Oh boy. I should apologise to Hubby in advance for this post. Perhaps I should apologise to all child-dressing-fathers out there too, while I’m at it.
Where to start? Let’s go back a little to a few weeks before I was married, at my hen’s weekend. A gaggle of girlfriends and I rented a house on the water and had a bunch of fun being girls. For one of my girlfriends it meant leaving her bub overnight with her husband for the first time and therefore letting him make some pretty big parenting decisions, such as what the child should wear.
At some point over the weekend a picture came through of my friend’s daughter. Her husband had sent through the picture of evidence he knew how to dress her with style, and we all had a giggle at how often they do it so… badly.
At that point I wasn’t a mum, but I was a nanny. For me, dressing the kids was a plus-side of the job. I loved styling them up, and would often re-dress them if the parents had already done so before I arrived at work. Fussy? Yep. Too much time on my hands? Quite possibly. I kinda knew what my friend was talking about.
When I was 8 my Ma had to go into hospital for a few nights, so we were left in the care of my dad. We ate chocoalte, I remember, and for school my dad did a plait/braid in my hair and tied it with a HUGE pink bow. Dads just seem to do things differently. I’m still impressed by the plait my dad managed to do, and by the delicious chocolate eating that went on… but I did kinda feel like a big dork with my pink bow, yet wore it with pride because my dad did.
Last Friday I had to fly down to Melbourne for the day for work {where we went to the Motor Show and saw the girl from the Ford ad – see above}. It was an exhausting day which saw me awake from 3am and busy for the rest of the day. Just after 6 at night I flew back to Sydney, and was greeted by a very excited toddler at the airport.
After the hugs and kisses were over I looked Lacey over and noticed that she was wearing her pajama top with her jeans and jacket, and had been all day… even to Kindy. I smirked. That’s what happens when Daddy dresses the baby, right?
I then peered down at her feet and saw her slipper boots {imagine white, fluffy over the top and a little bit Paris Hilton}, and knew that she’d played some part in her wardrobe too. She’s since worn those shoes/slippers for every single minute since she got them from her Gaga. Even to bed.
Have you experienced any ‘when Daddy dresses the baby’ moments? Does your toddler like to have a say in what they wear?
worst is when you are in hospital after having a baby. You want them to come in looking good, you're going to take lots of photos, you know create memories, and that outfit will be forever a memory. My hubby was so proud of himself, he even put a clip in her hair (it matched apparently – I didn't notice).
Ha ha, that is so cute:) I used to work as an au pair and I tried to make sure the clothes matched but sometimes the kids dressed themself and then it didn't work out so well.
Very funny and oh so true. I once posted about this too and how it doesn't matter what gorgeous array of clothes you have for your child, the dad will always manage to put together the worst combination of them. I used to hide at the back of the cupboard this ugly t- shirt from someones holiday destination ( a “I've been to. ….” kind of thing with a crocodile mouth that opened by bigflap of material!) & on the weekend i was away they found it and 3 year old wanted to wear it from then on every day. WAs a bit of a joke with some of my girlfriends so was happy to pass on to one of their little boys who also loved it!
On the odd occasions that I've been away for the day I usually try to pre-pack a day bag and lay out two wardrobe options.
Oh and not sure if it's the same in your house but Why do Dad's insist on tucking in pajama tops??
Hubby and I did a `He Said She Said' post on the blog a couple of months back on this very topic. He started his post by saying: “I ask you, what in the world is wrong with a brown hat, a yellow top, red shorts, hot pink socks and purple shoes? Exactly. Nothing.'' Hmm….
Oh yes, i am VERY fussy about how my 4 children dress, but yesterday, while farm shopping in 0C blizzardy winds, i let them all stay in pyjama tops under their overcoats, with jeans & gum boots, they were toasty & warm, no one would notice. They are aged between 7.5 & 12, including 3 very stylish girls, but they rocked (Peter Alexander at least).
Even though i cull any icky clothes from their wardrobes, my husband manages to find something unsuitable (i've always allowed the natural flow of old clothes to become pyjamas) & you guessed it, the old favourites come out when i'm not supervising, shudder. One day trip interstate i left my husband to get the 4 of them off to school & da dah – it was school photo day!! The pressure to do all their hair was intense for him (a soldier, not so much into the plaiting of long blonde lochs) but he did a great job & i said “2009 school photos will be forever the day daddy did your hair, no matter how good or bad”. FYI they looked fantastic. Love Posie
Oh yes. A few months back, the kids dad took them away for a trip to see their grandparents. Part of the weekend treat was a photo shoot with his family. I thought it was great that we'd get some lovely professional photos of the kids. Then I saw what he dressed them in. I was so frustrated! My daughters hair was a mess, and she had on old play clothes. Not a pretty dress or hair clip in sight. My son was in old play clothes that didn't fit too well, and looked sort of messy. I was so upset!!! I still am!!
My hubby is surprisingly good at choosing outfits for my 3 year old. Sometimes he put things together that I wouldn't even think about but she always ends up looking funky. When it comes to dressing himself though, that's a different story! My 3 year old often dictates what she will and not wear. I practically have to beg her to wear pants!
I always come home to find her dressed all strange,
1. Socks & sandals.
2. Tracksuit pants with a tutu on top.
3. double denim (that was the best one)
4. When she was a baby he changed her nappy & put the onesie on top of her pants.
SO cute. Our 3.5 year old is at the stage where she wants full input into her daily ensembles. I have to say she's pretty good at it and does a great job with accessories. As I am complete rubbish at accessorising, she definitely doesn't get that from me.
