To wonder why people with lots of money dress their kids so badly?

And because our house is cold they always wore vests

Same this is perfect childhood dressing imo

I love seeing African families out and about. They always look so squeaky clean. My lot never looked like that.

I think it was Caroline Ahernes (incredibly working class) character in ‘The Royale Family who said that when their baby was newborn they had to get some clothes - ‘got to get him logo-ed up’, which is what I always think of when I see those terrible new born size Nike trainers etc.

Oh definitely, dm would knit my dcs hats, gloves, cardigans. She would expect to see them in the knits when we visited. They were lovely, but dm didn't use a measuring scale so some had really long disproportionate arms, and a small body for example. 🫢

Little kids don’t care what they wear, outfits and hair are trashed by mid-morning. No need to spend good money on that or waste time trying to coordinate a look for it.

I will absolutely judge the hell out of a parent who doesn’t wipe a snotty nose though, there is no excusing that.

That's adorable and I am glad they had an opportunity to do that. Kids are in horrible school uniform from the age of four. If they don't have an opportunity to wear a tutu with dinosaur tail before then, when can they?!

Well my dc would often look a bit like what you’re describing. The problem was my dd had wild hair and it didn’t matter how many times I brushed it and/or tied her hair back, within 15 minutes of doing her hair it was all over the place. She seemed to have a particularly hot head which made her hair stick up in odd directions. And a double crown in her hair which also didn’t help.

Also, both kids wanted to dress themselves so they ended up wearing weird concoctions. Pick your battles and all that. In addition, my ds was obsessed with certain items of clothing and would wear them no matter how small they got until I had to forcibly remove the item from him. On a few occasions he even clocked items of tiny clothing destined for charity shops in the white bin bags I’d placed them in and then appeared wearing them. I learnt to use black bin bags to avoid these issues.

Perhaps thats why they have money. They dont waste it on designer outfits and stupid little designer trainers for little kids.

Yes. The working class and lower middle class have always worried about "appearances". Once you're established in the upper echalons, it doesn't matter to you.

@FrankieNeverRelax
The wealthy won't care what us poors think about their lifestyles/dress sense to say the least
In their minds they automatically will always have the upper hand
And can do whatever they like so
Henceforth the "scruffy but cost a fortune look" they're so fond of

Wealthy people can be quite scruffy, I first noticed when picking up my younger siblings from school. Their little classmates would be running round with yesterday’s pen on their faces and random clothes 😂 but you knew they had crazy money to the extent their parents didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought

It’s this. Extremely wealthy people often like to affect a kind of boho nonchalance about these things. Caring about appearances is terribly déclassé & aspirational lower mid.

They’re the tutu & wellies brigade, all about the tangled hair and just-rolled-out-of-bed schtick, and will often refer to their kids as ‘feral’ with a tinkly laugh. They can afford to be this relaxed because they likely have generational wealth and are secure in the knowledge that their children probably won’t ever need a proper job - and in any case they’ve all already got places at stratospherically expensive boarding schools where they’ll be properly knocked into shape at some point in the future, so from the parents’ point of view I imagine it’s pretty easy to just sit back and chill the fuck out.

‘New/professional money - they are just too busy or have too much going on intellectually to spend time on this kind of thing. Again, not worried about others judging them.’

^ this is me. I’m also scruffy out of work as IDGAF as I’m too busy. Last week had to wear a bikini as underwear as was too behind on my laundry. It’s not a flex to have kids in random clothes - they dress themselves and it’s not a priority to intervene.

This.

I don’t think that tutus with wellies (which my children never wore together so not defending myself here) and some messy hair is something so awful that it can only done be people who know their child will either never need a job, or will be whipped into shape by a strict boarding school.

It’s just an odd outfit, not a crime.

Day to day my twins used to dress themselves from a young age. Dd3 in particular had some amazing combos and always looked looked like she’d had a fight with a bear by lunchtime.

Neither do I, my DS is in TU, F&F and George clothing (some of it second hand), but he looks tidy and put together and I comb his hair.

I think there’s also a cultural element. My American nieces are always tidy and clean; it’s part of taking care of them. Some kids in my area in England look positively neglected and I know they aren’t.

Interesting reading this. It seems remarkably coincidental that the mismatched tutu, oversized jumper and wellies look is chosen by so many middle class toddlers without any influence from their parents.

Let's be honest, kids wearing this look are in as much of a 'uniform' to signify the parents social class as the working class kids in Designer gear are to signify the parents desire to be seen to have money.

The uniform and message might be different but it's exactly the same thing.

Oh, I feel seen! 😬

We have adequate funds, but my eldest two children often look they’ve escaped from a jumble sale bin. Especially my daughter with her wild hair. The baby is usually a style icon because he’s too small to convey his own style preferences, but I’m sure it will kick in soon.

I promise that they’re clean and very well cared for! They just like to pick their own clothes, and I can’t see that it does them any harm.

When with exH we always struggled for money and I wanted to make sure I bought new school uniforms for the kids, almost like I was making up for them not having an affluent life.

Then we had a windfall of £120k and I COULD buy them whatever I wanted, and was happy to buy 2nd hand uniform.

My mindset completely changed. It was so odd, almost like now I had money I didnt have to prove anything anymore

This precisely. Truly “posh” people don’t have anything they feel they have to prove. It’s the aspirational working class who care about labels and showing them off.