Clothes Make the Kid...Happy

My daughter and I don't see eye to eye on clothing. I love the Hanna Andersson dress and leggings sets. She does not. She wants to dress like a teenager. I do not want that (although someday I know it will be inevitable). We have had our fair share of clothing "discussions". I enjoy going to buy her outfits, putting them together and thinking about where she'll wear them. This started before I had even seen her face, before I knew her personality.

Now she doesn't want to wear the things I buy her...well, at least not everything. She puts outfits together that are loud and "creative". She has a style that is somewhere between Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga. Don't get me wrong, she isn't into skimpy outfits but she often seems to look like a rock star. She does her hair in ways that thoroughly surprise me.

You know, I remember having strong feelings about clothing when I was a kid as well. I put striped tops with oddly patterned pants and made my mother cringe on many occasions. Now I have been told by friends that I am very matchy-matchy and I must agree. So what happened? Did I grow out of it? Did I get such ribbing about it that I never ventured into crazy outfits again? I don't know.

There is something about having your own style and feeling good about yourself when you can find adventure in your closet. I know that every once in a while I have one of those times when I go to my closet looking for something to perk me up and I find an outfit that I've never thought of putting together just come out and bite me. I put it on and it feels good. I feel good. And maybe then I do my hair in a completely different way and all of a sudden I am lifted a little.

I don't think we should pin our self worth on how we look, but I think being able to express ourselves is important. I'm trying not to pin my dreams about those clothes on our daughter, but instead let her find her own way of expressing herself. She wants to be who she is and one of my jobs as a mom is to let that shine through. Today, she's wearing a short sleeve white shirt with orange and pink flowers, brown cropped leggings with blue dots and a crazy ponytail; it's 40 degrees here. See? I'm trying.