As a modern mother, let me just say: if suddenly your child has become more vocal about her/his wardrobe, congratulations. This is a sign your kid is growing up. It does not matter if we want to buy nice jeans and girl dresses online in Singapore for our princess, our children will continue to demand to buy him/her some sparkle dresses or fluffy skirts, or a spider-man costume and pants.
I have been reading about many discussions about other parents’ perspectives on allowing their children to dress their way. And recent studies have shown that most parents who have allowed their children to pick out their clothes, do not regret this decision, and that includes me.
In this article, I would tell you some of the gains why parents should encourage their kids to choose their clothes.
Allowing my little girl to wear her favourite dresses instead of the usual girl clothes, and my little boy to wear his favourite boy shorts in Singapore, is a good way to teach them how to be independent and to accept the outcomes of their decisions. Kids do not like to do something that they do not understand nor they appreciate the meaning of doing something just because they were told to. Kids need to learn more from their personal experiences because we cannot control what they will wear and do forever.
After all, isn’t that what we want—our kids to become independent? Many parents have a hard time letting their kids choose their clothing because it’s hard to loosen the reigns. Plus, they’ll probably pick things that we never would; that character tees that grandma sends for their birthdays, clashing patterns and prints, outfits they’d never allow adults to wear in a boardroom.
But giving your kids the go-ahead on choosing what they wear honours the fact that they have an opinion. They have lots of them actually, and expressing their personality through their clothing is a good way to encourage individuality. It says, I love who you are and the ideas you come up with.
Even my two-year-old comes to me occasionally with clothes he’d like to wear. Last week, it was his big brother’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt that looked more like a nightgown on him. But he insisted and I acquiesced. When Zac came home from work, he took one look at the boy and said, “You let him go out like that?”
From an early age, I know that my children have been trying to figure out who they are. Most parents have been used to choosing clothes for their kids that fit their personality, starting with baby clothes in online shops in Singapore. However, this can be a cause for children to feel resentful about not being themselves and not being able to express themselves the way they want to. So, as a parent, I try to understand my kid’s personality. Understand that sometimes he/she needs to express the way he/she thinks. This way, they will gain self-esteem and will feel more confident about themselves in the future.
Allowing my kids to dress their way is good. However, sometimes I also have to intervene because I surely do not want my kid to look like a clown. My advice is to give your children both freedom and a lesson on social norms. They need to learn and understand certain rules if you want them to be responsible for their decisions. Aside from the first two noble reasons why I let my kids choose their clothes, perhaps the biggest reason is that fighting those wardrobe battles just isn’t worth it.
If you’ve got kids with strong personalities or strong opinions, you know the warfare that can ensue when you try to get them to wear something you choose. It is bloody. There is screaming, pounding and rolling around on the floor, and what I like to call the rigour Mortis effect where the body stiffens up to the point that no decent pair of jeans or polo shirt will ever go on it.
These are some of the most things you will benefit from if you allow (to a certain extent) your children to wear what they want. So, why not include them in the shopping process? When browsing online retailers and looking for children's clothes in Singapore, ask your children about their own opinion on certain clothing pieces. If, for example, out of all boys shorts online, your kid chooses the ones that do not match the rest of the outfit, tell him why he needs to choose another model without making him feel bad. You can tell him that the pattern does not match the chosen t-shirt or something similar. Your child will understand and accept your advice.
Try shopping for children’s clothes online with your kids. Visit Chateau De Sable’s website and start changing this societal norm today.
