Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Sun Lite for August 23, 2004

Lisa Ferguson

Monday, Aug. 23, 2004 | 8:16 a.m.

Panicked over pants

Peer pressure, campus violence, the removal of soda machines from the cafeteria these are the things that try modern school kids' souls. At least, one might think so.

Turns out that today's students may actually lose more sleep worrying about wearing the right outfit on the first day of school. That's what the makers of Levi Strauss Signature brand clothes would have you believe: The company recently sponsored a nationwide survey of teens ages 13 through 17; nearly 42 percent of those polled said choosing the perfect duds to don on Day 1 is "more stressful" than the thought of tackling homework assignments (named by 29 percent); having the teacher call on him/her during class (19 percent); or participating in extra-curricular activities (10 percent) throughout the school year. Since when do glee club meetings bring about anxiety attacks?

The survey numbers also revealed that surprise! jeans are the pants of choice to be worn three out of the five school days each week by 80 percent of the teens queried. Bad news for the Levi people, though: A whopping 90 percent of the teens said they'd (have their parents) "buy less-expensive jeans if they looked cool and fit into their wardrobe."

Meanwhile the company citing a stat from the National Retail Federation estimating typical families with school-age youngsters will shell out around $483 this year on back-to-school gear is looking to crown some lucky lady the Levi Strauss Signature Coolest Mom.

To enter the contest, mothers and their offspring should send a snapshot of said kid in his/her first-day-of-school ensemble, along with a short essay explaining "how they achieved their signature' style on a budget."

The winning madre will receive the title, as well as a $25,000 college scholarship for Junior. Complete contest rules and additional information is available at www.levistrausssignature.com.

Hand-washing homeroom

While teens are stressing out about their clothes, their possibly paranoid parents have worked themselves into a lather over the germs that lurk on school campuses so say the neatniks at the Soap and Detergent Association in Washington, D.C., which represents cleaning-product manufacturers.

Earlier this year the association polled exactly 557 parents of students under age 14 for its Back to School survey. It seems 35 percent of moms and dads send their youngsters to class armed with hand-sanitizing wipes, gels and the like, although 60 percent of parents do not (another 2 percent didn't know if their kids toted the items; and apparently there's no accounting for the missing 3 percent).

Why stuff Susie's book bag with cleansers? Because 21 percent of parents reported knowing for certain that their kids' school lacks "proper hygiene and /or sanitation products," though 68 percent said the school was adequately stocked. It seems 9 percent weren't invited to the PTA's bathroom-inspection meetings, as they checked the "don't know" box (the remaining 2 percent, we suppose, were no-shows).

There may be something to this germ-phobia: The SDA relays information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that some "22 million school days are lost" each year as a result of the common cold the best protection against which is hand-washing that affects 52.2 million kids (under age 17) each year.

The SDA and CDC have teamed up on a program called Healthy Schools, Healthy People, It's a SNAP" providing "hand hygiene" tool kits to educators (available at www.itsa-snap.org). Each year the organizations select a U.S. middle school to be honored for its cleanly efforts at a reception in the nation's capitol.