Mom Sparks Debate After Revealing How She Dresses Her Toddler for Preschool

It may be hard to imagine a toddler getting through the day without getting dirty, which is exactly why Marla Branyan refuses to dress her daughter in her 'Sunday best' for preschool.

Instead, the stay-at-home mom sends her 3-year-old to nursery wearing clothes that have been stained while there. Of course, the garments have been washed, but sometimes, stubborn stains cannot be removed.

Branyan, from Indiana, shared a "reminder" on TikTok to her account @marla_branyan with a video that racked up over 1.6 million views and more than 120,500 likes. The message encourages other parents to send their kids to school wearing "clean stained clothes." She told Newsweek: "The goal of my video was honestly to remove a lot of the added stress we as parents put on our shoulders."

Branyan said: "I used to struggle with feeling like I 'had' to send my kids in perfect clothes. When I finally had a 'lightbulb moment' that most of the stains were coming from preschool therefore it should be OK to send them back to school in those clothes, I felt a huge sense of freedom.

"I just want other parents to have that freedom I feel," Branyan added.

During the clip, she can be seen sitting on her toddler's bedroom floor and holding a pair of pink pants that were stained at the nursery. She adds that she can't afford to replace her pants every week and highlights how this takes the pressure off the teachers.

An extract from the caption reads: "Kids need freedom to be messy and dirty, and that preschool and day-care age is a great opportunity for that."

Branyan told Newsweek: "Preschool and day care is all about making learning fun, playing with others, and becoming familiar with learning.

"The last thing a kid needs in an environment like this is to be worried about getting messy because mommy or daddy is going to be upset they ruined something. Are there times when kids need to 'try' to stay clean, like at a wedding or church? Absolutely! Day care and preschool is not one of those times.

"At the age my daughter is, I think most people understand the reasoning," Branyan added.

While the clip has received a lot of attention from parents, statistics show there has been a decline in preschool enrollment from 2019 to 2021, according to The U.S. Census Bureau. With a 9.3 percentage point drop among 3- to 6-year-olds, this period, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, saw the lowest preschool attendance since 2005.

So far, the video has received over 3,000 comments, some of which are from educators.

One wrote: "As a teacher we don't 'notice' kids coming in stained clothes, we notice when they come in with the SAME outfit 4 days in a row!!!!!!"

"As a childcare provider... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send them in stained clothes!!! I stress so hard when they destroy clothing that is prefect," posted another.

A third commenter added: "If you want them to be picked on go ahead and send them in stained dirty clothes."

"This is only fine for middle class people. Let a working class person say this and people would go mental," said a fourth.

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