Comments on: The Hat Kid

By: Kim Shimer

Kim Shimer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:47:52 +0000

Rob often talks about the funky, edgy music kid at his school who was always unique, but in a real, not forced, way. I bet the kid Rob remembers wore a hat!

By: Gale

Gale — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:29:41 +0000

Oh how I longed to be the Hat Kid. Alas, I never had the courage and the hats are all in my parents’ house collecting dust.

By: goofdad

goofdad — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:44:43 +0000

Both my son Adam and my son Julian are Hat Kids. They both prefer Berets to anything else. What’s so funny is that while they both are “artsy but cool, slightly quirky but self-assured, smart, marches-to-the-beat-of-his-own-drum” they are so vastly different that lumping them together feels strange. Adam is a musician who loves to ham it up when he’s playing, but is otherwise quiet. Julian is outgoing, always smiling, and into D&D and chainmaille.

But you missed the part I appreciate the most about the hats (probably because he’s new to the whole thing)! Even though they can’t wear them in class, whenever I’m at a gathering (after school`, at a concert, parade, carnival, or whatever), I can always look out across the sea of people (being 6’4″ helps) and SPOT MY KIDS!

I thank my lucky stars there aren’t too many “Hat Kids” out there … I’d never know which ones were mine!

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:19:09 +0000

Or maybe, Kristen, the Hat Kid and the Shorts Kid are the same kid! Could be. Not much of a stretch there.

By: Kristen @ Motherese

Kristen @ Motherese — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:12:55 +0000

Yes, as a high school teacher, I can confirm that there is always a Hat Kid. You know what else there is? A Shorts Kid. I have seen this phenomenon in both the Northeast and the Midwest: a kid who wears shorts to school every day, regardless of weather. (My husband is a college professor and has Shorts Kid in class right now.)

I wonder if the Hat Kid and the Shorts Kid hang out together…

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:40:32 +0000

Ooooh — a bully in a jester hat!! THAT is a formidable image. I didn’t talk about the bullies wearing hats — but they certainly exist! Now can’t get Clockwork Orange out of my mind.

By: skellie

skellie — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:17:00 +0000

Our former next door neighbor Jack wore a jester hat with jingle bells and all. I’d see him getting on the school bus wearing it. And your description fits him. He is cool, smart, self-assured. He was also a bit of a bully, and would have been the first to make fun of someone else wearing something different like this. Just the way life is, I suppose.

By: rjga

rjga — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:52:35 +0000

Very cool! Our middle school does not allow you to wear hats during the school day. Hope you don’t have any such rule!!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:16:06 +0000

That’s true: there IS always a Hat Kid! I always loved vintage hats, but never had the guts to wear one to school, either (actually, now that I think of it, I don’t think hats were allowed at school for “safety reasons” – whatever). My friend, Heidi, has a five year-old son who has been collecting hats nearly his entire life. He LOVES hats, so when I was on Isla Taquile in Lake Titicaca, Peru, which is known for its fine (but kooky) knitted hats, I bought him one. He loved it, and decided to wear it to the bus stop one brisk morning (living in Las Vegas, not a lot of occasions to wear a wool hat out of the house). He was immediately made fun of by some other kids at the bus stop. That made me sad