Some Fashion Advice From a Seven Year Old

Pick your battles is good advice. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Especially when it comes to getting the girls dressed in the morning, I try to just let it go. I do have some basic parameters they have to stay within – the clothes must be clean, weather appropriate, and reflect some sense of pride (ie: we do not wear pajamas and slippers in public and we try to not look sloppy) – but otherwise I let the girls pretty much choose their own wardrobes. I like letting them be themselves, separate from me or their dad, and over the years, they have each developed their own styles. My younger daughter has really gotten serious about her clothes and has started creating her own fashion rules. Here are the top seven which she would like to share with the world:

1. “If you wear blue or purple, you should wear a pink hat.” Actually, she wears this hat with almost everything. She just happens to be wearing a blue and purple outfit today.
   
2. “Awesome matches awesome.” World Down Syndrome Day shirt equals awesome and neon flower skirt equals awesome, therefore the two match.
   
3. “If you fall off a curb and skin your leg, just wear knee socks to cover all the bandages.”
   
4. “Whenever you wear a tutu, make sure something covers your underwear.” This is especially critical if you happen to be the kind of kid who not only wears a tutu but also loves doing flips and cartwheels and being a ninja on the playground.
   
5. “Cats eat bunnies, and bunnies eat grass.” OK, so this rule doesn’t make a lot of sense . . . it basically is just her trying to figure out why there are bunnies on her cat leggings.
   
6. “Bow ties are cool.” The girl watches Doctor Who and Bill Nye the Science Guy. They are her top style inspirations. I’m ok with that.
   
7. “If you shave your head for kids with cancer, it’s ok to wear a wig when you’re at home.” When she goes out, though, she proudly shows off her short hair. She's not bald any more, but she still tells everyone about shaving her head for St Baldrick's.
   

Another Quick and Easy Fix - t-shirt pillowcase dresses or tunics

My daughters love their dad. A lot. Borderline hero worship. So when he gives them his old t-shirts, they treasure those things. Tato's old shirts are their favorite night gowns, lazy day dresses, snuggling on the couch after a bath gear, etc. They are a bit lacking in style, though. Here is a super quick, super easy fix to the style problem.

First grab an old t-shirt. My husband has tons, but only actually wears a few. Finding some to cut up is never hard here. If you don't want to cut up one of your own, thrift stores always have a lot to choose from. Bigger ones make longer dresses or tunics (my excuse for not cutting up my own).

Then just cut off the sides and top. You can cut it in a slight A line shape if you want. Be careful to cut straight, parallel lines or the finished product looks a bit wonky, but don't stress too much about it. The t-shirt fabric stretches and warps itself anyway covering mild imperfections.

To make cute little decorative flowers, cut circles out of the sleeves. About 2 inches diameter is a good size. You can cut any shape, but circles are the easiest.

Grab one more t-shirt in a coordinating color and cut off the bottom then a 1-2 inch strip just above that. Cut the ends to make the two drawstrings for the collar/shoulders of the dress. You can also cut some 1 inch diameter circles to be the centers of the decorative flowers.

Now the sewing starts. Sew up the sides stopping about 8 inches from the top. Fold over the top (wrong sides together) 1 inch and stitch 1/4 inch from the raw edge to make a tunnel for the drawstring.

The most time consuming part of the project is stitching on the flowers. A simple X in the middle holds them in place and allows them to flop and ruffle. Arrange them any way you like.

Attach a safety pin to one end of one of the drawstrings and thread it through one tunnel. Repeat with the other one.

That's it. An ugly old t-shirt is now an adorable pillowcase dress. On my older daughter, these are tunics which look great with leggings or capri jeans. On me, they are cute little tank tops. All in all, the whole project takes less than an hour making it another quick and easy fix for sure.

"Mama, I need my wings."

Daughter: "Mama, I need my wings."

Me, pointing to the wings right next to me: "They're right there."

Daughter: "No.  My OTHER wings."

Me: "Oh.  Those are in your bin under your Darth Vader mask."

the girls in their favorite outfits

Ah, yes.  Time to get dressed.  While one has a fit if I give her a skirt, the other is having a fit if I don’t.  On days like this, days when I know the farthest we will be going from our house is the backyard, I admit I give up the battle.  You want to be a fairy today?  Fine.  You want to wear the same t shirt you wore yesterday because it is your new most favorite-est shirt you have ever owned in the entire history of owning shirts?  Fine.

Dress? Not likely.

One thing I love about talking to new parents is their optimistic belief that they will be able to control what their kids wear.  Trying to hold in the laughs, I listen to them explain to me how their little perfect child will never wear pink or glittery jeans or tomboy clothes or mismatched socks or whatever they have decided is just unacceptable.  Even the tiny baby in their arms looks at them like, “ha!  Sure, Mom.  Just wait until I decide I will love monster trucks and sequins!”

Here’s the reality.  Kids will be exposed to way more than just their parents.  They will meet other kids, will walk past displays of random items, will get hand-me-downs from kids with different tastes.  Sure, we’re the primary agents of socialization, we do the most to define normal for them, we buy the majority of their clothes, and we have access to the dumpster if we really hate something.  But we also are the ones who will be tired in the mornings, decide it is more important to get to the doctor’s office on time than wrestle a screaming kid into an outfit she hates, and most importantly, we are the ones who – hopefully – love our children for who they are.  That means loving them when they have the Darth Vader mask on or the fairy wings or the nasty jean shorts with ugly t shirt.

Spock ears match everything.

I still buy for my girls outfits I like and think are cute and that MATCH (really match . . . not “stripes match stripes, right?”), but I have accepted that my girls have their own identities and opinions, and some day soon I won’t get to play dress up with them any more.  We have a system for outfits to keep mornings smoother.  As I fold the laundry, I grab seven complete outfits with underwear and socks and put them in a hanging cubby thing in the closet.  Theoretically, everyday they pick one of the preassembled outfits.  "Theoretically" I say as I smile while folding the adorable Gymboree outfit (with matching hair bows, of course), and watch my daughters run out the door wearing the shorts from the resale shop with a hand-me-down White Sox tee and a torn fairy princess costume.  In the end, having my kids know who they are and feel comfortable in their own skins is way more important to me than what the neighbor might think about their fashion sense.

I said, "Get dressed and play outside."  This is what they put on.