dressed to impress

Overheard on a parenting board:

Do you pick out their clothes or let them choose? Is it ever a HUGE battle?

This was my answer: 

I used to have this problem. When my oldest daughter started preschool, she would choose all sorts of random things she wanted to wear! Most of the time it turned into a big struggle for me to get her ready in the mornings, because she would throw tantrums. I had to think of something! I came up with a plan and now that she's 7, it works great. What I do is that I only keep appropriate clothes in her drawers. This means, only seasonal, school approved clothes, etc. She has a pajama drawer which she knows is only for bed or relaxing on weekends. She does have one drawer for dress up clothes but she is "trained" enough by now to know she can't wear those everywhere. Otherwise, all her clothes fit and she could virtually pick any shirt from her shirt drawer that she chooses, the same goes for shorts or pants. I don't keep hot pants or shorts in her drawers out of season. It does mean more organizational work for me but I find that because she grows so fast, it is really in my best interest to keep her clothes CURRENT, all the time. As far as organizational work for me, I dedicate a weekend to sort out the small clothes, the off-season clothes like pants or jackets that might still fit next season, legwarmers, gloves (she will wear these in Summer if she can! She loooves to accessorize) and anything else that I find only takes up space because she never chooses to wear it. It means that I have to force myself to be more organized, but it pays off big time. That is the best advice I can give. Also, make them pick clothes for school the night before! Saves time!! And if they need "help", you will have more time as well.

Anyone else have any advice, horror/success stories, or comments on the topic? 

 

 She has grown into quite the little fashionista. With some help from me, of course.