Should you have influence as far as you kids wardrobe?

zeeeb

i'm happy to let the little things slide and will enforce my authority when they want to wear micro minis and expose parts that they shouldn't be exposing.

as long as they are dressed appropriately for the weather and aren't wearing tank tops in the middle of winter, the style doesn't bother me yet. when they get boobs and start getting noticed by boys, i will be trying to keep them more appropriate.

ChristineMarie89

they can chose their own wardrobe as long as they are dressing appropriate...for example my almost 5 yr old wanted to get a halloween costume that was from those little "monster high" zombie barbie like dolls.... there was no way in hellz she was going to wear a tight black mini skirt and a barely there shirt that they called a "mermaid"

ajbeans

As long as the clothes are clean and age appropriate my kids can dress however they want.

This. Sometimes my daughter wants to go out in her favorite leggings and her favorite shirt -- both cute items, but together they look kind of trashy because of the way they fit. So I will make her change, or put a skirt over the leggings. Otherwise, as long as they're not showing things they shouldn't be showing, and it's something that's relatively appropriate for the weather, I keep my mouth shut. Which is why my son regularly wears his pants backwards with a shirt that doesn't match, and my daughter tends to wear bright pink leggings with a yellow dress and a blue sweater over the whole thing.

kmbrooks15

My almost 14 year old son has developmental delays (he's adopted and biological mom was a drug user). He will come out and ask me if his clothes match, and when I tell him they don't, he gets mad. It's funny because I'm not telling him he can't wear them. He asked, then gets mad at the answer.

My daughter is almost 13 (going on 25!). We are starting to have a few battles about clothing, but I don't allow her to buy anything that is inappropriate to begin with. Thankfully, my family supports this and won't buy her anything that is inappropriate either. That solves most of the battles. She does come up with some interesting combinations...sometimes I think, "Wow, honey, how do you not get made fun of in that outfit?!" But I don't say anything unless she asks. When she does, I'll be honest with her, but as long as the clothing is appropriate for the occasion and doesn't expose body parts best left covered, then it's fine.

MrsNoir

My theory: as long as they are clean, and appropriate (no excessive skin, otherwise hidden body parts exposed), then I am totally fine with the self expression. On a different note, my three year old likes to pick out his clothes, so I choose three outfits ( bottoms, tops) that will match in any combination, then let him pick from those. I'm happy he matches, and he is happy he gets to be independent. My 12 year old does pretty dern good for her age, although I question some of the color combinations, etc. . . Good luck!

Lol.. that's a great idea, I might end up doing that, letting him chose among the things I have already chosen for him. So far I'm enjoying so much to dress him cute, however sometimes I have to fit in other clothes he got as presents to please the people that bought it for him, and it's annoying, although sometimes is cool to have those clothes to let him wear them at home, and keep the cool one for going out . I'll try to make sure he knows what matches with what, lol.. or I'll try, easier said than done, I bet

MrsNoir

My theory: as long as they are clean, and appropriate (no excessive skin, otherwise hidden body parts exposed), then I am totally fine with the self expression. On a different note, my three year old likes to pick out his clothes, so I choose three outfits ( bottoms, tops) that will match in any combination, then let him pick from those. I'm happy he matches, and he is happy he gets to be independent. My 12 year old does pretty dern good for her age, although I question some of the color combinations, etc. . . Good luck!

Lol.. that's a great idea, I might end up doing that, letting him chose among the things I have already chosen for him. So far I'm enjoying so much to dress him cute, however sometimes I have to fit in other clothes he got as presents to please the people that bought it for him, and it's annoying, although sometimes is cool to have those clothes to let him wear them at home, and keep the cool one for going out . I'll try to make sure he knows what matches with what, lol.. or I'll try, easier said than done, I bet

sunkisses

Unless we have somewhere to be together, I let them wear what they want. But they're boys. What they want is usually just ugly. I pick out awesome shirts (this is their opinion of the shirts, I swear) for them when I'm out, they just put on board shorts or something and call it a day. As long as they hate shopping, Dear Ol' Mom is picking out the shirts.

Had to throw this in:
I got them In And Out shirts when I was out in Cali because they don't exist in Florida. So my older son's wearing it on a quick trip to Target. He was stopped by a dude on the way out asking about whether they had In and Out here yet. The next time he wore it he was stopped by two guys. So my younger son says, "Your shirt attracts men." Neither of them will wear the shirts now.

Iamfit4life

Unless we have somewhere to be together, I let them wear what they want. But they're boys. What they want is usually just ugly. I pick out awesome shirts (this is their opinion of the shirts, I swear) for them when I'm out, they just put on board shorts or something and call it a day. As long as they hate shopping, Dear Ol' Mom is picking out the shirts.

