
Let me start this post by saying I love my mom dearly and am very thankful for her. We are blessed to have her in our the lives of our girls and for all of the help they give to us. Since the birth of Emma 5 years of ago we have often fought a battle with her. She dislikes my taste in clothes that I put the girls in, she believes that I dress them dorky and is afraid they will get made fun of. She has been one to make comments about how ugly their clothes are and such in front of the girls and we have talked with her and told her that it is ok if she doesn't like them but please don't say anything in front of the girls. For awhile things were better and she acknowledged that we had different tastes and that it was wrong to say negative things in front of the girls but recently it has started all over again. Mainly it is with Emma, she says that Emma has so much spunk and sass that she "needs" to have clothes to match that and since Emma is going into kindergarten it is important that she have the "right" clothes. My mom really doesn't want Emma to get made fun and believes that it is all about the clothes but that isn't what we want to instill in the girls. We want the girls to know that what is in the inside is what is more important. We don't want them to think that only designer or expensive things are what makes you popular or "better", it should be about personality and your character. We aren't against them having these things but it isn't a necessity and especially with a large family we wont be able to always get designer things. I believe we dress our kids very nicely, we get compliments all the time on how cute they are. Sometimes we buy their clothes second hand but most of the time I buy them on sale. There clothes are always clean, look new, free of stains, holes etc..., so it isn't like I am sending them out in a trash bag.
What gets me really frustrated is the comments mad too and in front of the kids. This past weekend my mom told Emma somethings that she isn't allowed to wear when school starts. One place I like to shop is Gymboree and sometimes the clothes I get have animals on them and my mom told Emma she isn't allowed to wear animals. Emma loved to wear clothes with animals on them, she loves animals and has told us she wants to be an animal doctor when she gets older. Most of the time she picks the clothes with the animal on it but now I am afraid she feels that she can't because Grandma told her no and that she will be made fun of. I know my mom has good intentions but I just don't think these comments should be made to Emma and she shouldn't go against what we have asked, which is not say negative things to the kids about how we dress them.
Also, I am all for allowing the kids to dress in ways that express thier personality. For example Emma likes to wear things with cherries on them and Madison likes to wear things with horses on them. As they get older we will make sure they are allowed to wear what they want as long as it is within our guidelines. We do also let them help pick out their clothes when we are at the store and day to day so it isn't like the girls get no say in what we are putting on them.
If you have made it this far thanks for letting me vent and get my frustrations out. I hope I remember how this makes me feel when my girls become moms so I don't do the same thing to them.
*The pictures above are of the girls in some of their favorite outfits! Of course Alyson's is one of mine but the others are the girls choice.


















