We don't have any solid "back to school shopping" traditions in our family, but this year and last year, I've tried taking my kids on individual shopping dates. In all honesty, my kids don't really need anything. We went through all their clothes and I wrote down what they actually need, and it came down to one or two back packs, underwear for one kid, and a couple pairs of shorts, and even then, none of those items were dire. Everyone has plenty of everything, and that's usually the case every year, so I always have quite the wrestle with back to school shopping. Yet, we do it. Because it helps them look forward to school... right? And there's a lot of social stuff that goes into it... right?
I took Zoe and Eva shopping together at The Mall a couple of weeks ago.
Matching has always been a struggle for my kids. They don't understand it at all, and for many years, I've turned a blind eye and let them wear whatever crazy outfit combinations they want in an effort to choose my battles wisely. Penguin leggings and a floral top? Sure, whatever. I'm just happy you're dressing yourself! But this year I decided to try steering them more toward clothes that actually go together, so I made a rule that whatever they picked needed to be an "outfit." If you want bunny pants, you need to find a shirt to match. If you can't make it an outfit, we're not getting bunny pants.
It was a struggle. We spent hours pulling everything they loved off a shelf and then laying it out on the ground as ensembles. We put a lot of things back, causing magnificent tragedy in their lives. I tried to teach them the joy of jeans... jeans match everything! Those five shirts you love? You can wear every single one of them with this pair of jeans. Isn't that wonderful? How about we invest in two pairs of jeggings that match every shirt you can find instead of buying those butterfly pants? Oh! And the fact that butterflies like flowers doesn't mean that butterfly pants match every flowery top in H&M.
Zoe and Eva didn't take in these lessons perfectly, but they definitely learned a thing or two. After we finished shopping, we hung out at a church waiting for Nicky to finish up at a water park with friends, and the girls spread out all of their "outfits" on the lawn and did inventory of their purchases.
My next shopping trip was with Daisy. She's my biggest struggle because she and I have completely different tastes, and I seriously hate everything she likes. She basically just wants to wear gigantic, tie-dyed everything. She tends to latch on to one clothing item at a time and wear it over and over and over. I have to nag her every day to change her clothes, and last year I had to make a rule that she has to wear two different outfits before she can wear the same one again. Then all school year, she would still put on the same outfit everyday unless I caught her and told her to go change. Then she would stomp her feet and start crying.
I never wanted to be a mom who nags her kids over how they dress - I remember how important it was for me to have that independence as a child - and yet... here I am... battling my daughter over her clothes almost every day. Clothes and hygiene... hygiene and clothes... day in and day out...
So back to school shopping with Daisy? Not the most pleasant thing I've experienced. I had to make too many rules. No, I won't buy you any hoodies. You can only pick ONE tie-dyed item. If I buy you that, you have to get rid of the old, dirty one you already have.
I ended up mostly shopping for myself so I could at least buy something I liked.
My last shopping trip was with Nicky, and that had its challenges as well. You may recall that Nicky has preferred a wardrobe of Hawaiian shirts and gym shorts since fifth grade. For the past two years, he's had to wear uniforms for school - basically polos and khaki shorts - so I've been interested to see what his fashion plan is for high school. When I took him shopping, I set him free to look for clothes on his own, but he ended up wandering like a little, lost dog in the middle of Burlington. Eventually he came to me and said, "Mom, I don't know what to look for." So I perused the aisles with him and offered him a shirt or two. I would say, "Do you like this?" and he would say, "I don't know." So we did that through a few stores until he settled on a Nintendo 64 t-shirt, a golf shirt, and a button-down top with cacti on it (to fulfill his Hawaiian shirt dreams). We also found him a pair of shoes, and then I ordered him a "Save Ferris" t-shirt online because that's the only thing he actually wanted.
Now that we are fast approaching a new school year, I would say that the trends from the Brittish household for the coming year would have to be classified as "not exactly fashion forward." But I guess I'll just be grateful that we are clothed and that we remain consistent over time.
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