Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Back to school, how do you help your kids with their "Style?"

     I love my daughter's creativity. Megan is 9 and full of spirit, and sometimes attitude, she can make just about anything out of nothing. Give her the smallest piece of cloth and she has a dress for her puppy, her room is full of her “art”. When it comes to her wardrobe I try to just accept her creativity and let her go with it.... However when does it get to the point where you should intervene. Now obviously even at age seven sometimes she picks out some outfits that are inappropriate and I have to put my foot down, but sometimes it is just a matter of what she picks out just looks strange and doesn't match. A neighbor we don't really talk to gave us a ton of clothes for her (unfortunately just a week after I spent a fortune on her new summer wardrobe), I wonder sometimes if she gave us the clothes because she thinks that what Megan chooses to wear is all we have for her. When in fact I have a full closet of clothes with the tags on that will be donated because she refuses to wear them.


      We go to a great school where a large portion of the families are on the mid-upper middle class side and I don't want Megan shunned because she dresses different. At the same time I do not want to suppress her creativity.

     When kids are in preschool we embrace their creative outfits, we find it cute and adorable, but once they start school, you want them to form a style within the “norms”. I never thought I would come to the point where I would embrace school uniforms! I envy the parents who no longer have to have the battle over what their children will wear. Let the schools be the bad guys! Now I am not saying that kids need to be dressed like robots all the time, but I have to agree that uniforms gives kids one less distraction while they are in school.

     Unfortunately uniforms are not predicted in the foreseeable future so as we get ready to start the school year I find myself secretly weeding my daughters closet whenever she isn’t home. = She still happens to find the most ill fitting, non matching, and just jumbled outfits she can put together. She is the only girl in our family and has 5 brothers and a tomboy for a mom, so I understand she has no role model, but how can I help her style while encouraging her creativity? Do you have a child whose sense of style is in their own little world???

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

http://twitter.com/#!/MomEzine/status/96414621749100545

Meredith said...

Jamie, My 5 year old daughter is the same way. Just spent a small fortune for school clothes today, and had the fight about uniforms. Also had to give in and get the craziest leggings we could find to go with them. I pretty much figure, as long as its appropriate (ie not long sleeves and sweats when its 90) she can wear what she wants. I'd rather save the fight for something else.