To like clothes that actually fit my Children.

[Anythingforabitofpeace]

I know I probably am BU but here's the thing. My DC's are very small for their age. Always have been, everyone knows that they both wear clothes alot smaller than their age. DS is 3 but 18-24months fit him, maybe even 12-18month trousers. 2-3 hang off him and it will be years befoe he even gets into 3-4.

I really appreciate anything anyone buys them but I love it when they get clothes they can wear now rather than waiting 2 years to wear them. MIL always buys them bigger clothes, but I don't see the point in them having to wait years for them when they could do with clothes now. I don't need to stockpile clothes for years to come, like she bought DS a 4-5 year t-shirt for his birthday , I can only imagine it will be about 3 years before it fits him. DD even got a size 3-4 t-shirt when she was born, and size 7 shoes, My DS still isn't a size 7 at 3 years old.

And then some of the things aren't even in season. MIL bought DD 2 winter fleeces and she brought them round before Christmas because she thought with it getting colder she would get more wear out of them. Which was great, and really appreciated because she did need them but they where a size too big and they still don't fit her.

So I am BU aren't I but does this annoy anyone else?

Agree it's frustrating. As much as I appreciate clothes being bought for my dc, I have limited storage space so stockpiling future sizes isn't practical. Plus they are a potential waste of money if seasons are all wrong by the time they get to wear them.

Having said that, its trivial to solve. I either politely ask if they would mind if I swap it for a different size as am concerned that it may be wrong season by the time they can wear it and hope repeated requests gets the message across or if I can't be bothered with that I just go ahead and exchange it myself without saying anything!

I love having stuff they can grow in to - saves me a fortune as I can be quite ruthless in the sales as I know exactly what I need.

Maybe you can help though - I've got another pair of skinny-malinkys and have found the waistbands way too big on Sainsburys/Tesco/Asda clothing - so far so good with Boden & Joules (that'd be fucking right $$$).

Does anyone have any recommendation for skinny-waisted boys? It'll have to be mail order as I'm not in the UK.

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of age 13 jeans from Primark for my niece. DD liked them so I went back and got an age 6 pair for her. When I put them together the only difference was in the length - the waist, legs etc were pretty much the same width give or take a couple of mm, which given how much girls can develop between those ages is just insane.

And they wonder why so many young kids have eating disorders?

Have you tried Next, Alpine?

I know a lot of their girls stuff comes in slim fit as well as standard (and God knows that's tiny enough!), and they often have adjustable waists, especially in the smaller sizes. Maybe M & S too?

I've always had the opposite problem with two long skinny children (not very surprising as both dh and I were the same as children). It wasn't a huge problem when we lived in the UK because we could always swop them, but now we live in Canada and have clothes sent to us which might just about fit when they get them but not for long. It's a bit sad all round really. dd is now in adult sizing so a bit easier I guess, except at 11 she doesn't have the figure for many women's tops yet.

Clothes three years off must be very frustrating too.

While saying thankyou for the generous gifts, I think you might need to be more honest with your MIL about sizing. Are you sure she knows their sizes, it can be hard to keep track? It is great to have some "next size up clothes" (we are lucky and have a bag from cousins) it is also exciting to be able to dress your DCs in their new things straight away.

Could you say "would have loved DC to wear their new outfits to lunch today, but they are still wearing the size below. Think I might swap them for a smaller size".Or as another poster said, just swap the items without asking (and explain afterwards if asked) if you really need some items to wear now rather than save for later.

I usually have to swap sizes for items from aunties and family we don't see so often as they can't keep up with sizes of the DCs. My MIL is really good now as both of my DCs are tall and she knows to go a size up.

DumSpiro I do actually have a lot of stuff up until 12 months in Next and I love it - it's just the toddler stuff and up (and more so over the last 12 months or so) - is very "slogany" and I hate it. :( But their sizing works on my boys that's true.

I know what you mean Alpine - they also do like to put their name on everything don't they, which always used to put me off a bit.

Am laughing at the number of children described on this thread as 'long and skinny'. Why does this always happen on any threads that mention kids' sizes? It seems sometimes that over 95% of the members of mumsnet's children are 'long and skinny'

My DCs are not "long and skinny", DS is tiny and skinny (10yo, wears age 6 or 7), DD is average, a bit on the short side (8yo, wears age 6 or 7), I like being able to swap clothes between them, despite the 2.5 year age gap. One problem I have with DS is that clothes that fit him often have babyish logos on them, and as his limbs are having a growth spurt, tops that fit his arms (age 7), are down to his knees. In age 10 clothes this is built into the cut.
My nan currently buys both DCs age 8 clothes, they get 2 or 3 years wear out of them, and DDs too-small dresses get worn as tops for a further year.

If it makes you feel any better Hex, my DD is definitely not skinny. She's not fat either, but she's well built like DH and will never be skinny!

No, sorry, don't relate, DC are mostly small and skinny (except DC3 who is built like a garden gnome, barrell chest & tiny butt & legs). I don't mind storing stuff until they can wear it & then I have 4 DC so of course I store stuff to hand down years later. Occasionally DC get something which is very topical & wrong size, like a Harry Potter shirt for DS1 that was the current movie but wouldn't fit for 2 years. At which point he still wasn't interested in HP & it wasn't the right movie. He did get interested in HP about 2 years after that, when shirt now too small. But no problem, someone else got to wear it & didn't mind how trendy it was or wasn't.

My kids are not lon and skinny. DS1 (now 11) is short and skinny (belts are much needed); DS2 (2.5) is tall and chunky. The waistbands on clothes are still massive on him though. He really needs to wear age 3-4 trousers for length, but the waistbands are enormous and they just fall down. So he's wearing ankle swingers. Luckily he'll be able to wear shorts until about September by which time he might be able to wear trousers that kind of fit.

My kids aren't long and skinny they are very short and very skinny.

I would take some of the stuff back but she tends to buy stuff as she sees it throughout the year and rips the labels off. She does it with DH as well. He's a size 14.5 shirt and she bought him six size 15.5 shirts for Christmas we were going to take them all back but she had cut the barcodes off. I think it's a case of seeing something and thinking that will do.

The word ungrateful springs to mind

My mum does lots of buying unneeded/unwanted/unusable gifts for the kids. We are then required to be grateful. It's annoying because she's clearly put no thought whatsoever into it, and she just wants to make some kind of public demonstration of how wonderful she is. She hasn't thought about what the kids like/need/want in any way; she's just grabbed whatever was handy for her at the time. We'd be happier if she gave them nothing (and she'd have more money), but there's no way to stop her (I've tried).