I was one of those children that was very tidy. It didn't come naturally to me - I was mimicking my mother. I wanted to play, but never did, because I knew I'd catch hell if I came home with dirty clothes. I can say absolutely that clothes had a profound effect on my psyche when I was little. #kidsdesignerclothes
My son's nursery class is continually telling the parents to dress the children appropiately -
ie:
When it is cold and damp please don't send your daughter in a skirt and thin tights and open toed shoes that she will be cold in. They play outside! Dress for playing in the cold weather.
Send the kid with a jacket EVERY DAY. Again, they play outside, and weather can change.
Put the kid in something with an ELASTIC WAIST BAND. Buttons, zips, snaps and belts are hard for a 3 or 4 year old to manage on their own. Send them in something easy for them to get up and down in the loo. It helps them to be more independent.
They tell the parents this personally, they put it in notes, post stuff on the board over and over but people still don't listen. It is weird because in my mind these are things that make the child's life easier and more comfortable.
(I personally ONLY buy elastic waist trousers for my kids until they can do up buttons and snaps reliably. Fashion be damned, I'm not having my kid pee their-self because the pants were cute!) #kidsdesignerclothes
Is it really so much the dirt and ruined clothes? I remember one little girl exposed her underpants to the entire class in kindergarten during recesss and we never let her forget it (because kids are assholes) and I think she wore pants every day after that. #kidsdesignerclothes
@EdnasEdibles: Really? I showed my underpants on the playground every day until someone told my mom to make me wear shorts under my dresses. And, uh... it was a horrid childhood trauma that I've just remembered now.
Then there is my son who has worn the same camo fatigue pants every damn day for the past 2 months.
He firmly believes shoes are overrated and why would he wear clean clothes when they are just going to get dirty again? #kidsdesignerclothes
I hate to say it, but as a child, I was very much like Suri. I wore smocked dresses, a corresponding bow and mary janes every day of the week. Most horrifyingly, as a little kid, I made my mother or father wash my sneakers everytime I came home from the playground because I wanted them to stay white. I was, to be certain, a pill.
But kids get older and they change (a lot of kids are very obsessive and finicky anyway). My father's favorite memory was looking at the kitchen window and watching his little princess, dress and all, body-checking a boy twice her age in a particularly vicious game of street hockey. So, I don't worry about Suri. #kidsdesignerclothes
I always felt like this was one of the pleasanter aspects of having a boy, though plenty of boy moms I know dress their sons inappropriately for playing. He looks adorable in everything I put on him, and heck, markers and paints are generally washable. I insist that he have a suit for weddings and/or funerals, but other than that, jeans and polo shirts and we're good to go.
I feel sorry for Suri, really. I wish I could take her to my kid's messy, comfortable daycare, where everyone's having fun in the play kitchen and stacking Legos and wearing dress-up clothes. They finger-paint, and glue things, and sing off-key. I kind of miss being three. #kidsdesignerclothes
I've already decided that when I have kiddos, they will be clothed in Target unless it's a holiday, photo, or other special occasion. Clothes only fit them for a short window, and I want them to be outside getting dirty and playing, not worrying about staining a dress. #kidsdesignerclothes
I'm totally on board with the notion that children dressing poorly can mess up the lives of their peers. I wore this tie-at-the-waist Canadian Tuxedo outfit in fourth grade, and my entire class died. #kidsdesignerclothes
@morninggloria: Don't worry about it. Had you worn a Finnish tuxedo (corduroy on corduroy), you might have taken out your whole town.
Had you worn an Icelandic tuxedo (ice blue corduroy on ice blue corduoroy), we wouldn't even be having this conversation, because the internet would never have existed.
One of the things I've noticed since working with kids, is their ability to pull off some freaking outrageous fashion choices. Let me tell you- they work it. FIERCE. hahaha :p
So yes, it makes me sad to see Suri so erm- for lack of a better word- "dolled up". I mean she's an adorable little girl, let her have some fun! Let her make her own choices.
...Reminds me of a "Supernanny" episode where the mom had a SERIOUS issue with letting her girls pick their own outfits out, she was "embarrassed" by their lack of coordination etc. It was really out of control- I mean, what an awful influence when there are already so many awful influences of female beauty expectations.
