People often say thoughtless things because they're either clueless, or well, thoughtless. It was years later that I heard that other Kinder parents were talking about the clothes ds wore to class. They thought we were pretentious and how ridiculous it was that he "dressed up."
Dressed up meant jeans and a polo shirt. He wore a polo every day until he was in third grade because the kid's head was so big we literally couldn't get his t-shirt over it. And any shirt that would fit his head was 2 sizes too big.
Ds (now12) has a September birthday and due to a severe speech disability we didn't push early entry. This made him older than his peers. He's also 105% in height and weight for his age. Add in his sensitivity issues and it was hell getting him dressed.
A friend heard this snark and let these parents know how cruel their comments were. I didn't give a rip, but really. Some people just don't get it.
We're on the opposite end of this one. DD7 has always taken a great interest in fashion (picked out her own outfits since 3mos) and insists on having her hair done nicely each morning, switching up the styles from time to time. Her school does uniforms, so shoes and hair are pretty much the only ways to stand out.
Yet when we take DD to school, we see a parade of little girls who look like they didn't even get a brush through their hair that morning, prompting DW to joke that those kids don't have moms.
