Kindergartener's clothes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk about control issues! I didn't realize how many moms impose their clothing preferences on their school-aged sons. Scary.

BTW, for those who think dressing nicely at school is a sign of respect, I'd remind you that your son's behavior goes much further in that department than his clothes. When I volunteer in my child's class, I see plenty of disruptive and rude boys in collared shirts and athletic clothes, alike. Focus on the insides, not the outsides.

I hear you and I completely agree. Of course, it goes without saying that behavior is more important clothing choices. I just like my son to dress a little more nicely for school than he does for his afterschool soccer practice. It isn't some big issue that we lose sleep over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those anti-athletic wear moms might change their tunes in a few years.

Sure but not b/c we suddenly think it looks good. Tunes change when there are bigger battles to fight.
For now my DS is happy in the clothes we pick out together.

I am a PP and I mentioned that I know the athletic wear days are coming so I am enjoying what we have now.

My best friends oldest is 12. He thinks a polo is dressing up. Hopefully that is still a few more ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids clothes all got trashed in Kindergarten. I would not be sending a K boy in mini Boden or other expensive brands.

Ditto, and I have a girl! I was really shocked when she started coming home from school with dirty/stained/sometimes torn clothes. When she was in pre-K, we never encountered that problem, and she was much younger then.

Also, in my experience, kids in kindergarten don't care about what they wear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk about control issues! I didn't realize how many moms impose their clothing preferences on their school-aged sons. Scary.

BTW, for those who think dressing nicely at school is a sign of respect, I'd remind you that your son's behavior goes much further in that department than his clothes. When I volunteer in my child's class, I see plenty of disruptive and rude boys in collared shirts and athletic clothes, alike. Focus on the insides, not the outsides.

How is a preference a control issue.? We have all said get get that the athletic phase is coming but for now, while they still have no preference, we are allowing our preferences to prevail.
Further to that, none of us supporting collared shirts said that we think it makes our kids better behaved. Lastly all of us who mentioned still picking out kids clothes for them (with some input) are talking about kids no older than 1st grade.

So no one is imposing a dress code on a 10 year old and no one is saying clothes dictate behavior.
The prevailing argument on iur side has been this...we want our kids to look nice, they don't complain about what they are wearing so we are going to keep it up until they do. And when they do, that is not a hill we are going to die on.

The only thing I won't compromise on in hygiene. When he gets older he can wear what he wants as long as he is clean and his clothes are clean.

[Anonymous]

I've been following this and am wondering what all of you wear when you aren't at work. I wear yoga pants frequently in the evenings and on weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this and am wondering what all of you wear when you aren't at work. I wear yoga pants frequently in the evenings and on weekends.

I am one of the PPs. I definitely do not wear work-out/athletic clothes outside of the house/gym, or getting to and from the gym. I change into yoga pants/sweat pants/pjs after work if I have no plans to leave the house, but if I am leaving the house, I always put on jeans or nice shorts and a casual top, or a casual dress. For work, I obviously wear business or business casual attire depending on what I have going on that day. I see school as being my children's "work" - they dress for it differently than they dress for the park on a weekend, sports practice, weddings, etc. Their school clothes are still casual and comfortable (they wear sneakers and jeans for crying out loud), but I like them to dress in a neat/nice manner. I am enjoying this period of time when they let me pick out their clothes! I recognize that they will soon make their own choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huh. My kid wears character shirts because he loves them. Batman, Star Wars, Lego Movie. I drew the line at TMNT. I try to pick tasteful ones, if that's not an oxymoron.

But my kid is rough-and-tumble, sometimes going through 2 shirts a day. Last thing I want is for him to be wearing a button-down shirt running around the playground. He has the rest of his life to be wearing "business casual."

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids clothes all got trashed in Kindergarten. I would not be sending a K boy in mini Boden or other expensive brands.

Ditto, and I have a girl! I was really shocked when she started coming home from school with dirty/stained/sometimes torn clothes. When she was in pre-K, we never encountered that problem, and she was much younger then.

Also, in my experience, kids in kindergarten don't care about what they wear.

Interesting. Is it possible to have a quality preschool program where the kids don't get dirty? Seems unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this and am wondering what all of you wear when you aren't at work. I wear yoga pants frequently in the evenings and on weekends.

I am one of the PPs. I definitely do not wear work-out/athletic clothes outside of the house/gym, or getting to and from the gym. I change into yoga pants/sweat pants/pjs after work if I have no plans to leave the house, but if I am leaving the house, I always put on jeans or nice shorts and a casual top, or a casual dress. For work, I obviously wear business or business casual attire depending on what I have going on that day. I see school as being my children's "work" - they dress for it differently than they dress for the park on a weekend, sports practice, weddings, etc. Their school clothes are still casual and comfortable (they wear sneakers and jeans for crying out loud), but I like them to dress in a neat/nice manner. I am enjoying this period of time when they let me pick out their clothes! I recognize that they will soon make their own choices.