@pearlsdream: One of my son's classmates, a boy of about 4, was absolutely rocking this blue velvet dressup dress when I picked up my kid yesterday. He was like, "Isn't my dress great?" And seriously, it was. #kidsdesignerclothes
Mostly I just find it horrid that some people want to dress their kids in high-fashion names from the get-go. It is dooming an entire generation to think it really fucking matters what their clothes look like.
My thirty cats would like to record their agreement on this point.
@PilgrimSoul: I don't really care what other people dress their children in- my future kids will not be wearing any cashmere, but I don't object if that's what other parents want. I do care if parents are telling their very young kids that they can't play because they'll get their clothes dirty. I wore, and destroyed, many a beautiful dress as a kid, and don't remember any lectures from my parents. #kidsdesignerclothes
@NellMood: Well, I find the distinction between caring about whether children get to play and caring about whether they become soulless consumers implied by your comment... it doesn't make any sense to me? #kidsdesignerclothes
@PilgrimSoul: Well I have a personal stoopid weakness for buying my kids nice clothes and I don't think it automatically imparts consumer soulessness to them... The distinction is, as NellMood made it, you have to laugh at yourself and let your kids wreak inevitable havoc on the gorgeous stuff you dress them in. #kidsdesignerclothes
@lo-mantang: But you're teaching them that "gorgeous" is worth paying for, aren't you? I ask this not to yell at you about how you are parenting your kids, really, but because I assume that kids get their buying habits from their parents habits (among other factors). #kidsdesignerclothes
@PilgrimSoul: I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand this comment. I did not intend to imply that I do or do not care whether or not children become soulless consumers. I'm not making any assumptions what kind of consumers toddlers will be based on their sweaters. My point was that if kids are worried about getting their clothes dirty from play, they're getting that message from their parents. #kidsdesignerclothes
@PilgrimSoul: If you automatically equate nice clothes with expensive then yes... but some of the ugliest crap out there has an expensive label and price tag.
I just like nice clothes because I like nice clothes and I'd say a lot of people have been like that since the dawn of time, only now it's easier for us to buy nice stuff than learn to make it.
You could say that's being a soulless consumer, but I could say that the time I don't spend learning to sew is not wasted if I'm reading my kids stories or building a tent fort in the lounge. #kidsdesignerclothes
@lo-mantang: Yeah I'm really talking about the expensive label obssession, not the appearance, so we're not in that much disagreement. #kidsdesignerclothes
I was walking into Target the other day and a mom was yelling at her dress-clad five-year-old, who was climbing the landscaping like they do: "You don't climb in a dress! What do you think you are, a boy? Girls don't climb things!"
I hope she goes nuts on the jungle gym at school, dress or no dress. #kidsdesignerclothes
@lilyHaze: Totally. Or tights- I went through an awful lot of tights. Anyway, figuring out how to deal with a dress that's flipped over your head on the monkey bars is an important part of growing up. #kidsdesignerclothes
I assumed Suri is kitted out the way she is because Scientology kids are not encouraged to actually be kids. Like they're not really allowed to play, and are treated as adults. That's what I read, I think. Correct or not, it'd certainly explain the kitten-heels and dressy dresses.
@Aesop's Foibles. YES.: The beginning of this week I saw photos of her new higher kiddie heels, then yesterday saw her sucking from a bottle. If the kid is half as confused as I am at these images, she's screwed. #kidsdesignerclothes
@tonilost: They're still giving her a bottle?! Ugh! I hate to sound like a meddling mother-in-law, but Jesus, she's like five now! She's got no need for a bottle! WTF, man, seriously. #kidsdesignerclothes
@Aesop's Foibles. Yes, I've read that too a number of times, and that's exactly why it bugs me when I see Suri wearing heels and make-up. Ugh. Scientology. #kidsdesignerclothes
I'm guessing Suri gets many of her clothes free in hopes that she will get photographed in them. Of course, a photograph of her in a ripped, muddy dress might defeat that purpose. I can imagine Katie now "You know you can't play in that dress until the paparazzi take your photograph, honey." #kidsdesignerclothes
Can we also give some sympathy to the kids whose parents didn't outfit them in anything remotely appropriate for special occasions, under the logic that "there's no point in buying anything nice for you until you stop growing"? Because Picture Day sucked big time, in my mom's rust-colored polyester bell-bottoms and horrifying beige acrylic turtleneck sweater. In the first grade. In 1981. And yes, my mom is short enough and I am tall enough that I could wear her clothes when I was six.
