Krist S
When you buy clothing for your children, practicality should be at the top of your list. Kids need clothes that are comfortable, durable, and suited to their active lifestyles. From playtime to school activities, their outfits should provide freedom of movement while standing up to wear and tear. Additionally, choosing easy-to-clean, versatile pieces can save both time and money. Being practical doesn’t mean compromising on style—it’s about making smart choices that blend functionality with fashion to ensure your child is comfortable, confident, and ready for anything.
It is lovely to see well-dressed children, particularly small children, who can look cute and fashionable at the same time. Babies have no say in what we dress them up in so we can be as flamboyant or simplistic as we like!
Specialist shops are in abundance nowadays, with prices ranging from sensible to ridiculous. A small child has no concept of wearing designer clothes, only the parent. Whether the clothes be cheap and cheerful or expensive and chic, babies and toddlers will still make a mess while eating, crawling, and generally doing things small children do!
When to Buy Clothing for Your Children
No matter how much or how little you spend, clothing for your children still needs to be practical. For anyone who has had the pleasure of dressing a wriggling baby or toddler, the buttons and zips definitely need to be in the right places. Time is limited when dressing or undressing your child, so fiddly buttons and badly positioned zips and ties are a definite no-no! Easy access via poppers, especially in baby’s trousers, is an excellent invention. Just think how much time it takes to put kicking legs into a pair of trousers!
Babies grow at an incredible rate, so one doesn’t have to worry much about clothes being worn out; they tend to be outgrown and still in beautiful condition. This is great if you are possibly going to have more children or have someone with a smaller baby to pass clothes on to. Definitely a money saver if you are on the receiving end of another parent’s generosity.
Toddlers are wonderful little people who you can still dress to look cute—until they suddenly start to become independent and pick their own clothes. When they are at this stage, you can forget looking stylish and fashionable; toddlers tend not to have any color coordination or dress sense—be warned!
Early school years can be really simple, as most of the time the child will spend wearing a school uniform. Clothing for your child is easier, though it can be expensive depending on where you buy the uniform. Most of us buy at least a size bigger blazer or trousers so that the child ‘can grow into them’; this can cause embarrassment to our children. Be diplomatic and not too enthusiastic about your child’s growing abilities.
The wonderful tween years! A clothing nightmare. Just when you thought that purchasing a school uniform was simple, you find out to the contrary. Your tweenager suddenly must have designer-named shoes, trainers, or trousers—whatever they wear has to have the latest logo emblazoned on the front or back. Buying labels and sewing them on won’t work. Tweenagers may be difficult, but they are not easily fooled.
At the end of the day, shop what you can afford, make sure the clothing for your children is reasonably hard-wearing, and put them together properly.
Dressing smaller children should be practical; it seems silly putting a pretty dress on a crawling baby as they will probably come to a standstill if they keep putting their knees onto the dress! As to dressing teenagers, well, that is another matter. Birthdays and Christmas come in handy for purchasing expensive clothes or trainers as presents; this can often be a good compromise.
Trends change like the wind for teenagers, so while your child is small, enjoy dressing them up in colorful, tasteful clothes that you have chosen; they at least won’t worry about losing their street cred!
