I will need a loan to buy the uniform!

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Welcome back to Am I A Bad Mom? Podcast?

Am I A Bad Mum?

Last week? Last week of school.

For you finally, although I feel like there's a very few parents that are in the same public system that are going, how are we still doing? Like another week of school? I've got one child that wants to go to school, and I've got one child that does not want to go to school. Also, it came to me this morning, she goes, I think I'm done for the year.

I was like, no, see, the thing is you're not. Oh my gosh, Katie.

Last week with the graduation everything wrapped up.

It was huge with Gracie graduating, was that her last.

Day last week, Thursday morning was like the final assembly for the whole school, the announcement of the new captains, and then the big send off with the what's it called coat of arms where you like, all do the they run through the arms of everyone all the way through the whole entire school.

And they did that all on Thursday morning.

Did you cry?

I didn't cry. I still haven't cried.

I took her for a uniform fitting for the new school and I still haven't cried.

I'm not sure what's wrong with me?

So she's not at school today.

Yeah, she's going to school today as well.

But that makes no sense. Yeah, so they do the whole big send off. Yeah, okay, great, see Monday.

What Gracie being Gracey? Yeah, I want to go to school, I want to hang out with my friends. Because she knows that she's just going to basically excuse my French fuck around for the whole week.

She's not going to be doing anything. Yeah, it's a week just to hang out with your friends. Really.

Yeah, but it's also a week of free childcare.

Yeah, I agree. I mean I saw people dropping off so early.

This morning at and you're thinking, God, you're really trying to rake in the.

Last seconds of this childcare.

Yeah, you're really trying to squeeze every bit out of it.

Poor kids. Am I a bad mum for really just not caring?

I think this adds to why I'm feeling like, really non emotional about, I know, the whole year.

Do you know what I think it is? Because I think you're being faced with quite a bit of attitude at the moment and pushback. So I think when kids are assholes, you lose the emotion. Yes, it's an emotional thing finishing primary school. But if she's being an asshole, you're not going to feel sad about it.

I'm I'm not sad about it.

I have to admit, like last week, probably when I got to Sunday of the week, I got to Sunday and I felt like I had been on probably like a three week bender. I sort of just got to Sunday and my whole world sort of like imploded and sort of I just collapsed and was like, oh my gosh, thank god.

We made it.

Because it's just been such a big finish to the year. I feel like we say this on a podcast every year, the last few weeks is insane. This year has been double that because we've had graduation, we've had final assemblies, we've had everything you can think of, all in the last week, Christmas Caroline Dancers. Still, we've had all of the goods thrown into this last week. On top of that,

I have got no fucks to give.

Now, did you go on a three week bender?

No, I should have. I think I would have handled it a bit better. I got to that point and I was sort of questioned, you know. We left the uniform fitting and Sam messaged me and goes, how did you go?

Did you get all emotional?

What did you say? Well, the bank's empty.

I just like wrote back and was like, I don't know what's wrong with me. No, I didn't cry. I didn't find it emotional at all. We got in, we did it, We argued, and we left.

Yeah, that's the thing. If it wasn't arguing, Like, if it was all like sweetness and light and you know, lovely, you might have been like, oh, look at her.

I didn't. Yeah, I didn't feel any of that, Katie.

We argued about like the uniform, because clearly I designed the uniform or in the school, so it was my fault. And then the other thing was we stood at the front counter and the lady brought out the school bag, the school's school bag, yep, and she's like, it's got laptop, this and da da da, and this is how we end it's got a warranty of the whole time that they're at school.

Oh that's good, that's great.

She stood, they're facing the lady. And also we went with like one of her friends and her mum, and so in front of all of us, and she stood there and she goes, absolutely not, I am not wearing that.

I'm wearing a Nike bag that I'm getting for Christmas. I looked around. I was like, sorry.

She goes, I'm not wearing that. She said, I'll wear the Nike one that I'm getting for Christmas. I said, well, that's weird because you won't be coming here.

She just looked at me.

I said, you're not going to go to the school if you don't wear the school bag. The whole thing is like the principle of this, which is we're paying all of this money for all of these uniforms.

Just use the school bag. Yeah, it's not going to make a difference.

And keep your Nike bag for weekends and school activities and when you need it for your uniforms for like the sports days and all of that stuff. Because on top of this, I've also got to organize her a dance bag to take to school because she's in the dance program, which is another whole uniform. Yeah, mate, you're gonna have enough bags. It doesn't matter which bag it is. But for me, I was like, no, this is the principle of it.

So my girls argued about the school bag too, and so at their school it is compulsory they have to have the school bag. So there's a bag that they have to take to school, and then there's like a satchel which they have to use during the school day

How long is it still?

To this day, I have not bought that satchel. Yeah, carrying it in their hands must be really fucking annoying. But that social suicide. I'm like, really social suicide, that's what they tell me.

Yeah.

Look, if Gracie even thought to say that, it probably would have come out of her mouth.

But it was like the full pushback.

An argument delivered from her after You've just stood there and nearly for X amount of dollars worth of uniforms and then still stands there and does that, and.

I go, mate.

I had a conversation with the uniform lady because the girls needed new uniforms this year, and I knew it was going to be a battle because no, we don't want the dress that length. It needs to be shorter. Well know, it needs to be what the school allows. And so I got the lady on side first. I said, I'm going to get some pushback here. Can you please

Ye.

So there was pushback on the length of the dress, and the lady stood there. She went, no, absolutely not. It needs to be there. That's the rules, that's where it needs to be. And I could just see the girls like hating his but not saying anything. They weren't going to be rude to her. They are only going to be rude to me the length of the dress. And then they wear like bike pants underneath, and so it was the length of those and they put them on and they like laughed, like thinking, there is no

And they were just like they're like, oh no, we're not wearing that.

Gracie genuinely got in the change room and the skirt is like just past knees and given they're grade seven, like, you got so much growing to do. But at the same time, she was like, oh, that's fine because I know exactly what to do.

You just roll it up.

I mean, we've all rolled our skits.

Doesn't matter. I was like, not even worried about my skirt length.

I remember Rach wearing my school shoes to school, the ones that I was allowed to wear, and taking platforms, Oh my god, in my back and changing them at.

School at school. Yeah, how come we weren't getting pulled up at school?

Though?

I thought that was where I was.

I probably was.

I remember, must have spent some time in detention.

Yes, principle screaming at me from down the corridor. Katie Matten, get into that and wash that makeup off.

Oh my gosh.

I was so straightforward as a kid. I have to like say though, it was pretty funny. And Grace's little friend Ev she goes, what am I supposed to do? When I'm on the oval and I want to do a cartwheel? People are just going to see my nickers, Like, out of everything going through your head right now? That is all that matters When I do a cartwheel during lunch break?

What's going to happen? I was like, I looked at her and said, baby, just put on bike pants. That's fine. Oh she's like walking off.

I was like, oh my gosh, it's hilarious where their little brains go. Yeah, cartwheels at lunchtime.

So how much did it set you back a lot of money for all this uniform? It's like hundreds, Yeah, seven, it's so expensive.

Seven before Christmas?

Why I bought the school shoes so big that first year they lasted free, didn't.

Even that's not even with the shoes, that's not even with the book pack.

Clearly, I actually am just.

Do what I suggested with the shoes, by the massive, big clown shoes.

I don't even know what shoes I've got to get her actually, now that we start, just big ones, big floppy