Comments on: Leopard Print with Tie Dye – Why I Don’t Care What My Kids Wear (Most of the Time)

By: Melinda Woideck

Melinda Woideck — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 04:09:10 +0000

This is great Katie. I love that you are teaching by example that clothes are only clothes, not ourselves!
I need to remember not to stress so much over my 3 yo grand daughter’s outfits.
As long as she’s covered, it’s ok. I will repeat this to myself 50x a day!

By: Katelyn Fagan

Katelyn Fagan — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 18:40:28 +0000

In reply to Kelsey. I know what you mean about 5T being harder to find skorts. Now that my twins are officially out of the T sizes, it's harder to find good (and cute) skorts. And I totally agree that their clothing choices are not a reflection of you or your parenting.

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 04:27:33 +0000

I feel the same way. Especially with daughters I think it is important to remember that children are not objects to dress up and adore. And their clothing choices are not a reflection of me or my parenting. As long as it is functional, I let them go with it (that means leggings with skirts in the winter for my girls).
I do occasionally guided choices by teaching about matching colors or mixing patterns, but that is a rare occurrence.
And thanks for the tip about the shorts. Now that my older girl is in size 5T it is getting harder to find skorts!

By: Becca

Becca — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 00:19:22 +0000

Similar to you, I let my children wear pretty much whatever they want. Sometimes it’s absolutely revolting. Last weekend for instance my son paired bright, royal blue pants with an olive green and black shirt. But, I think it’s important for kids to have the freedom to choose their own clothes. After all, we want them to be independent people someday, who are capable of making their own decisions; and letting kids choose clothes is the first step towards being capable, independent people who are confident in their ability to choose for themselves. (As an aside I have some cousins whose mother was still choosing what clothes they’d wear when they were teenagers. Lets’ just say they had a few adjustment issues as adults.)

My daughter used to wear everything she owned, all at once. It wasn’t quite as as bad as that, but it was close – pants with a skirt on top with a dress over the skirt with a shirt over the dress with a sweater over the shirt and a coat over the whole lot, plus tights, leggings, and socks, a couple of scarves, and a hat. None of it matching of course. It couldn’t have been comfortable but we let her do it; we just called the look “refugee chic.” She got some funny stares when we went out in public but hey, that’s their problem, not ours.

By: Jenny @ Unremarkable Files

Jenny @ Unremarkable Files — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 22:08:25 +0000

Kids are funny. Mine when they’re little always wear the most horrendous combinations and it’s fine with me. But the thing is: they really DO put thought into it, not just throw any old things together. It took me a while to realize this, but they really are putting thought into making sure that there is blue both in the polka-dots and the stripes and the camo, and that’s why their outfits goes together. Obviously.