Do you let your kids choose their own clothes?

I've always picked my girls clothes until recently. They like to be "big girls" now and pick out their own outfits. Most of the time it's fine with me and I let them wear whatever they want. Amazingly a lot of time they pick stuff that goes together. About half the time when we are going places though I still pick their clothes because at times they tend to pick mismatched stuff and I don't want them looking like ragamuffins. So, do you let your kids pick out their own clothes, regardless of if they look alright or not?

 

Nope! Lol! They were four in October and they don't. They always match too. Eek!

Annabella who is 2.5, I have held up two shirts/sweaters/dresses, etc and given her the choice.

 

If they show a preference, but it hasn't been an issue. They are generally content to wear what I want them to.

 

If they suddenly decide they want to wear a certain shirt that's fine, but generally for stuff like church and such, they are too busy to care what I put on them.

 

My dd has picked out her own clothes (as long as they r weather appropriate) since she was about 2 yrs old! Yes sometimes it looks strange and mismatched, but she knows what she wants and I honestly think its cute that she already has her own style btw she doesn't like to wear things that match. U need to pick your battles, and I just decided this was not a fight I wanted.

 

I've let them for 6 months at least... I try to only keep weather-appropriate clothes in their dressers so it's not really an issue (today I had to tell her that the pants were too light though so she picked new ones). DS usually doesn't care, but she wants to pick and it has to match, lol!

 

My kids have never been interested in picking their own clothes for the most part at this age. I feel blessed!!! LOL It'll come.

 

I've let my kids pick their own clothes most days since they were about 4. But I still have veto power if we're going somewhere and I want them to look nice. Sabrina has her own very cute style... she loves layering things. But she does really need help sometimes because she's completely colorblind.

 

My boys just turned 4 and I let them pick out shirts and underwear. They have not shown any real interest in pants so I pick those out.

 

Nope. And I still dress them alike because 1. It's easier to buy 2 of a shirt than trying to find a similar one and 2. They fight over clothes if we only have 1 of something!
I like it. I do give them choices and for the most part they choose the same. Hannah could care less as long as you tell her she's pretty

 

My girls started picking out their own clothes at about 24 months. They're 6 now and are gradually learning what goes together, but for years it was just a free-for-all. DH and I see it as a way for them to exercise independence -- it's not a safety issue or an issue of behavior/manners. All I ask is that they're dressed appropriately for the weather.

Sarah thinks it's "matching" if all her clothes have stripes on them, or hearts, or polka dots, or something yellow. She also loves layers -- a long-sleeved shirt under a sundress under a sweatshirt, with leggings on the bottom, for instance. Amy is a little less wild, because she generally prefers solid colors anyway, but is all over the map as far as style.

 

Yes I let them choose - but I will ask them to pick something else if we are going somewhere nice and they choose something I don't like. If we are just around the house or going to the grocery store I could care less what they wear. They had been choosing very different things so they have not been dressing alike but I am going to start buying 2 of everything again because they are getting upset when the other wears something we only have one of, it causes a huge problem on pre k mornings!!!

 

The girls still let me pick out their clothes at 6 and still dress a like by choice. The pick occasionally but it's usually either just the shirt or just the type (ex dress or pants)

 

this afternoon to the park henry wore a red and black punk rock t-shirt, his green and brown pajama bottoms (inside out and backwards), his vans on his feet (correct feet!), black mittons on his hands, and a hot pink knitted cap (mine) on his head..... yep, i let them choose their own clothes. i don't think anyone expects a preschooler to look impeccabley each day.

 

I do let mine pick their own. Zoe usually insists. The most frequent phrase out of her mouth these days is "I do it myself!" If we are going somewhere where I care what they wear I will give her 2-3 appropriate choices and have her pick from them. She usually only cares about the shirt, as most of her pants are jeans which match everything. Her newest obsession is "naked arms" (short sleeves) which is interesting in February. We have had outright tantrums in the morning over clothes so I usually let her wear whatever she wants. If I ask Xavier what he wants he will pick something too, but he gets excited over pretty much anything I pull out for him.

 

My daughter picks out her own clothes the night before...right down to her underwear and socks. My son would pick out his own clothes but he has a high dresser and can't reach the drawers his winter clothes are in, so I can pick his outfits out. But if he could reach those drawers, he'd have his own say too.

