Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Clothes Wars

My son is so cute. I am completely aware that I am totally biased, but still... For a while now he has been gradually becoming more opinionated about what he wears. He comes out of his bedroom wearing camouflage pants (hiked up as far as they will go), a different pattern camouflage shirt (on backwards, of course, and tucked in way too far), and another pattern of camouflage hat. Then he asks me,
"How do I look, Mom?" What is a mother supposed to do? I can't lie because as we say at our house, we are truth-tellers. So I say what every loving mother would say,
"Honey, YOU make that look good!" Which is the truth, of course. He would make a wrinkly paper sack look adorable, and who can resist that oh-so-proud-of-myself smile? After all, what is a mother for besides supporting and developing independence in one's child (see "Untying the Apron Strings" blog)? At least he's trying to match. I will also readily say that this particular outfit is a play clothes outfit--not school attire. In order to avoid a full blown clothes war in the middle of the morning rush and mayhem, we do it the night before. School shirts are clearly marked by being hung on hangers. Play shirts are folded in the clothes holder. I know...it sounds a little bit anal on my part, but if things are clearly marked and arranged then he knows where to go, and making a good choice is easier. Breanna's clothing choices are another story. We are not yet in the "I need to make a statement" stage, so she is allowed to pair whatever top and bottom she chooses (weather appropriate, of course). Aidan also had this freedom when he was 3, but he's not 3 anymore. As my husband points out, we don't want the other kids to make fun of him. True, but...I also want him to be able to make his own choices that are not based on what the other kids think. That's why he wore a blue polo shirt with his jeans on Thursday--with ALL the buttons done up. That's how he wanted it. That's also why he wore a long sleeve, plaid shirt (tucked all the way in), buttoned up completely to school on Friday. A little Urkel-ish, I'll admit, but hey, Steve Urkel was a genius. What can I say?

1 comment:

Amanda said...

Oh you are sooooo much better at this than me. I'm warming up to the idea. What can I say, though. I'm from Texas and we like for our kids to look slick at all times...it is a hard habit to break. Gotta do it, though, even if it means pink pants and a pink shirt...that are two totally different colors of pink, from two totally different color palates..ahhhh!