Apr 16 2009
My Little Fashionistas
In the comment section of yesterday’s post , Maryanne brought up a good point about the “interesting” outfits children tend to put together when they dress themselves. I like to think my daughters are preparing for a career in the fashion industry. They’re just ahead of the times.
It used to be easy getting my daughters dressed. They would pick either their Dora shirt, Elmo shirt or a dress. It didn’t matter what dress as long as it was a dress. Now things are little more complex.
We now have two different Elmo shirts and for some reason one of them just doesn’t stack up to the other. I don’t see why not. The shirt they don’t like even has Abby Cadabby on it!
Tortilla does not want to leave the house unless she has on her sparkly red dress shoes. It doesn’t matter what else she’s wearing, in her mind those shoes complete the outfit. It’s not easy convincing a 3-year-old those shoes are not appropriate for preschool.
Sue-Sue would be content if she could wear pajamas every day. Most mornings she asks to stay in her pj’s. She can’t understand why I make her get dressed if we’re leaving the house.
Cakes wants shorts and t-shirts year-round. I don’t think she’s hot. I think she just gets bored of her winter clothes.
Roo is fairly easy-going. Unfortunately there’s one pink shirt with flowers which she has claimed. Look out if you’re the person unlucky enough to try to wear it.
During the winter I would make them wear pants with their dresses. Clearly we didn’t get out of the house much. Now they only want to wear pants with their dresses. It took every ounce of energy I had to convince my daughters they could not wear jeans underneath their pretty red velvet dresses on Christmas Eve. I caved on Christmas day and let them not only pick the dresses they wore (sundresses, so I made them wear long sleeved shirts underneath) I also let them wear pants. Let’s just say we have some “interesting” photos from that day.
It’s not that I really mind what they’re wearing. I’m all for letting them experiment. Eventually they’ll figure out polka dots and stripes aren’t typically a good pair. I just don’t want them looking at pictures years from now blaming me for their outfits.
I figure I’m in good company. Most parents go through this phase at some point. I know one day I’ll be out running errands with my daughters when we’ll pass another little girl in a “creative” outfit. I’ll just give her mother a knowing smile as we pass by in our dresses and pants.
7 Responses to “My Little Fashionistas”
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So funny! It seems that little girls can come up with some crazy outfits. Probably because of a larger variety of clothing - dresses, tights, leggings, skorts, jeans, etc. The biggest problem I have with my boy is when he wants to wear two different prints that obviously (to me) don’t match! Like camo pants with a Hawaiian shirt.
My youngest is not yet in the pick-my-own clothes stage. With my son, we got in the habit at the store (he loves to go shopping with us) of asking him what he wanted when we were in the store. I learned with my eldest that, if I picked something she didn’t like, she’d NEVER wear it. My son, therefore, has approved all his clothes so he’ll wear any of it. He likes pajamas at night. He’ll wear pants and shirts in most combinations. If he wears shoes, he’s expecting to go somewhere. If you take off his shoes, he’ll be peeling off his socks immediately.
I do remember growing up. one of three girls. My sister (Cheryl) had good taste but my other (Amy) not so much. My mother had execrable tastes herself and often bought us hideous outfits that would make her sad if we didn’t wear them, but my sister’s dressing choices sometimes even set her radar off. One particular nightmarish outfit (involving two different plaids and a stripe in unharmonious shades of blue) she told my sister: If you go out like that, don’t come back.
It sounds awful (my sister was 12 or so), but I agreed with her at the time. The outfit was unbelievably ugly.
It gets tougher when the girls are teens and they want to wear the most inappropriate things. They will blame YOU for YOUR lack of fashion sense.
Good luck. Try leggins under the dresses.
Maxie
Camo with Hawaiian print.. that I would like to see!
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I was the same way as your oldest daughter, Stephanie. If my mom picked out something I didn’t like I simply wouldn’t wear it. (sigh) Now that’s going to haunt me four times over.
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Maxie: sometimes they’ll go for leggings, other times, for some odd reason they just don’t want them.
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Maryanne: I figure who cares what they’re wearing. They’re proud that they picked it out themselves.
Yeah we have all had the interesting outfits…. shorts, tee-shirts and pink winter boots were k’s favorite choice all summer until the smell became unbearable.
Or real clothing mixed with dress-up clothes Camo jeans, ballerina skirt, pirate shirt and this weird clown hat to the mall was my favorite my husband thought I should have put up a good fight on that one.
Luckily her taste in clothing toned down slightly at 5… she still comes up with some wild ones but understands that matching clothes are best for school, and anything goes when visiting nana or playing out back.
By the way I just love your blog.
Hubby has learned not to fight the girls on their clothing choices because half the time his choices are even worse! I came home from work one day and said “Let me guess… they picked out those outfits.” Nope… he did!