 

Alice picks out her own clothes, Royce couldn't care less. If I'm home, I have veto power over what Alice picks out, so if I don't like it, I'll make her change her pants, skirt, or shirt(s). There are some days that I pick them up from school and cringe. Like Monday she wore a fuschia hello kitty shirt with zebra print with a pair of black and red plaid pants. That was bad.

Like Minette's Sarah, Alice loves to layer. I've managed to get her down to yoga pants, skirt or dress, and only two shirts max. She tends to layer by color though, not by pattern.

Normal school clothes #1 - black
2 black shirts (one long sleeved, one short),
black skirt,
zebra pants,
and purple shoes;

Normal school clothes #2 - pink
two pink shirts (one dark pink long sleeved, one light pink short sleeved,
pink skirt,
pink leggings,
and pink shorts;

Her going to the store outfit -
brown pants with pink stripes,
pink long sleeved shirt,
pink skirt,
white tank top,
pink snow boots,
and tiara

Royce will wear anything out of his drawers. If he is forced to get his own clothes, he just grabs a shirt and whatever pants are on top, which means that some days he's wearing a striped polo shirt with a pair of red track pants. That was bad too, but not as bad as the Hello Kitty/Plaid pants the other day.

 

Sort of.

Aaron who is 6, dresses himself and picks out all of his clothes. However, I buy all of his clothing and all of it is in colors that would coordinate no matter what pants/shirt he picked out (boys are easy like that). The twins, we let them choose their shirts for the day and then throw on some pants for them. If we are going somewhere they need to look put together or if I am feeling like showing them off, I pick out their clothing.

 

DH is the dresser for the most part. On special occasions, I do the choosing.

DD is content to let us pick her clothes--as long as it is an outfit that contains a skirt or it is a dress. She refuses to wear pants. My friends with daughters a year or two older have told me this is how it starts and it morphs into choosing their own. I honestly don't think she would do any worse than DH though. DS insists on picking out his underwear and retains veto power if the socks, shirt, pants, or sweater are not to his liking. At that point, he is given the choice between two more items and he must choose between them.

 

This is my feeling too. It took a lot for me to give up control though, but it makes them so happy to put together their outfits, it was worth it. For special occassions though, I do "help" them pick out clothes.

 

The younger boys really don't care - I pick out 2 outfits and then let whoever is getting dressed first, pick out the outfit he wants. My older DS chooses his outfits when he feels like it but is also usually content with what I pick out (he trusts me to pick out something cool and if it doesn't meet his cool criteria for the day, he'll trade it in for something else).

 

The stories of the funny things kids pick to wear make me smile! My husband has said for years that we should make a large "I dressed myself" button for when he takes them out in public. I figure most moms would take one look at them and realize that was the case.

 

There are some days that I hope people realize I didn't pick out my girls' outfits.

 

DS likes to pick out his clothes and we do it together on Sunday evening when I lay out clothes for the week. DD will wear what I pick out for the most part, but lately has been asking to help pick out outfits. I think my kids pick out matching clothes better than my husband. When he dresses them, it is anyone's guess what he will pick out and it most likely will not match.

 

It's probably much harder with girls. My older son has picked out his clothes for several years, but I buy only neutral pants/shorts, so it's pretty hard to mess up the combinations. When he does pick a bad combo (navy blue shirt with navy blue pants, for example) I tell him that it doesn't look good and he is good about changing. He does want to look nice. But I can see how it would be much harder with girls. Could you hang their stuff up in outfits and allow them to pick an entire outfit?

 

I have one who lets me choose her clothes and one who just recently started refusing to wear whatever I choose. She also won't wear any jeans, any item she deems "too long", or anything new. So she goes out all the time with mismatched clothes and socks but the alternative is a huge fight. I draw the line at their hair. They MUST let me brush their teeth, wash their faces and fix their hair before we go out. That's non-negotiable.

 

This has always been my philosophy on clothing choices. I have had some who wanted to pick their own clothes at that age & some who weren't interested but, if they had an opinion on what they wanted to wear then I always let them choose (weather appropriate being the only rule). There are so few areas of a child's life where they can have complete control, I always found this to be one area that was easy to give them some power to choose.

 

mine wear school uniforms so its either khaki/navy bottoms and white, navy blue or gold shirt (school colors are blue and gold)...weekends I just tell them to grab jeans/sweats/stretchies and a shirt...and they are usually pretty good about matching but my son will sometimes come out of his room looking like a pair of damask curtains!

 

/snort
:rotflmbo: Is that with the big tasselly cord to tie around his waist?