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MOM: “Ok, so tomorrow you want to wear this outfit, right?”
CHILD: “Yep!”
MOM: “OK, so I am going to just put it on your dresser and when you wake up, just get dressed, Ok?”
CHILD: “Ok, Mom.”
NEXT MORNING…
“MOM?! I CAN’T FIND ANYTHING TO WEAR! CAN YOU HELP?”
Please tell me that you can relate… even just a little? I will pick out clothes for our kids and in the morning, they change their minds, or the clothes feel itchy, or the shirt is suddenly too big or too small. This used to happen to us all of the time! I finally found a solution for When your kids won’t wear what you’ve picked out … and it works. (yay!)
I lay out TWO outfits every night. Two of everything. Every single night.
I lay out two shirts, two pairs of pants, (they all match one another, so they can go any direction), two pairs of socks, two pairs of underwear. They get to decide in the morning which outfit they are in the mood for and it eliminates all of our morning “clothing wars”. I have not had an issue with any of our kids getting dressed since we started doing this. I just put both outfits right on their floors by their dressers and they can decide when they get up. I let them help me pick out the first outfit and then I decide on the second on myself.
Want a few more tips? I am excited to partner with Schoola to share a few more tips if you are letting them pick out their own clothes:
- What is appropriate? It is a life-lesson that your kids are going to need to learn. They need to learn how to match, how to dress for each occasion (jeans are good for school… not for a fancy wedding)
- Be sure that your kids know that you love that they are independent, but you ultimately decide what they can or cannot wear.
- Keep up with the trends. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean that it isn’t popular with your kid’s friends and classmates.
- Be consistent with rules. If you don’t let your daughter wear dresses above a certain length, don’t give in or they will ask every time.
- You get to pick sometimes, too. Our kids know that on church days, we pick their outfit. They will have on a nice polo shirt or button-down shirt and it isn’t up for discussion. They need to look nice. (If they want to pick which one, that’s fine with me, but they need to know that they dress nicely on these days.)
- Plan for the week if you can. This might be easier for your older kids. They can mix up the days however they choose.
- Shop for clothes TOGETHER! We love to look online for clothes that the kids can wear.Our recent find is one that I have to share, because it not only is great for you, but also helps others! Our family joined forces with Schoola – an online second hand shop – and we are shopping for clothes while helping those in need. I think this is a win-win! The clothes are adorable and they do so many amazing things for the community! Schoola is an online shop dedicated to recycling brand-name women’s, children’s and babies’ clothes, with $2 of every $5 spent going to fund school programs like art, music and PE. Schoola brings new paints to art classes, new instruments to the orchestra, new books to the libraries. Quality clothes get a second life. Parents help parents. Schools help schools. Schoola makes all this happen by giving children the tools they need to succeed..
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Today, they are 10,000 schools strong! Schoola was founded in order to help children reach their full potential at school. Even now… They will be accepting clothing donations on behalf of the Malala Fund (The Malala Fund’s aim is to raise girls’ voices and ensure every girl has access to 12 years of free, safe, quality primary and secondary education), with the goal of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for her foundation through sales of the items on Schoola.com.I’d like to invite you to take a small step to show your support for Malala today: request a donation bag and clean out your closet to support this incredible young woman with a powerful mission.Plus, the clothes are great! This year, they joined with Moxie and they are able to bring you thousands of new clothing choices every day!
DID YOU KNOW…. 1st time customers get $15 off and you get $15 for sharing. find your link here: www.schoola.com/share
Here are a few examples of some clothes that we have ordered from Schoola.com (with 3 out of our 4 kids as my little models)…
I know that you are going to love shopping on Schoola as much as we did! Just knowing that you are helping others makes it so much more fun… don’t you think? GET $25 off BY USING THIS LINK … CLICK HERE TO SHOP NOW. (PS- YOU MUST SPEND $25 OR MORE FOR THIS TO WORK)
WANT TO WIN?? ONE WINNER WILL GET AN ADDITIONAL $25 GIFT CARD! Just leave a comment letting me know how you give back to others!
I give back by sharing my gently used toys to charity.
I donate to many charitable organizations in my area as well as donate my time to various charities.
We give back by always donating items we don’t use. We try not to throw anything away unless it is absolutely broken or not able to be mended.
We give back by donating several food boxes to families in need during the holiday season!
i cook
I give back by helping out at the Special Olympics every year.
i like to give back by helping out people in need when i see that they need something
Donating what we no longer use, passing it on to someone who can.
We help others out with food when they need it. I have given away clothes, helped with volunteering at the homeless shelter.
I think I really like to be reflective of how blessed my family and I are, and there give back as much as possible via donations and time, I also like to give exsposure to my daughter.
I try to give back to my community as much as possible, sometimes it’s difficult but like my mother always says “when there’s enough for one person, two can share.” I try to live up to that. What i do for my community is nothing special but i know and i hope that i make someone happy. One of the things i do is i prepare sandwiches or hotdogs with a little bag of chips and some kind of beverage with two dollars and i hand it out to the homeless people on the streets or under bridges. I do this not so very often but i feel joy in my heart. The other thing is i donate food to my local food bank, like cans, chips, baked goods and so on. I know what it’s like to struggle and even end up on the street and i hope that by me doing this will help and give hope to those people.
I love those!
I donate clothes that we have grown out of. I also try to donate to food drives when I can spare the money.
I help out by donating clothes and toys.
We love to donate things we don’t use any longer! We also donate food to the local food bank!
I give my gently used clothing to our local pantry who give famlies in need of food or clothing. Its a great feeling to know that just alittle goes a very long way!!!