I must say, whilst hubby doesn't dress our 2 yo like a high-end stylist he's not too bad. When she looks a little odd are the times *she* has insisted on wearing the particular combination in question and won't budge for dear life. Your post however does remind me of the time I stayed with a dear friend in New York and looked after her 5 year old whilst she was travelling interstate. I had the duty of dressing her and never having had children, assumed lil' miss knew what she needed to wear to school each day. I helped her of course but it was only when my friend returned that she advised me, with some amusement, that I'd been had. I'd been dressing her in civvies all week when she actually had a uniform. Haha!
OH I have a son….so you would think that a male dressing a male would be quite an easy task….NOT so. My hubby always finds the clothes I have popped in the very back of the wardrobe beacause they are far too small and are just about on thier way to the good sammy's….My poor son ends up looking redonkulous…he looks like a giant squished into teeny tiny clothes…OH and I won't even mention when my hubby trys to do my sons hair…..DRY SHAMPOO IS NOT STYLING MOUSSE…..Why does my 2 year olds hair look grey…arrrrghhh xox
haha…love this post.
Saturday's are the days that hubby dresses the kids in our house, as I leave for work early. To be fair, it's not that he dresses them, its the fact that he doesn't make them change or find something more appropriate when they make bad choices!
I used to stress about the fact that they would be no doubt going out in public and there is no way he would even think about doing their hair, or finding anything that vaguely matched..now it is quite an amusement to see some of the styles when i get home on sat afternoon…
Regardless, as long as they are wearing their big smiles, it really doesn't matter anyway, right?
Oh how funny! I have 2 incidents that I remember. One was when my middle child was 15 months old and we had just discovered he had broken his arm. At the time, I was 8 months pregnant and couldn't go into the x-ray with him, so called Hubby to come up and go in with him. He had to bring our daughter along and when they arrived, she was in a milk stained pj top, pants that were her brother's (way too short on her) and a serious case of bed hair. I was slightly horrified when they walked into the medical centre.
The 2nd time was yesterday. I scored a rare sleep in and he fed and dressed the kids. At least this time daughter was dressed properly, but he did manage to put her stockings on backwards.
Great post Chantelle! I had to laugh my hubby always does the same thing.. they love all the clothes hidden at the back of the wardrobe, too small, too big, tucked in.. if they are dressed that is, he usually just leaves them in their pj's! my poor little miss taken out in a blue wondersuit.. lovely.. i have started leaving clothes out for them if i'm working! xx
It's the reverse in our house. Most of MiniMe's clothes that are funky were picked by Daddy. He dresses her like a real fashionista. I suck at it!
When I was pregnant with my daughter I was stuck in hospital for 3 months. I cringed every time my 5yr old walked in wearing what his Dad had picked out for him!!
Once the kids started to go & visit their Dad for the weekend I packed outfits together for them, but they still seemed to come home looking like orphans!!
This is a great post. I have a when the grandfather dressed the baby story. When my son was three months old, my husband was working overseas and my mum was also away. I had to have an emergency surgery and call my Dad to drive from three hours away to stay overnight with my little boy and hope for the best as I had gone from doctors office to hospital. It was very lucky I was under sedation when he bought him in to visit the next morning in the hospital – the outfit, down to the hat and shoes?? was right out of the 'too big', 'never going to wear that' drawers. Not sure how he missed the ones with the right clothes.
Love your post, and I do get where you are coming from….But I don't like to say anything that might undermine how my partner feels about his fathering abilities, they're just clothes, and in every other aspect he's the best dad, and my little man would be cute as hell in spots, stripes, socks and saldals!
These days though, at nearly three, little Mr. dictates his own wardrobe, and I have to say, I just go with it! I remember reading a blog post from a woman saying she organises all her sons clothes into outfits when she does the washing, for both her husband, and her childrens benefits, I was gob smacked! Imagine robbing them of expressing their creativity and individuality! They're just clothes after all, the minute my little man smiles, and says something adorable, most people have forgotten what he's wearing, I'm sure.
I met up with hubby for coffee with friends after being at the hairdressers… first thing they said was “wow, did Daddy dress you today” It was freezing, he managed to mismatch every item and had 3/4 pants on her – he was surprised and said he had made extra special effort to dress her well 🙂
Working in a nursery/daycare, we always knew… :o) The only time we were fooled was when the child had dressed themselves. ;o)
Actually, maybe because we have boys and Hubby is one himself, he does alright in that department!
In fact, he could give the boys a few tips. Because when they choose their own clothes….yikes.
Had a good giggle at this post (read it the other day and just catching up on some commenting now!).
When I was away for a weekend, at the bloggers conference earlier in the year, my husband sent me a photo of our daughter at a birthday party. I cringed. She was dressed in her oldest, most horrible, t-shirt (meant for playing in at home in the dirt!), with tracksuit pants. And her hair wasn't brushed.
I asked him about it when we spoke later that day, and he said he realised how bad she looked (phew!) but she'd insisted on wearing it and he didn't think it was worth arguing over. Fair call!
could be worse i have a 16 year old daughter who re-dressers my 4 year old son as “mum your not letting him wear that out” is one of her common sayings.