Skirt

It is the morning of the parade. Emily is full of excitement and is dressed in her uniform. I am serving her breakfast.

Me: "Do you think it's a very good idea to be wearing your uniform darling? You wouldn't want to spill milk over it, would you?
Emily: "Oh, don't be silly, Dad. I'm not going to spill anything. I'll be very careful."
Me: "I'm sure you will my love, but it would be a shame to get food on it. Why not change out of it until we're ready to go."
Emily: "No, dad, I'm not changing out of my uniform. I'm going to wear it and I'm going to be careful."
Me: "Perhaps if you took off the pullover-
Emily: "Dad!"
Me: "All right, all right, I'll be quiet."

Later:
Nevi: "Emily, don't wear your uniform, it'll get dirty."
Emily: "No, it won't! Why does everybody keep telling me not to wear my uniform?"

Still later:
Me: "Emily, stop aiming karate kicks at your sister's head, darling, you're going to-"
RRRRRIIIIIIIPPPPP
Me: "-tear your skirt. Oh. Oh dear."
Emily: "Arrggghhhhh!!!"
Me: "Oh dear, no."
Emily: "What am I going to do? I can't go on the parade with a torn skirt! Waaaaaa!!!"
Me: "No, don't cry darling, we'll fix it."
Emily: "Everyone will see my knickers!"
Me: "Let's have a look. Just slip out of it, could you?"
Emily: "That's it, I'm not going on the parade."
Me: "There we are, it's just along the seam, that won't take long to sew up."
Emily: "We don't have time!"
Me: "How long do we have? Fifteen minutes? Yeah, that's long enough!"
Emily: "And you don't know how to sew!"
Me: "Well, there you may have a point..."

And indeed, it may not have been the most proficient piece of stitching ever, but no one noticed, and it held for the duration of the parade, at least, which is what counts. And the tear really wasn't Emily's fault. The seam turned out not to have been properly stitched - it was just tacked together at three points, so it was going to go at some point if she did anything even remotely energetic. Actually, it could well have opened up during the parade itself, in which case all of Kaisariani would have seen her knickers, so we should count our blessings, I suppose.