being a kid

     My parents used to always make fun of me for dressing weird.  I would wear things that had no business going together.  Plaid with stripes.  Kitties with stripes.  Whatever I could find.  Now as a mother, my own daughter comes out of her room 90% of the time in something totally ridiculous.  But I play along.  She asks 'mommy does this match?'  I say 'uhh...it matches enough.'  Translate as...'we have nowhere to go today so it's fine if you wear that around the house.'
     Something hit me the other day when I asked my daughter if we could go outside and take some pictures and she didn't want to change clothes.  We spend most of our lives dressing ourselves to be appropriate for different situations.  Dress shirts for work.  Jeans for grocery shopping.  Longer hems for certain places, different bathing suits for different situations, certain shirts for different buildings.  Black goes with white, brown goes with cream, red goes with navy, stripes go with solids, plaids go with...well...nothing. Stockings for dance -but no skirted tutus, sneakers for school, uniforms for work.
     Our lives are based around wearing appropriate and put together clothing.  If we don't match we look crazy.  But there is one exception.  Children.  Some parents get smart early on and let their kids dress themselves however they choose when they are young, but at a certain point we re-take control and explain why it's not ok to wear a jasmine costume to the grocery store.  Kids are typically born with a confidence that says 'I don't really care what other people think of what I'm wearing' and unfortunately, they are forced out of it.  We have to fit in after-all right?
     I say we let kids be kids whenever we can.  If my daughter wants to wear a leopard print tutu with rainbow striped leggings, a my little pony t-shirt, and a scarf in the summer...I let her.  She can pretend she's a rockstar as she often does, and I can smile and laugh.  We'll save the matching outfit for tomorrow when we have to go outdoors.  Let your kids be kids and let them dress themselves in ridiculous outfits whenever you can.  After-all...it's fun, and makes for great blackmail when they are a 25 yr old fashion editor at a magazine.