Kindergartener's clothes
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Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
| Let him choose what kind of clothing he wants to wear, even if it's something you don't care for, as long as it's not inappropriate. It may take some time before he starts expressing a preference since it doesn't sound like he's used to have a say in his clothes, but it will come eventually. It's one of the easiest ways to let him start exploring and expressing his own identity, which will increase his confidence. |
Anonymous
| Have your child wear whatever he wants. Let him be his own person and adjust as his interest changes. I don't think boys in K care that much about what others are wearing. Signed - Mom of a 1st grader who will only wear athletic clothes. |
Anonymous
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I am also not a fan of athletic clothing or character clothing.
We have a minion shirt, a captain america shirt and a ninja turtles shirt. That is it. Everything else is from Land's End. On picture day a mother said something along the lines of "I see you also got your son to wear a button down shirt". It made me chuckle b/c my son wears a collard shirt about 4 days a week. Sometimes 5. He is going into first grade. I let him pick some of his own clothes but for the most part he doesn't care and will wear whatever I ask him to (typically I will give him 2 choices from his closet). It is great but I know it will not last. I know the athletic wear only phase is creeping up on us. So OP dress him in whatever he is comfortable in and keep him in Tea and Mini Boden as long as he is happy. My son has not issues b/c he is wearing a polo and someone else is wearing a UA T-shirt. |
Anonymous
Agreed. My kids aren't allowed to wear clothes with characters, and we've had only limited struggles over it. They just accept that this is one area in which our rules are different from their friends'. With that said, I'd figure out what hill you want to die on. For me, it was the character clothes and no tank-tops. This meant giving in on other topics, including giving up the adorable Lands End and Hanna play dresses that were so cute, since my oldest thought they were babyish at around this age. |
Anonymous
Not OP, but another character and athletic wear hater! This is good to hear. DS won't start K until next year and, so far, doesn't really care about clothes. I like to think I dress him nicely (IMO, of course) in Boden, hanna, Ralph Lauren and other nice quality basics, but he's not "dressed up" by any stretch. He can run around in a collared knit shirt as easily/comfortably as a character tee. And he has a drawer full of collarless shirts -- they just don't have characters or large logos or slogans on them. I don't care if he gets dirty, because everything gets washed anyway. It isn't like Im sending him to camp in a dinner jacket. |
Anonymous
| All the Kers in our school are wearing the stuff you are talking about. Boden, Hanna, Tea, Carters etc. I think the sports crap starts later around the end of 1st grade. |
Anonymous
| I would continue with what you are comfortable with. I buy a lot of Tea and my son was comfortable in those clothes last year for Kindergarten. Don't feel that just because they are getting older you have to start buying Under Armour. One thing I would say is the schools tend to be cold and kids that age won't speak up. I bought a lot of outfits with an extra layer last year. |
Anonymous
| Keep it simple. Have an unofficial uniform of different colored polo shirts and khakis or shorts. Can't go wrong! |
Anonymous
| My kids clothes all got trashed in Kindergarten. I would not be sending a K boy in mini Boden or other expensive brands. |
Anonymous
I agree. I teach those ages and the boys end up with grass/dirt/food stains on their clothes. I only sent my son in nice clothes on the first day of school and picture day. Why are parents against clothes with characters on them? |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks for the feedback. To clarify, I do let him have a lot of choice in what he wears. He picks a lot of his own stuff--but he picks it out of the Tea or Boden catalogue I hand him. Or he will pick something up in LL Bean and ask to have it. And he picks stuff that he likes and often wears t-shirts that reflect his interests--music, space, sea creatures, etc. But he has no interest in Star Wars, or pro sports, has never heard of Minecraft, likes building stuff but doesn't have any fascination with Lego people. hasn't seen a lot of movies (not because we don't let him but because he gets scared REALLY easily) so he doesn't even recognize some of the characters some other kids seem to have all over their clothes. I can't exactly hand him a few hundred bucks and say, "Go do your back to school shopping" so that's why I was wondering if I should take him to Old Navy or Target and take him to the section with all the licensed characters and see if anything appeals to him. I will certainly let him wear some of that stuff if he is asking for it, but I don't think it would occur to him. |
Anonymous
| I let my child have 1-2 character related t shirts. That seems to be plenty. |
Anonymous
| My oldest son is 10. He didn't start caring about what he wore until 3rd grade. |
Anonymous
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Dress him however you want if he doesn't care...but, when he does start caring, hopefully you won't die on a hill trying to prevent him from wearing a minecraft shirt.
FWIW my son is 7 and we are in an affluent area and most of the boys wear atheletic tshirts and sweatpants...even on picture day. |