Semi-Yearly Event
April 18, 2008
This morning I brought summer clothes and sandals down from the attic. The weather is in the mid 70’s today, though I am sure the temperature will dip low enough to require jackets again before summer is here for good.
I have children alternately insisting that their shoes from last summer, which are now two sizes too small, fit them perfectly. And children who are doing all they can in their power to insist that things that do fit them are too small. Clownishly small, a certain child insists.
I am being entertained, for lack of a better word, with how shorts should not show your knees. Even when you sit down. I told my son that we might as well call what he wants to wear capris. Or highwaters.
It was much easier before they had any opinions about their clothing or any (COMPLETELY INSANE) ideas about fashion. My sons make my daughter’s request for light-up Disney Princess sandals seem perfectly reasonable.
If you never see me again it is because I drowned under a sea of Teva sandals, plastic flip flops, and ironic Old Navy t-shirts. All of which span sizes 2T- 18, yet miraculously fit NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON in this house.
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I guess we can’t acount for style changes (length of shorts, etc) - there are just 3 years between my two boys and even trying to buy simple clothing for the eldest seems to go out of style by the time the younger fits it. Go figure?!
Good luck, Chris!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:13 amSeems almost mathematically impossible, doesn’t it? Yet the same thing happens here. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to hang on to clothing and hand it down.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:22 amI have a hard time doing this with 4 kids, I can only imagine that is a big job for you! I still need to do this too. I am avoiding it though and reading your blog instead!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:34 amMy big 3 have outgrown everything once again. At least that keeps the little 2 in lots of hand me downs. Tonight we are buying sandals and swimsuits (before all the good ones are picked over, I hope) and I’m sure it’ll snow tomorrow.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:45 amI do NOT envy you at all….I only have two and the seasonal clothing shuffle completely frustrates me.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:47 amI too brought out the summer clothes. And sadly the 4yo can read numbers, so he only wants to wear items where the tag says “4″. Nevermind that the 3T shorts still fit great, they ARE FOR LITTLE KIDS. I think I’ll be cutting tags out of clothes post haste.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:54 amhahaha!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:03 pmmy 10yo spent the last two years loathing shorts. clam-diggers or pants were the only bottoms he’d wear. even his swim trunks had to be mid-calf.
last week; when i said i’d hem all his too-short pants into clam diggers; he swore vehemently that he hated them, & would wear pants or shorts only. in a tone that said i was an idiot for even suggesting such nastiness.
the shorts; in case you were wondering; have to be just below the knee. not above, and certainly not more than just below.
i am buying nothing. he can wear his high waters until they are clam diggers. fickle fashionista.
Hahaha………Everybody loves brand new, don’t they! EXCEPT MOM AND DAD, who have to pay for it
I have a very similar set of children in my home……..I guess it is just the way it goes! Good luck 
April 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pmI must admit that I am a fan of light up shoes. It makes it easier to keep track of very active children outside in the evening! ;o)
April 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pmEverybody knows clothes change size in the attic.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:52 pmOh man, the boys shorts thing - I HATE it!!! My son is 14 - and, GOD FORBID that the shorts show any knee!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, because he’s growing a bazillion inches every year, I have to buy new shorts every summer, even though the others still fit - but LOOK! HOW! SHORT! THEY! ARE! MOM! I CAN’T where these out in public - it’ll KILL ME!!! And, just as I’m pulling out the last of my hair in total frustration and despair, a sixteen-year-old boy walks by with jeans on that have the crotch at his knees……and, because my son is not asking to wear jeans with the crotch at his knees (they can hardly WALK in those things, have you seen???!!), I shut up, count my blessings, and buy the blasted new shorts. You can’t win for losing, you know??!! At any rate, you have my sympathy - because you have my frustration multiplied by seven!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm1. Go to Old Navy (without kids) and beg a half dozen big bags.
2. Put last summer’s clothes in bags and hide everything for a week.
3. Pull out bags and exclaim in surprise, “Hey! I forgot about these bags from when I went shopping last week!”
It’s worth a try, though I doubt they would be fooled.
If I were closer, I’d offer to shorten last summer’s pants to “approved boy short” length…wouldn’t have to take off much.
