Today was Clash Day at school. Emma, my second grader, was up at 6:30 full of enthusiasm picking out her outfit. Dinara, our Kindergarten fashion plate was mortified that there was a day dedicated to schoolwide mismatched fashion.

Who would want to not wear clothes that match? Dinara looked at me with inquisitive angst.

Emma replied, “I do! It’s Clash Day Dinara. Go pick out your clothes!”

Dinara sighed. “I do not want to play this game. I don’t get it. Why would anyone want to go to school ugly?”

“Because it’s fun Dinara. And everyone is going to be doing it.” Emma said as she put on striped leggings and pulled a printed skort over them.

”Being ugly is not fun Emma. You should not want to be ugly just because everyone else is doing it. Popular girls are not ugly.”

Part of me rejoiced in her confidence in not following the crowd and conforming for conforming’s sake. The other part of me winced because she had already figured out in her short 6 months in school that popular girls are pretty.