Could This Be The Start Of A Fourth Grade Fashion Trend?

Brandon's fourth grade class is currently studying food chains and environment. In keeping with the whole ecosystem thing, the class went to a local ecosystem park today for a field trip. It was rainy and cold, so I packed Brandon an extra pair of socks and shoes in his backpack, because they were going to be observing pond life and the weather was not so good. As we were leaving for school, he asked for a garbage bag. "Why do you need a garbage bag?" I asked. He wanted to wear it on the field trip. I informed him that his coat was waterproof, and besides, I didn't think many other people would be wearing Hefty bags on the field trip. He was relentless -- other kids wore Hefty bags, the teacher said they could bring them, etc. So, I very reluctantly let him have one with the hopes that no one else would be wearing a Hefty bag, or that he would forget about it, or he would accept the fact that his coat was warm, dry and quite fashionable.

It rained all day. When I picked him up this afternoon, I was mortified to see that he was wearing the Hefty bag. I waited until we got to the car to ask him: how long had he been wearing the Hefty bag? "Oh, since just after lunch," he replied. (It was now 4:45 pm.) "Have you been wearing the Hefty bag the whole time?" "Yes -- I like it!" He reported that he was the only kid who wore a Hefty bag, and he was quite comfortable with this.

I realize that reporting this on my blog will only be spreading my embarrassment over my child wearing a black trash bag for approximately 4 hours at school. However, he's not embarrassed at all (at least right now, maybe he will be in a couple of years). I have no idea what the teacher thinks about our family now. She's probably wondering what kind of parents let their kid wear a trash bag on a field trip. My gut feeling is that Brandon didn't bother to take his coat, but I'm not going to ask -- I don't want to know.

The kid wore a Hefty bag and was very happy about it. He has an nice, warm waterproof coat from a popular children's clothing store, but he wants a Hefty bag. Go figure.