We use the same company and I have heard the same complaints. DS10 is the youngest of 4 boys, so we already had a fair supply of shirts and ties. Pants were the issue. DW purchased similar ones (we have done this in the past with no issues) and the principal did announce that it was fine as long as they were similar color. If it were me, I would just do it and see if they complain. And if they do, I would give them grief.
2 Likes
Iād try two things. First - is there any kind of Facebook page or general parent forum? Ask if anyone has pants they no longer need in his size that you can buy or borrow. A lot of that is happening at my school right now.
Second - contact the school directly (we have campus coordinators for these kinds of questions) and explain the situation. You are not alone. They should either A) give you permission to wear similar pants or B) hook you up with network of parents who can help.
We are having the exact same issues at our campus and everyone is really coming together to cloth the kids (and some kids are just showing up in similar styles and colors until their uniforms come in, but mostly they have all been covered by used and borrowed uniforms.
4 Likes
My 14 year old wanted to be vaccinated and did so the first week she could. I donāt think I would have pushed her to jump I right away. Itās hard to weigh the personal risk vs reward on kids, I think. The reward to the population as a whole is clear, tho.
8 Likes
My kids private school has a āuniform closetā with used shirts, pants, etc. That where we usually send the stuff the kids out grow that wasnāt badly stained. There also tend to be parents who try to sell the stuff on Facebook.
2 Likes
Iām just completely shocked they are taking 0 action against covid. They made the national morning news show today. No masks, no quarantine, and no contact tracing. They say no masks bc itās the parentās choice, but if I was a parent Iād want the choice to quarantine if my kid was a close contact of a positive case, but now parentās donāt even have that choice because they will never even know. Covid isnāt over unless your child is a student in union county schools I guess.
4 Likes
Parents can still claim a religious exemption due to our state law but thatās true for all the vaccines.
2 Likes
Covid is very much not over here but parents were sick of their kids being sent home to quarantine every 5 minutes. Masks have never been worn in primary schools. For a while they were required in secondary schools, but not for ages. The reasoning is apparently that for all the thousands of kids isolating every day as a close contact in school, there were only one or two cases where one of those kids eventually tested positive. Many schools didnāt have a single case where a quarantined kid actually had covid.
1 Like
Yeah I think the UK quarantine rules have been much stricter than here. Itās just scary to me in a county with barely 50% vaccinated, over 25% cases in school aged children, and % positive cases over 16% that they just stopped everything. There were other options to limit who quarantines and for how long, but instead they just said nope weāre done. Iām disappointed.
4 Likes
My kids are under 12, but we will get them vaccinated when eligible.
My brother brought my 14 y/o nephew (who had Covid in December 2020) in to be vaccinated the day he was first eligible, and my 12 year old nephew was vaccinated the same day he returned from a camp retreat (he turned 12 during the retreat).
My brotherās words: Iām not fāin around with this virus.
7 Likes
DD13 got vaccinated as soon as she was eligible. We left it up to her, but we already knew what her decision would be, so virtue never tested and all that.
I think DS11 will get vaccinated as soon as he can too. He knows he slightly higher risk because of his allergy-related asthma.
7 Likes
My older is 10 but in a building with over 12s. I donāt know the stats but given the culture where we live I would assume most of the over 12s are vaxxed. I have several nieces and nephews in the 12-18 bracket and they all got them as soon as they could. (They are all around the country.) My under 12s feel the same.
Regarding the why, I think the trust (among this political demographic) in the safety is pretty high and all the lids just want as much normalcy as possible, like they see adults having. They are āallowedā to do the same stuff pretty much but as a practical matter a lot of families are waiting until the vaccine to say yes to everything.
6 Likes
I will add as one example that my brother whose kids are in this age bracket said he would not want to fly with them if they werenāt vaxxed. I have flown with my unvaxxed kids but only for pretty necessary stuff. Weāll do the funner stufff once theyāre vaxxed.
Obviously other people find the cost/benefit of an unvaxxed flight more worth it (we have a lot we can drive to). So obviously a personal decision but I think as a family we are all looking forward to being as equally protected as possible. We will feel we can reasonably do more and actually enjoy it.
4 Likes
I understand that. I feel a lot better about DS going back to college now heās vaccinated (only one dose allowed for under 18s but it still helps!).
3 Likes
No
My kids are 12 & 14 and they have not been vaccinated. Both my husband & I have been fully vaccinated since mid June. We both experienced some rare side effects. I experienced a metal taste in my mouth, my joints (in the arm I had the shot) was soreā¦ like I slept on it and my monthly cycle was all screwed up. My husband had the typical side effects but the one that was worrisome was that he temporarily lost hearing in one ear.
I have spoke with the pediatrician in depth about the side effects of the vaccine & also getting covid in regards to the kids. This is not an easy decision for my husband & I. I have been thinking of the kids just getting one shot and waiting a longer period of time before getting the second shotā¦ but Iām not there yet.
5 Likes
FYI the UK will only be offering 12-15s a single dose of Pfizer.
2 Likes
My granddaughter turned 12 in April. Spoke with her pediatrician soon after knowing that the vaccine would be available to her. He suggested we discuss it at her annual checkup in June.
In June he suggested after our discussion to wait it out some more. That if he felt that anything changed he would start to offer the vaccine at his office and would contact us then.
She has been in person full time in school since last September. She has not been a part of any quarantines (knock on wood) but we do have a mask mandate through the end of September which will probably get extended.
3 Likes
Absolutely. but my youngest is 17, so maybe that isnāt the same. He plays sports (no masks at football), hangs out with friends, and lives a mostly normal existence these days. The vaccine allows that to happen, I have no worries. I would vaccinate younger kids too, if I had them.
6 Likes
Mine are 12 and 15. They had their first shot within days to it being available. Their Ped recommend it the day before at the oldest well child checkup. We already had it scheduled.
6 Likes
DS16 got vaxxed as soon as he was eligible in April. When I took him to his annual physical when he turned 17 in July, I asked our pediatrician a bunch of questions regarding our DS11 twins.
Our pediatrician is part of the Texas Childrenās Hospital organization, so he has had access to all of their internal reporting for all of their experiences with adverse reactions, in addition to all the professional literature. TCH is among the top hospitals in the US for pediatric cardiology.
How they ranked nationwide by specialty:
One of the questions I asked him is if I should have any hesitation about the risks/benefits of getting them vaxxed as soon as they turn 12.
He said that there is a statistical risk of myocarditis but those cases post-vaccination are treatable and resolve quickly.
On the other hand, while he hadnāt personally had any patients with it, the other main pediatrician in his office has several kids who got myocarditis in conjunction with Covid who are not having it resolve quickly. Months later, they still havenāt been cleared to return to athletics.
He said if his kids were that age (they are older), he absolutely would not hesitate to get them vaxxed. The benefits at the individual level statistically outweigh the risks, and the risks are almost all very temporary and mild. (And thatās without even bringing the community health benefits into it.)
The CDC updated their related guidance Sept 8:
11 Likes
#2 in neurosurgery. That is why we went there for DS5ās cancer surgery. Noone in the DFW area had ever done the surgery before. Even at TCH, the surgeon had only done it once. 
Fortunately for us that was just 6 months before our surgery, so yay for āpracticeā (but nay for that unfortunate child, although I know they are healthy, so no guilt here).
10 Likes