Steve and I have been in deep discussions about moving to a town with a better school system. The school system in this town is pretty good, but I went to one of top public high schools in the country and I hate to give my kids' a second-best school. The downside to moving would be a much smaller, uglier house and a community of rich, spoiled kids.

Right now, my kids have zero stress about stuff. Their friends wear Payless sneakers and jeans from Old Navy. Jonah never comes home agitating for clothes or fancy vacations or expensive haircuts, because his friends don't have that stuff. It may be a girl-boy thing. I'm not sure.

Since we have moving on the brain, I've been quizzing other parents about their schools and communities. One woman in a nearby fancy town said that ten year olds get made fun of for wearing Children's Place clothes. The kids somehow know which t-shirts came from which store.

My buddy in Cold Spring Harbor told me that she had to get Uggs for her six year old daughter, because the girls formed an Uggs club and wouldn't let the other girls sit with them. She also told me that every kid had to have a Butter-brand sweatshirt ($100) or else they were not cool. All the girls in the town have three pairs of Uggs, the Butter sweatshirts, and two North Face jackets. (Vomiting a little in my mouth.) 

I really do love that my kids are unconscious of status symbols. I'm not sure if it's worth losing that innocence in order to gain a better school.