(This aesthetic choice was made out of thriftiness rather than financial necessity, btw. The familial coffers could have weathered the blow of one nice-ish dress a year; my parents just felt that constituted "putting on airs.") #kidsdesignerclothes
@la.donna.pietra: I'm with ya. Except replace "mom's rust-colored polyester bell-bottoms and horrifying beige acrylic turtleneck sweater" with my hot pink knee length sweatshirt with rows of puffy yellow bears on it. My mother didn't care for social conventions. #kidsdesignerclothes
@la.donna.pietra: my nieces are in a similar position. My family is not particularly fancy, but they've come to more than one wedding in stained, inappropriate outfits. Other special occasions get the same clothes.
@la.donna.pietra: Things were like that in my family. There were four kids, we had no money, and I don't think my mother had much sense of how not wearing the appropriate thing seemed to matter. It led to my swearing to myself that my kid would always have an appropriate outfit for a wedding and a funeral, regardless of his age. He's outgrown a couple of suits, but so what? That's why consignment shops were invented. #kidsdesignerclothes
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ie:
When it is cold and damp please don't send your daughter in a skirt and thin tights and open toed shoes that she will be cold in. They play outside! Dress for playing in the cold weather.
Send the kid with a jacket EVERY DAY. Again, they play outside, and weather can change.
Put the kid in something with an ELASTIC WAIST BAND. Buttons, zips, snaps and belts are hard for a 3 or 4 year old to manage on their own. Send them in something easy for them to get up and down in the loo. It helps them to be more independent.
They tell the parents this personally, they put it in notes, post stuff on the board over and over but people still don't listen. It is weird because in my mind these are things that make the child's life easier and more comfortable.
(I personally ONLY buy elastic waist trousers for my kids until they can do up buttons and snaps reliably. Fashion be damned, I'm not having my kid pee their-self because the pants were cute!) #kidsdesignerclothes
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Thanks.
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He firmly believes shoes are overrated and why would he wear clean clothes when they are just going to get dirty again? #kidsdesignerclothes
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But kids get older and they change (a lot of kids are very obsessive and finicky anyway). My father's favorite memory was looking at the kitchen window and watching his little princess, dress and all, body-checking a boy twice her age in a particularly vicious game of street hockey. So, I don't worry about Suri. #kidsdesignerclothes
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I feel sorry for Suri, really. I wish I could take her to my kid's messy, comfortable daycare, where everyone's having fun in the play kitchen and stacking Legos and wearing dress-up clothes. They finger-paint, and glue things, and sing off-key. I kind of miss being three. #kidsdesignerclothes
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I'm totally on board with the notion that children dressing poorly can mess up the lives of their peers. I wore this tie-at-the-waist Canadian Tuxedo outfit in fourth grade, and my entire class died. #kidsdesignerclothes
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Had you worn an Icelandic tuxedo (ice blue corduroy on ice blue corduoroy), we wouldn't even be having this conversation, because the internet would never have existed.
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So yes, it makes me sad to see Suri so erm- for lack of a better word- "dolled up". I mean she's an adorable little girl, let her have some fun! Let her make her own choices.
...Reminds me of a "Supernanny" episode where the mom had a SERIOUS issue with letting her girls pick their own outfits out, she was "embarrassed" by their lack of coordination etc. It was really out of control- I mean, what an awful influence when there are already so many awful influences of female beauty expectations.
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My thirty cats would like to record their agreement on this point.
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I just like nice clothes because I like nice clothes and I'd say a lot of people have been like that since the dawn of time, only now it's easier for us to buy nice stuff than learn to make it.
You could say that's being a soulless consumer, but I could say that the time I don't spend learning to sew is not wasted if I'm reading my kids stories or building a tent fort in the lounge. #kidsdesignerclothes
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I hope she goes nuts on the jungle gym at school, dress or no dress. #kidsdesignerclothes
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She wears makeup, too? As in, adult-applied, not just playing dress-up makeup? #kidsdesignerclothes
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(This aesthetic choice was made out of thriftiness rather than financial necessity, btw. The familial coffers could have weathered the blow of one nice-ish dress a year; my parents just felt that constituted "putting on airs.") #kidsdesignerclothes
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