Bowing to Peer Pressure

Rebecca has been going to Kindergarten for over a month now and at least twice a week, I have had to hear another parent or a teacher quip that Becca's backpack was as big as she was! Yes, well,....it was cute the first few times.

The kids here have mini backpacks for Kindergarten which also serve as their lunchboxes, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with Becca's standard-sized hand-me-down Pooh backpack with a lunchbox stuck inside. We have had to buy many items since we have been here, some to help us stick out less, and there was no way I was going to replace a perfectly good backpack just because of these little comments.

A few days ago, another mother, upon seeing Rebecca with her backpack almost sweeping the floor said, "Her backpack is as big as she is!" I must have really had it because I gave her a weak smile and replied, "Yes, we have bigger backpacks in the United States." She answered back something along the lines of, "Yes, well, we have bigger backpacks in Germany, too, but they are for bigger kids." Ouch.

When I found myself at the store later in the day to buy Becca new rain pants, I spied this sweet little mini backpack. And I bought it. I didn't even check to see how much it cost. Anything to stop the comments. How weak.