Brisbane mum Cheree Lawrence was blasted for allowing her child to break her school's footwear rule. Photo / Instagram / OhSoBusyMum
Brisbane mum Cheree Lawrence was blasted for allowing her child to break her school's footwear rule. Photo / Instagram / OhSoBusyMum
A Queensland mum who sparked outrage for allowing her daughter to break a school rule on the first day has defended the decision, describing the backlash as "ridiculous".
Cheree Lawrence revealed she'd allowed her daughter to wear white Nike trainers to her Brisbane primary school when the rule was "black shoes only, with no coloured ticks or markings".
The mum-of-four shared a photo of the offending footwear on her popular mummy blogger Facebook page, "Oh So Busy Mum", explaining her child needs high shoes that provide ankle support.
But her explanation did little to flame anger from other parents who claimed "disobeying a simple school rule" would fail to teach her child how to respect authority.
"Rules are rules. I say to my kids that we don't always have to agree to the rules but they are there for a reason," one mum commented.
"We choose the schools and therefore choose their rules. We should enforce them at home by providing the correct uniform," another argued.
"Obviously we are all different, but I'm a firm believer in uniforms. The purpose is to keep all kids equal. If I get told my kids need to wear black shoes, they absolutely will. Time and a place to wear whatever you want," one woman lamented.
While one said: "The amount of parents in this post who are happy for their children to disobey simple school rules is why kids these days have no respect for authority and this is just sad. What example are you all setting for your children?"
However, there were plenty of commenters who agreed with Cheree's relaxed approach, stating: "As a parent you pick your battles, and this isn't one of them."
"As a mum now, I personally think the school shoes rules are the dumbest of all the dumb rules they have," one argued.
"Meh, we all have bigger problems than what colour our shoes are. At least she has shoes … and matching at that," another agreed.
Brisbane mum Cheree Lawrence was blasted for allowing her child to break her school's footwear rule. Photo / Instagram / OhSoBusyMum
"Love that your child goes to the beat of her own drum. Nothing offensive here," a parent stated.
One said: "Just can't believe the comments about a very benign pair of shoes. It's ridiculous a school would implement a ban on any other colour than black unless they were private. They are clean, neat and sensible so I don't know the issue here."
Despite the backlash, Cheree saw the funny side, updating her followers later in the day on her "rule-breaker".
"My little criminal rule-breaker is home and didn't get in trouble today for them. I thought you'd like an update given how invested some of you are," she said.
"As you can see I don't take things too seriously. We're a pretty chilled out family and just roll with it.
"I don't mind anyone commenting even if you are outraged or think she's heading for a life of crime (if any of my children are, it will definitely be her)."
