blaze orange! We're a military family, too, so camouflage is everywhere, but not on my kids. Remember, you don't have to live in a rural area for them to blend in - all it takes to hide them is a median, park or natural landscaping. Camouflage is very effective stuff!

Nope (slurp coffee), I'll take that crazy glitter any morning. Let those little ones shine!