But isn't a drag to have two sets of clothes getting dirty every day? Because they have to change out of their nice school clothes at 3 pm or whenever they get home to then go out and play and get dirty? That's twice as much laundry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talk about control issues! I didn't realize how many moms impose their clothing preferences on their school-aged sons. Scary.

BTW, for those who think dressing nicely at school is a sign of respect, I'd remind you that your son's behavior goes much further in that department than his clothes. When I volunteer in my child's class, I see plenty of disruptive and rude boys in collared shirts and athletic clothes, alike. Focus on the insides, not the outsides.

How is a preference a control issue.? We have all said get get that the athletic phase is coming but for now, while they still have no preference, we are allowing our preferences to prevail.
Further to that, none of us supporting collared shirts said that we think it makes our kids better behaved. Lastly all of us who mentioned still picking out kids clothes for them (with some input) are talking about kids no older than 1st grade.

So no one is imposing a dress code on a 10 year old and no one is saying clothes dictate behavior.
The prevailing argument on iur side has been this...we want our kids to look nice, they don't complain about what they are wearing so we are going to keep it up until they do. And when they do, that is not a hill we are going to die on.

The only thing I won't compromise on in hygiene. When he gets older he can wear what he wants as long as he is clean and his clothes are clean.

I wasn't talking about the moms whose kids who don't yet have a preference about their clothes. That completely makes sense to me. Pick out the clothes together and steer whichever way you want.

I was referring to the moms who said their kids would love to wear athletic clothes every day if they let them. Even in kindergarten or first grade, I know there are plenty of kids like that -- kids who have strong preferences about what they wear. Just like adults, some kids see their clothes as a way to express their personality or even just to be comfortable. My point is that those kids should be allowed to do so, even in kindergarten.

And yes, I know I'm specifically calling out the moms here. It's intentional -- I can't imagine any dads care whether or not their sons wear collared shirts and khakis to kindergarten. But maybe I'm wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those anti-athletic wear moms might change their tunes in a few years.

Sure but not b/c we suddenly think it looks good. Tunes change when there are bigger battles to fight.
For now my DS is happy in the clothes we pick out together.

I am a PP and I mentioned that I know the athletic wear days are coming so I am enjoying what we have now.

My best friends oldest is 12. He thinks a polo is dressing up. Hopefully that is still a few more ways.

A polo shirt is dressing up in my house -- for DH and DS. Since he was little DS's referred to his polo shirts as "church shirts" since that's where he wears them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never much cared for licensed characters on kids clothes, though each of my kids have one or two t-shirts that they received as gifts or hand me downs that they wear with licensed characters. DS, who is not very "cool" by most standards, will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. Am I doing him a disservice if I keep dressing him in Mini Boden, Tea, and other clothes that I like and he happily accepts? Or should I buy him character stuff or, worse in my opinion, athletic wear? And is he even worse off if he is wearing stuff he really knows nothing about? The other day he confused a minion for spongebob. Please don't flame me. This isn't about trying to make my kid cool. It is just trying to avoid being the cause of him standing out. FWIW, he is well liked, no real close friends, but everyone likes him, he is sweet, empathetic, smart as a whip, and funny, at least to adults. He just doesn't have a lot of the same interested as other kids his age.

Like you, I want my children to be culturally literate. And, in K that means having an awareness of all the TV shows you mention. Not only to I not care for licensed characters on clothing (or sportswear), I don't expose them to things like Sponge Bob. It's asinine. I watch superhero shows with my children, and make choices based on what I see. There are some shows that have great stories, like Green Lantern, a great cartoon. But others are just violence or feature decidedly stupid characters.

They wear uniforms at school, but even outside of that we don't have any cartoon clothing. Their backpacks area also free of these images.

Being able to share in playground discussions is important, so they get enough of that to interact with their school friends easily.

[Anonymous]

Did/do any of your kids go to daycare? What do they wear to daycare? I hope to god you aren't putting them in high end children's clothes like Tea/Hanna/Mini Boden (which has dreadful quality, btw) for daycare. My DD trashes at least one pair of leggings a week and "washable" paint is anything but. Save your sanity and your money. There is plenty of cute, affordable stuff that doesn't have licensed characters or offensive messages on it at Target, Children's Place, Old Navy, and the like.

[Anonymous]

I find it odd to pick out your 6 year old child's outfit. My child is much more independant then these children seem to be.

[Anonymous]

My kid is 6 going into 2nd grade. She's extremely independent but she wants me to pick her clothes because she thinks I pick better outfits than her. I always encourage her to try herself but she still asks. She's very into clothes and fashion and what she wears, always has been. Even in Pre-K and K she cared what she looked like.