Had to throw this in:
I got them In And Out shirts when I was out in Cali because they don't exist in Florida. So my older son's wearing it on a quick trip to Target. He was stopped by a dude on the way out asking about whether they had In and Out here yet. The next time he wore it he was stopped by two guys. So my younger son says, "Your shirt attracts men." Neither of them will wear the shirts now.

lol that's a funny story.

MrsJax11

My theory: as long as they are clean, and appropriate (no excessive skin, otherwise hidden body parts exposed), then I am totally fine with the self expression. On a different note, my three year old likes to pick out his clothes, so I choose three outfits ( bottoms, tops) that will match in any combination, then let him pick from those. I'm happy he matches, and he is happy he gets to be independent. My 12 year old does pretty dern good for her age, although I question some of the color combinations, etc. . . Good luck!

This is good advice! As long as the T & A are covered on those kids and they are clean, let them go for it. I hate seeing cleavage and crack, whether on adults or teenagers...sadly, I work in a HS and see too much of both!

Jade_Butterfly

Unless we have somewhere to be together, I let them wear what they want. But they're boys. What they want is usually just ugly. I pick out awesome shirts (this is their opinion of the shirts, I swear) for them when I'm out, they just put on board shorts or something and call it a day. As long as they hate shopping, Dear Ol' Mom is picking out the shirts.

Had to throw this in:
I got them In And Out shirts when I was out in Cali because they don't exist in Florida. So my older son's wearing it on a quick trip to Target. He was stopped by a dude on the way out asking about whether they had In and Out here yet. The next time he wore it he was stopped by two guys. So my younger son says, "Your shirt attracts men." Neither of them will wear the shirts now.

lol that's a funny story.

Gosh that is great. . totally made me laugh.

maidentl

My son had a 'thing' for camo. He had camo t-shirts, camo jam shorts, camo Vans. Hilarious. As an adult he smiles and tells me that I made him wear it! Sure bud, go on thinking that way! It all worked out, he dresses well now!

Mine did too and he'd wear any combination of camo and tell me it all went together because it was all camo! LOL My boys both wear pretty much whatever they want. They agree that baggy pants are stupid, which is good because no way in hades would I let me son walk around with pants below his butt cheeks. :laugh:

kiwianjel

I have influence to a certain extent as I buy the clothes ! but as for combinations and colour schemes sometimes i dispair but i just go with it unless it is inappropriate for the occasion ..

rbryntes

My girls are free to choose their own clothes, BUT

1) they have to match. That's the way they learn. If it doesn't match, I send them back to the drawing board and let them choose something else.

I'm glad my parents didn't do this, because one person's mismatching is another person's individuality and matching and being expressive.

dreambodin2011

my first daughter always wanted to choose from as early as I remember; which was funny when I learnt how to let it go and let her just do it. She's 12 now and knows what she likes and what she doesn't.
I find it might get a lil more difficult as she grows into the teenage years...with the influence of our society on being 'hot and sexy' and therefore revealing too much and being inappropriate.
It's a sad thing and a sign of our times that young girls are so very image conscious and it's up to us as responsible parents to ensure they don't lose their childhood too soon. And that they value who they are more on what's going on in their head, rather than the way they look.

pain_is_weakness

I think as long as my kids aren't going to school in their crazy outfits I don't mind, it is good for them and I use it as a lesson to teach them about matching things.

I draw the line at nast clothing for older or younger kids. Sagging jeans, mini skirts(that are too short) bellys showing, I refuse for my kids to wear it. I simply don't buy it for them, if they borrow it from a friend it is quickly returned with a note to the mom (if I know she doesn't approve as well)

younger kids need to pick out outfits, I let all my kids pretty much pick out their clothing that we buy but it has to pass my inspection first or I don't spend my money on it, and neither do they!

catlady100

I have two boys. As long as the pants aren't saggy , they can wear pretty much whatever they want (within reason of course). The older one (11) doesn't always match I may mention that, but if he still chooses to wear it, I don't really care. oh, another thing is no flip flops to school. If they follow those two rules, i'm good.

loved11

My nine year old who is great 98% of the time. Had a white rebirth on during dinner. Spaghetti noodle and sauce. He had wiped his hands on the shirt, really covered it. The next morning he came down with another white t. He looked nice until he walked away from me, it was the same shirt but turned backwards! ! I said "Sam that is a dirty shirt" he said "only on one side and no one will see, they only see the front of me". Too cute

I have ages 4-18 it is a fine line sometimes. I find respect is the key. For themselves, for me and for others. My oldest now working understands how dress is important. Its all good

christine24t

I don't have kids either, but I would let them choose an outfit and then kind of correct it. As I'm getting older, I really appreciate my mom's honesty with my clothing choices as I've grown up.

MrsSpratt

I also try to be happy with clean and age appropriate. My daughter didn't wear pants for about a year and a half. Leggings under dresses were okay, but she refused jeans or any other pants. Drove me crazy but I let it go.