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I HATE buying clothes for my children!
I just need to rant about the clothes-buying experience for my boys. OMG. Luke is a skinny, sinewy little guy. He's 9 and can still quite easily fit into a size 7 pair of pants. Of course, size 7 or 8 are high-waters on him and he looks like a little dorky orphan. Next after 8 is a 10 --- too big in the waist AND too long. Thank heaven almost every brand at Target comes with those infinitely adjustble waistbands, but they're still going to be too long. Urgh!
Sam -- a big hulking almost 12 year old who people generally think is at least 14. He's barely an inch smaller than I am and his feet are already bigger than mine. He despises pants that button with a passion, finding them both uncomfortable and difficult to fasten because of his fine-motor issues. And he is a little chunky, carrying some babyfat around the waist. He'd live in track pants. But for school he has to wear tan/khaki pants and finding those, over size 14, with an elastic waist, is completely impossible. His size 14s are getting pretty tight and I'm driving myself insane trying to find him pants.
That's it. I just needed to rant. I'm sure some of you have similar frustrations so feel free to share.
Sam -- a big hulking almost 12 year old who people generally think is at least 14. He's barely an inch smaller than I am and his feet are already bigger than mine. He despises pants that button with a passion, finding them both uncomfortable and difficult to fasten because of his fine-motor issues. And he is a little chunky, carrying some babyfat around the waist. He'd live in track pants. But for school he has to wear tan/khaki pants and finding those, over size 14, with an elastic waist, is completely impossible. His size 14s are getting pretty tight and I'm driving myself insane trying to find him pants.
That's it. I just needed to rant. I'm sure some of you have similar frustrations so feel free to share.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by wookie on -
Could he do tan cargo pants? I've got two pairs with velcro and a drawstring. I haven't been mens clothing shopping in awhile (because it sounds like he's about to be in that range)... do they make different closure styles for men? You would think at a certain point it would become an accessiblity issue... no, that's not the right word. It would become an issue for, say, people with arthritis.
It's too bad that mens dress pants don't have the range womens do. I found four pairs of DRESS pants that were the lycra/yoga pant sort of waist... they look formal but don't have snaps or zips or any of that crap. I LOVE them.
I'm just happy my oldest is finally FINALLY into size 4, which is where you can start finding older looking clothes. It was getting dicy when she was 6 and all I seemed to find was frilly lady bug stuff. It's tough enough to be in grade school and sized like a preschooler without having to dress like one.
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Permalink Reply by Mamawho on
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We call GW the buttless wonder. She has no butt. Pants just fall to the floor. Now that she's got belt-adjusting down, it's a bit easier, but when she was younger, she couldn't always get the belt tightened and showed lots o' crack on the playground. Poor thing.
We all have narrow feet. Finding ladies' shoes in AAAA width is tricky. Finding men's and kids' shoes in narrow is near-impossible. She wears lots of doubled-up socks.
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Permalink Reply by Bigkrygowski on -
That is why the Achiever and I have decided to stop wearing pants altogether. Bunny is not amused.
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Permalink Reply by Annaevilred on -
Ruth - try to find a Levi's outlet for luke - you can get skinny/long. What about a nature/camping type store for Sam's pants? like an REI?
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Permalink Reply by jomama74 on -
I have the same prob. w/ my little guy and he is a big boy, he hates buttons, he's 4 and in a hurry, all of the time. I find that he loves nice, cozy and soft Jerzey sweat pants.
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Permalink Reply by Boring User Name on -
Shoes are so far are our issue. He has huge feet (size 7), but he still has baby feet: chubby, fat, and curved. So not handling tiny tennis shoes well--one pair of shoes wasted. He actually tripped and chipped a tooth on a pair that were too hard for him-two pairs of shoes wasted. So I finally spent a boatload of money and a day of shopping on vacation on a pair of shoes that were wide enough at the toes and still soft-soled enough for him. But they do seem to work, so I'm happy and he's happy. And hopefully they are finally are transition-to-hard-soled-shoes shoes. If they aren't, I'm buying him those "barefoot" shoes that are all the rage with runners.
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Permalink Reply by Boring User Name on
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My current annoyance is the layered look that they sew in. At least let me buy the short-sleeve polos and I'll layer them. Then, he can wear them in multiple seasons.
mcglory13 said:I hate it too. I go into a store and three fourths of it is adorable girl clothing and one fourth is the standard neutral men's clothing. Why is a frat boy, a fifty year old man, and a two year old boy are all expected to wear cargo shorts and a polo shirt.
