In article , Ericka says...

Banty wrote:
In article , Babie says...

"Clisby"
What's wrong with the boots? OK, I'm a real slacker of a mother, but as
long as my children are decently covered in something that fits the school
dress code, it's really not my problem. If their clothing combinations
are really weird, I'm sure some other child will kindly point it out.

Clisby
Nothing wrong with them at all. But she has a lot of dresses and skirts...
not to mention shorts etc that she wants to wear them with. It's more of an
annoyance for me than anything major. We laugh about it regularly.
Particularly since I can be really OCD about some things. (I'm a "shoe
collector" so I notice shoes usually before anything else lol)

One really important thing about parenthood (and life, for that matter) is
realizing which problems are your problems and which problems are others'
problems.

This one is your problem and not your little girl's problem. So dont' try to
make her fix it.

Agreed; however, I don't agree with the notion
that parents have no valid say over how their kids dress
(which I'm not suggesting you espouse--simply observing that
just because he may overdo the matching footwear thing
doesn't mean that there aren't times when it's appropriate
to insist that the child wear appropriate footwear). In
some situations appearance matters and in others it doesn't
(true for adults as well as kids, though adults have more
situations in which appearance matters). When appearance matters,
I have no heartburn squelching my kids' ....ummmm....creativity
in matters of dress. When appearance doesn't matter, the
only constraints are decency and weather-appropriateness.
So, I'd agree that a parent shouldn't impose his or
her desire to see a kid perfectly turned out all the time on
the child, but not that requiring a kid to be well turned
out when the occasion merits is something inappropriate. It's
just a matter of matching the requirement to the context.

Agreed.

I guess I'd see occassions where appearance is indeed important as to be kinda
the kid's problem, too, if the family as a whole or the kid need to present
themselves in a certain way.

Banty