Catherine Pearlman, a mom with a professional knack for psychotherapy, parenting coaching, and writing, got fed up with the school dress code. She decided to take matters into her own hands and wrote a letter to the “dress code police” – a.k.a. the middle school principal – who sent her daughter home for being “dressed inappropriately.”
In the letter, she proposed a solution that was music to any teenage girl’s ears: a shopping spree!
Oh boy, did the self-proclaimed “Sick of the Dress Code Mom” give the middle school principal a taste of her sass!
When her daughter was sent home for a dress code violation, she let the principal have it.
According to Pearlman, her poor girl had to change into “large, likely never washed, mesh shorts” Yuck!
In response to her daughter’s dress code violation and subsequent humiliation, Pearlman took to the Today Parenting Team’s website to extend a tongue-in-cheek invitation to the principal, offering to take him on a fun-filled shopping spree with her daughter.
That same year, Pearlman’s letter went viral, motivating her to take to Instagram so she could provide viewers with the dress code’s situation update.
So, it turns out that one dress code anarchist can actually make a difference. After Catherine Pearlman’s epic letter to her daughter’s principal, the school district of 50,000 students had no choice but to change its dress code.
No more of the school supervisors blaming the girls for “distracting” the boys. It seems like Pearlman swung the pendulum in the right direction, and now young women can present themselves with a little more freedom.
Pearlman’s original letter to the principal was a classic example of a mother fiercely defending her daughter’s wardrobe choices. She stated that her daughter was “taller than most 13-year-olds, and, despite being a teenage girl, she didn’t like anything pink or frilly.
She refused to wear pants because she gets warm easily and wouldn’t touch a dress with a ten-foot pole. In addition, no clothing item could have a logo visible because, to her, that was uncool.
Pearlman also hilariously pointed out that her daughter’s long fingers make finding suitable shorts a Herculean task, adding that the only consolation is that her piano teacher thinks they’re great.
In her letter to the principal, she also advised him not to forget that any clothes they buy must meet the school’s dress code requirements, so there is no need to go wild with sequins and feathers.
Pearlman’s letter proves that parents are not to be messed with, and when it comes to institutions trying to police girls’ bodies, they better watch out!
The dress code change in the school district shows that people can create change from the ground up, and that’s a good thing because it was about time someone challenged people in a position of power!
