Your Mother Dresses You Funny

He loves everything that makes me cringe...and not to drive me crazy,  he just really genuinely loves the mismatched, very colourful, completely cheesy clothing that triggers something deep inside of me causing me to turn red in the face and hold my breath, only to let out the largest defeated sigh possible.  Now, I am no fashionista, I know that.  (I do really, really...REALLY appreciate things that match though; like strangely, however, that's not the point.)  The point is that when my dear son wears his turquoise, yellow and red Iron Man socks with a green and grey t-shirt and orange sweat pants, I cringe.  

The other day the question came to me, "Why do you cringe?"

  

 I cringe because I don't want other 

people to think I chose that for him  

 "Why is that"? 

(Here is where I get honest, like really honest)

• I believe that how I look to others is important
• What people think of me really matters    

This is not healthy thinking.  What my son thinks is healthy.  He does not care what people think about his clothes because he is simply expressing who is without apology.  He is not worried about brand names or colour trends. He likes what he likes and he wants to enjoy that in his clothing. I do not want to rob him of that.  I do not want to begin teaching him that he must change who is or pretend he is something he is not to impress people.  I appreciate that he is colourful. I hope he stays colourful.  I don't want him feeling pressure to dress a certain way to make friends. I certainly do not want him to wear his pants halfway down his arse (God help us all!) to fit in with people who don't care about who he really is.

 I appreciate what his individuality is doing to my insecurity issues.   As much my as his purple tie-dye dinosaur hat drive me up the wall, I am grateful for it.

With that being said here is a list of things I want to work on:

1.  I no longer want to be annoyed by my sons' love for slippy pants, rubber boots and Thomas the Train t-shirts...I want to enjoy them because they are KIDS AND THEY LOVE RUBBER BOOTS AND THOMAS THE TRAIN!!!
2. I want to let them pick out their own clothes on most days (I say "most" because realistically there are days where they need help according to the event, weather, etc). 
3. I want to stop criticizing their choices under my breath, joke or complain to others.  
4. I will "try" to stop using the "FYI, his father dressed him," comment (but sometimes, they just gotta know, right?"  

 

Is it just me or does some of this resonate with you?

Have you ever asked yourself why you insist your kids wear or not wear certain things?  

What is your reasoning for why your littles need to where Tommy Hilfiger when they don't even know or care who he is?  

It is an interesting thing to ponder. For me, it is a difficult thing to ponder.  Going to those honest, ugly places is not fun and as much as I will try to do the list above, I know the deep "whys" will take much longer to work on and will require much prayer, surrendering to the Lord and renewing of my mind.  Until then, I want to protect my minchkins from the same way of thinking and encourage them to be who they are without apology.  

Be blessed this week!  

-Angela