Mrs. Matched

Like every 6 year old, my daughter sometimes picks rather unusual outfits for herself.  Sending her upstairs to get dressed for the day will often end with some very interesting, mismatched or sometimes even inappropriate looks that I will then suggest corrections for.  Sometimes, since she is growing rather quickly, is tinny in the waist and long in the leg the pieces will just simply be too small.  In those instances she then puts the clothing in "The Jordan Drawer".  A place for all the too small clothing that will then be passed down to my cousins kids.  Quite often, since my daughter seems to have no ability to cool her body temperature she will try to get away with seasonally inappropriate choices such as tank tops and shorts in the dead of winter.

Though she does pick out some fantastic outfits once in a while I usually need to correct at least one item.  Clashing clothing I will not accept and I attempt to subtly direct her to more stylish ensembles.  There is however only so much of this that you can do and sometimes I let a slightly wonky outfit pass, mostly these times are when my husband takes them out on his own.  One such day as my daughter sauntered out of the house in pants about 6 inches too short I turned to him and said, "Everyone is going to think you're a single dad." 

Today was another one of those days.  The kids went with Dad to the park while I did the, ever so fun, grocery shopping.  My daughter had both shirt and shorts on that looks about one size too small and my son was wearing hand me down Capri pants... from his sister.  I did a few things before I went to the store so they made it home before me.  As soon as I entered the house my husband told me how my son had fallen and his face got "a little bit mangled but he's tough."  Sure enough there is a big red road rash in the center of his forehead that looks rather painful.  I listened to a drawn out story from the little guy about climbing a mountain and falling.  Really when I got the official daddy story he was running across the grass and just as he reached the gravel path he fell.  It seems his arms and legs didn't even hit the ground.  He took the brunt on the fall on his face.  My husband then went on to tell me about this woman who saw his fall too.  He described the freaked out look on her face and the pity she had in her eyes when she glanced at him.  I told him, "That's because she though you were a single dad and she was feeling sorry for you.  She thought you were going to get quite the strip ripped off of you for letting the little guy get hurt on your watch." 

Until today I had been thinking I was maybe being a little too strict with controlling the cloths choices of the kids but now I might have changed my mind.  I don't think I want my kids to look like they must only have a dad since no mom in her right mind would allow such an outfit.  My husband might just get a bit to much sympathy that way and end up with ladies trying to "help him out."  From now on I will be sure they always look put together and properly sized... at least when I'm not around.