giving up on: kids clothes

((by now I'm assuming you know what 

Giving up On Good means. 

If not, catch up here and join in!)

So it dawned on me this week when I was in the colossal process of cleaning out the too small for my kids clothes and finding the bags of the next level hand-me-downs. 


The clothes. That is definitely a good thing I've given up on. 


Before I had any kiddos, I could've sworn that one of the coolest parts of being a mom would be to dress my kiddos in utterly fashionable and hip attire. I imagined little boys in chucks and girls in tutus and accessories and cute haircuts. And then I had Elias, and I wondered if it was because he was a boy - maybe that's why it doesn't thrill me so much to dress him. I preferred hand-me-downs and second hand stores - and not for incredibly cool vintage duds either. Just the basics. Jeans that fit. Clean t-shirts. Handsome sweaters. 


But when I had Glory-girl, the sad truth was: I still didn't care. By the time Benjamin was born, I had lost any notion of having fashionable kids. Don't get me wrong! I don't want them to look like utter weirdos. The boy have a few pairs of skinny jeans and Glory just got her first set of jeggings, but for the most part - you can find my kids look less like pinterest sensations and more like.... kids. 


And I am so absolutely ok with that. 
Confession time - I'm REALLY thinking about it and I wonder if we've spent more than $100 or $200 on all our kids clothes in our five and a half years of parenting. I mean, combined. We LOVE handmedowns. And Benja gets all Elias' handmedowns and Glory has two older girl cousins who have greatly blessed her. And I know we've bought a few key pieces of clothing for them at Target over time and a few nicer pairs of shoes - but in general, we just don't buy our kids clothes. 


The crazy thing - Nick and I are kind of the same. I'd say both of our wardrobes are like 80% thrifted or secondhand, 10% bought at super cheap stores like Forever 21, 10% really nice pieces that we use for years. We just try to make our wardrobes as distinct and "us" as we can by using really inexpensive accessories. And our kids do too! You can often find Glory wearing my gypsy hat or Benja wearing a cool $1 Target beanie in the middle of summer. But we sure enough do not spend real money to try and make them look cool. Because they're not cool. They're toddlers. :) 


For us, giving up on that good has led to MUCH more money in our pockets and MUCH more peace in our lives. They don't really have things they prefer to wear. They've never "gone shopping" with any authority to pick anything out and they think hand-me-downs are the bomb dot com. 


So there's my not so dirty little secret! If you meet me in real life, my kids will not look like they just came from a photoshoot. They will (HOPEFULLY) be clean. But you'll  find them in crocks, some well-worn jeans, and a tshirt that was either gifted to them or handed down. 

And as always, if your kids DO look fabulous all the time, grace to you. 
If that's the good you don't want to give up on - claim it! 
And (AHEM) we accept hand-me-downs. 
.............


Some quick Naptime Diaries business!
- Today's the last day of the HUGE SUMMER SALE. Jump on it! 
- I'm taking three more blog design clients for June! If you need blog/small business design done - email me today - jessi connolly at gmail.