Are "dress up like you're 100" days ableist/ageist?

[Anonymous]

I think it’s a larger issue of how we treat our elderly in this country than the dress up part. In other words, if it seems offensive to mimic an elderly person, why? Other countries revere their elderly. We don’t, so when we have kids dress as them it’s seen as a mockery.

[Anonymous]

People with complain about literally everything. No one cares - it's an attention seeking outrage.

[Anonymous]

As a permanently disabled person, don’t coop my status for your BS outrage. If you’re so worried about things being ablest, be proactive to help disability causes. Otherwise GTFOH.

[Anonymous]

I was a little uncomfortable with the stereotypes about what old people wear. Anytime you dress like a stereotype there's a potential issue.

Mostly, it's a labor intensive project on a school morning and I don't appreciate that. I much preferred the "add 100 things to a t shirt" variation which is easier and more relevant to the number 100.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s insensitive and disrespectful.

[Anonymous]

Somewhat unrelated -- I saw a friend on FB post that she and her friends dressed up as old ladies to celebrate a birthday. They went out like that. It was the weirdest thing ever and seemed inappropriate. These women are in their 30s.

Not sure how I feel about kids dressing up as elderly - I mean its fine but couldn't they find anything else to do on the 100th day?

[Anonymous]

Troll.

[Anonymous]

1) I’m 100% fine with it, and I think it’s cute.

2) I do think it would be eye-opening if more people did some general reading on gerontology, specifically the links between the reality of aging and the fiction of it. I read a book on this, and it was fascinating how basic symptoms of menopause/perimenopause (facial hair, gray/wiry hair, wrinkles, enlarged nose, hump back) = fictional portrayal of “witch.”

In fairy tales especially, older women (older mothers and MILs, especially) are witches, jealous with rage and hell-bent on cursing. So it’s kind of like, if we’re implicitly taught from birth to fear and distrust older women who want to eat little children or kill their son’s wives, that probably bleeds into society in some ways.

3) An extension of that reading and thinking over the years led me to a really interesting book linking fear of the dark/fear of night (night being the time that witches do their work, “under cover of darkness” is when villains commit crimes) to…fear of dark skins. The hero is always of “the light” and the bad guy is always of “the dark/dark powers.” It does make a lot of sense, right?

Just some interesting thoughts that there are some really interesting books and studies on topics like this, and it does make sense to reflect on fictional and “fun” portrayals, and why they might be more complex than we think of at first glance.

[Anonymous]

My wife dresses like she’s 100 every day. She’s neither ageist nor abelist. She’s not any -ist for that matter.

[Anonymous]

I would dress up like a flapper girl from 1924.

[Anonymous]

It’s in bad taste. My grandmother is 95 and has never owned a housecoat. People close to 100 are either in nursing homes or wear clothes from the mall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would dress up like a flapper girl from 1924.

That’s what I was thinking, that they were supposed to dress like people who are 100 dressed in the old days.

[Anonymous]

Wow, this has to be the stupidest stretch of an idea. The 100th day of school was used to teach our K or first grade how to count to 100. They used pins, popcorn, post-its, cereal, etc. and glued the items on a display board to practice counting to 100. I will never understand how dressing up like an old person ever became a ‘thing’. I truly don’t get it at all. In fact, when we grew up, we didn’t even know what day of the school year it was. We didn’t know if it was Day 80 or Day 115. There was no head nod at all to the 100th day. When did that even start? But regardless, using it as a motivator to get kids to count items up to 100 seems acceptable. But, spraying hair gray and walking with a cane should be left for Halloween.

[Anonymous]

Halloween costumes or old people have existed for decades, it’s fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this has to be the stupidest stretch of an idea. The 100th day of school was used to teach our K or first grade how to count to 100. They used pins, popcorn, post-its, cereal, etc. and glued the items on a display board to practice counting to 100. I will never understand how dressing up like an old person ever became a ‘thing’. I truly don’t get it at all. In fact, when we grew up, we didn’t even know what day of the school year it was. We didn’t know if it was Day 80 or Day 115. There was no head nod at all to the 100th day. When did that even start? But regardless, using it as a motivator to get kids to count items up to 100 seems acceptable. But, spraying hair gray and walking with a cane should be left for Halloween.

Kids aren’t allowed to dress up at school for Halloween anymore, so let’s let them have this.