My parents always told me that I took after my grandmother. She used to babysit me two days a week, and I was her alarm clock. My arrival was her cue to get out of bed, and once she was up, she didn’t hurry to get dressed. That came after she had breakfast, coffee, and a cigarette— and usually only if we were going out to run errands. Most of the time she hung around in her nightgown and robe or at least in a comfy sweatsuit.
My other grandmother, who watched me the remaining three days a week, was the exact opposite. She was awake, dressed, and already eating breakfast by the time I arrived. This is the kind of house I grew up in, too—an Up and At ‘Em kind of place. I can’t remember a time that I woke up my parents on a Saturday morning. They were always up, dressed, and on the move before me.
I like to take my mornings slow. As a kid, I lingered in bed and lounged in my pajamas for as long as I could. As an adult, I don’t get to dawdle nearly as much as I’d like, but I take advantage whenever I can, and, as a general rule, All Day PJs are 100% okay in our house.
As I write this, it’s almost 2:00 PM and my kids are still in theirs jammies, busily playing with toys between their requests for snacks. And so what? When we need to be somewhere, we get ready and arrive on time, but when we don’t have plans, what’s the rush?
My mom always said that she likes to shower and change right away so that she’s ready for the day and whatever it may bring. She can get out the door in 5 minutes, whereas it’ll take my kids and me a good 45 minutes to mobilize if you invite us somewhere on short notice. But let’s be honest, sometime we roll out just as we are.
My kids have made appearances in Target midday in their pajamas more than once. I was “dressed” in yoga pants and a t-shirt—it’s only a half-step above pajamas, and the battle to get them dressed wasn’t worth it.
It’s all fine. We might do things differently from your family or maybe you’re relieved to know you’re not the only people who don’t push the need to wear “real clothes” just because the clock says it’s a certain time (It saves on laundry, anyway, right?). Either way, hectic school mornings are around the corner, so we’ll take advantage of our PJ Days as much as we can.