Chris says: Heh, I just might do this
April 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pmFortunately, my son is only 6 and doesn’t know that fashion rule yet. He went out of the house today in last year’s shorts well above the knee. He’s a size 7 in length but a 4-5 in the waist, so last year’s size 6’s work fine. I’m hoping no one makes fun of his knees!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pmCan you send me whatever girl clothes dont fit your daughter?? You kids clothes are hella’ cute!!! And not one thing fits my girls from last year either. Not one.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:50 pmFina/Sayville
I have been doing the same thing here in our house. With 7 kids between the ages of 3 and 18 and Hubby the Clothes-Horse, it’s completely insane and I’m ready to just Freecycle all the clothing and go live at a nudist camp for the summer.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:11 pmMy sons are still fashion-blind. I’m off to say many prayers for that!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:58 pmThat is so funny you mentioned that about the shorts that come above the knee. My son just put out a perfectly good pair of shorts because when he sits they come about an inch above his knee. I cannot buy them any bigger or they will fall off of him. I asked him this morning if I should just go buy him some capris. Or he could wear mine if he wanted to. Which he doesn’t. Teenagers!
April 18th, 2008 at 3:04 pmOMG my son Brandon (14) is doing the same thing. It’s like that part from the movie Mommy Dearest…”NO WIRE HANGERS EVERRRRR” except, of course…knees!
April 18th, 2008 at 3:27 pmHe actually refused to dress for gym for the last week (until I bought new frickin’ shorts) BECAUSE his knees were showing.
*sigh*
We now live in a world where it’s okay to show your underwear while “busting a sag” but NO KNEES EVERRRRRRRRRR!
My nine year old just got the long shorts bug this year. Every single pair of shorts from last year is now too short, even though he hasn’t actually grown much. Ugh.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:32 pmLast year my son refused to wear shorts at all. He spent all summer in long pants and just looking at him made me feel like I was going to have heat stroke. What is up with kids today???? (I am old, crochety and enjoying it).
April 18th, 2008 at 3:34 pmP.S. right after my hysterectomy my son had a pair of pants that were too short and my daughter laughed at him. She said that “only people with a uterus can wear capri’s” to which I then asked her if I could wear them since I had no uterus. I guess it is now ok for boys to wear capris since they all seem to want them that way now. (and also we have strange discussions in our house)
April 18th, 2008 at 3:38 pmI hear you on the long shorts. Yesterday my 7 year old son refused to wear any of his shorts from last year (although they still fit him!) because his oh-so-cool 11 year old brother told him he looks like a doofus with his knees showing. >
April 18th, 2008 at 3:50 pmOne of my most dreaded chores. My youngest actually found a box of clothes that he had outgrown that I had planned to give to charity, and rooted through and demanded I hang his favorites back in his closet.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:31 pmWith 5 kids to clothe, I totally feel your pain. Really. Why are all of our boys hung up by the appearance of their knees????
April 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pmOMG, my kids (mainly son) doesn’t want his knees showing either! What?? My kids are freaks about their clothes and shoes. I totally understand your frustration.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:31 pmDo you think someone will ever get smart and start selling their services as a clothes sorter? OH I hate this task!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:09 pmohh no! I too just dragged the big red summer box out of the shed but I have yet to show anything to my 7 yr old son. With all these horror stores I am dreading the thought of hearing my boy tell me ANYTHING about his knee. *gulp*
April 19th, 2008 at 12:17 amWe don’t have the “knee” situation yet (my 10 yr old son is pretty fashion oblivious) but his 8 yr old sister is a freak with the shoes. If she gets a scratch on her tennis shoes, she thinks it is time for a new pair, and tells me she has outgrown hers in the hopes I will rush out and buy her new shoes in a bigger size. According to my calculations, if I actually did it every time she asked, she’d be in a size 92 by now.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:28 amWe call them ‘manpri’s.’
April 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pmI could have written this EXACT post..
April 19th, 2008 at 2:45 pmI was at the mall yesterday (along with everyone else in the free world) with 5 children who needed new everything!
As a person who hates to shop…it was not my best day!
UGH I have to do this exact thing today…get out my clothes and the kids’…noooooo! can’t i clean the toilet instead? or the gutters? or something that will not be nearly as torturous and fruitless??
April 21st, 2008 at 10:08 amI think the correct masculine term for shorts that are longer than shorts but shorter than pants are called MANPRIs. My daughter (9) lives in them. It makes me weep.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:36 amCapris - hahaha! Why is that funny? Because it’s finally warm enough for shorts here today. My 7 year old son put on some shorts and promptly took them off . . . I asked what he was doing . . . he said “These shorts are WAY too long - they look like capris!” HAHAHAHAHA!!! I explained that having his shorts touch his knee caps when he’s standing is WAY too long . . . it’s actually close to just right since I’m certain he’ll grow 6 inches this summer
And, when I told him those were his favorite shorts last summer he said “Wow. Why did you let me wear these things all last year - they must have been down to my ankles?!”
Boys
April 24th, 2008 at 11:16 am