Wear This, Not That

     I feel pretty lucky that my kids have never really put up a big stink about what clothes they will or won’t wear.  I know many of my friends have fought fierce battles with their kids over wardrobe selection, to the point where they’ve finally given up and just let them wear whatever they want. My twins have been fairly agreeable up until this point, allowing (and actually even preferring) me to pick out their clothes.

     Since my son is just an all-around laid-back little guy, he doesn’t even look at what he’s putting on half the time.  In fact, he has been known to put both legs in the same pant leg or his shirt on backwards more often than not.  We have to literally stand over him and remind him that the tag goes in the back.  I think the only way he’d really notice is if something was super hot pink or had bows on it.  The only thing he’s ever really protested was the rain jacket I bought him for his birthday last year.  It’s blue (his favorite color) with little green frogs and even has a matching umbrella and boots. For whatever reason, he will carry the umbrella and wear the boots, but he absolutely refuses to sport the jacket.  No explanation, just flat-out refusal. We’ve had several major temper tantrums trying to get him to wear the thing on days when it’s monsooning outside. I’ve finally just given up on the idea and have chalked it up to a big fat waste of money.

     Surprisingly, my daughter is also pretty agreeable when it comes to picking out clothes.  From what I’ve heard, it’s usually the girls who are the most opinionated when it comes to this area, but she has always let me pick for her.  I know that some of her little friends have insisted on choosing their clothes since they were two!  She did go through a phase in the winter when all she wanted to wear were dresses.  Of course, she announced this to me after I’d just bought her a bunch of pants to wear to school, so then I had to go out and add some dresses to the mix.  The only things she’s been a little picky about have been shoes.  The girl definitely has a knack for picking out THE MOST EXPENSIVE shoes.  She often goes for the most blinged-out pair she can possibly find in the store, which naturally tend to be the most costly. For the most part, though, I have to say that she actually has pretty good taste.  I just took her to pick out some camp shoes, since her gym shoes are looking kinda ratty.  (And it must be noted that her gym shoes by no means look at all like gym shoes, since they are covered with different colored jewels.)  I’m not sure why, but she was determined to get “slip-on” shoes and picked out a pair of pink Chuck Taylor All-Stars.  I tried to show her other, more practical gym shoes with velcro, etc.  Nothing would do, though, because she had her heart set on the Chucks.  The girl definitely has an eye for fashion, because I’ll admit that they are pretty darn cute and, luckily, were not even that pricey.  

     I realize that this period of time when I get to pick out what they wear will be gone before I know it.  Soon, they’ll be wanting to dress like whoever are the cracked-out rock stars of the moment or the latest, greatest sleaze-bag pop star to hit the scene.  For now, though, I’m going to bask in the glory of dressing them like just what they are — KIDS….

Daddy Fashion Faux Pas

I don’t know about you, but I cannot trust my husband to dress my kids for anything in this world, at least in anything that’s decent for public viewing.  God love him, but he can’t seem to put anything together that actually matches.  I often wonder if the man is colorblind.  His philosophy seems to be that as long as it’s somewhere in the realm of the same color scheme, well, then, it goes together. Magenta, pale pink, hot pink, fuchsia, rose — all the same to him.  He also doesn’t seem to realize that kids do, in fact, outgrow their clothes. I’ve often come home to find my son wearing pants that look like capris because they are from last season.  The poor child looks like he’s waiting for the flood to come in!  And even though I’ve explained this concept to my husband many many times, he seems to forget that the kids have certain clothes that are dedicated to messy things like painting or running around in the muddy backyard.  I always have to lay out certain clothes if they are going to a birthday party, and my husband is planning to drop them off.  I’ve learned the hard way that if I don’t, he’ll outfit them in some holey, paint-splattered, mud-stained ensemble.  Luckily, my daughter is finally getting to the age where she notices what goes together and is starting to call him out when he’s making a fashion faux pas.  Lord knows, he needs all the help he can get when it comes to kid styling.  So, if you happen to see my kids wearing ratty, old daisy dukes with cropped shirts, please don’t blame me.  My husband must have been in charge of wardrobe that day….