What's the point. It's so boring. I wish clothing would just appear.
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Permalink Reply by hermit crab on -
Hear, hear for bright colors. Orange is my favorite too.
We've been buying all second-hand for the bub since we are incomely-challenged, but we just went to the Children's Place outlet for new sleepers and man, that was a eye-opener. And looking online, I see that they're the cheap place. Twenty bucks for toddler shirts at Gap? I hate the expense of new kid's clothes. In my second life where I have time to sew, I would be a long-sleeve t-shirt making machine.
T-Rex said:Yes! Why do I have to dress a two year old boy like a miniature man? Once they don't fit in onesies anymore, it's all t-shirts and cargo shorts. I rebel with bright colors. Baby wears a lot of orange.
mcglory13 said:I hate it too. I go into a store and three fourths of it is adorable girl clothing and one fourth is the standard neutral men's clothing. Why is a frat boy, a fifty year old man, and a two year old boy are all expected to wear cargo shorts and a polo shirt.
What's the point. It's so boring. I wish clothing would just appear.
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Permalink Reply by Super-Papa on
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That's exactly what I want! We've always tried to dress The H as a little man. I'm totally over all of the friggin' puppy dogs and "cutsey" baby boy stuff. It has helped that The H is a big boy and we've been able to shop in the toddler section. Lots of jeans, t-shirts, khakis, and button up shirts... exactly what I wear.
They get me on the layered tees because the tee is so awesome I want it even though it's permanently long sleeved. Usually we'll get knits and t shirts a size big and layer them white long sleeved tees when it's cold out.
T-Rex said:Yes! Why do I have to dress a two year old boy like a miniature man? Once they don't fit in onesies anymore, it's all t-shirts and cargo shorts. I rebel with bright colors. Baby wears a lot of orange.
mcglory13 said:I hate it too. I go into a store and three fourths of it is adorable girl clothing and one fourth is the standard neutral men's clothing. Why is a frat boy, a fifty year old man, and a two year old boy are all expected to wear cargo shorts and a polo shirt.
What's the point. It's so boring. I wish clothing would just appear.
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I used to buy GW the baby boys' things at the Gap outlet because I loved the primary stripes with the occasional lime green and light blue. Then I'd stick a bow-that-looks-like-a-margarita-garter on her head, take a pic, send it to my grandma, and wait for her to freak out. She hated the bows.
I liked Old Navy's baby clothes a lot - the boys and girls stuff.
Lands' End has lots of school uniform stuff. That's where I get GW's skirts from, because they come in slims. Maybe try there for the khaki pants.
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Permalink Reply by kanachick on -
When the kids were little I bought at second hand stores and it was great - good quality at next to nothing. The problem is that as they get bigger the selection sucks because kids don't grow as fast so stuff gets worn out.
My big issue these days is the boys with the holes in their jeans - the right knee...always the right knee. And I buy them new jeans and they insist on wearing the holey ones. I did patches and they came right off. Ugh.
Here's my suggestion on the elastic waist khakis - pricey but hopefully they'll hold up for a year or two.
http://www.landsend.com/pp/BlendedElasticWaistChinoPants~105115_118...
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Permalink Reply by MamatothaMax on -
Mo is built just like Sailor, really long torso with short legs. Now that he's older we can get short pants anywhere. His shirts all run a size larger to cover his belly. Even though we get the shorter pants he almost always wears holes in the bottoms where he steps on them.
When he was a baby and toddler he a cute little bubble butt that couldn't hold up pants. We switched to 2 T's as soon as he fit into 24 month pants. Since the T sizes are (or used to be) made to fit kids wearing underpants instead of diapers they were a little more fitted and would stay up.
Max is on the big side and wears a size larger than his age. He's in the middle of a growth period and will be wearing 5T's soon.
I love love love Target for clothes. Mostly because we can afford to buy them. Plus I love the clothes they have for boys there. Shaun White has a line of clothing that Mo loves to wear. (Not that we can afford the pants or hoodies but we get the shirts on clearance)
Over the years the boys have been given the layered look shirts which are handy cause they are so warm blooded they dont need a lot of layers in the winter. Plus it's hard to find fun long sleeve shirts. Usually it works out that by the summer Max will fit into the shirt Mo wore that winter. If I really like the tee shirt part I'll cut out the long sleeves.
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