Wibu to make ds wear this for children in need?

[Tatgalore]

11 year old ds (year 6), has got to wear spotty clothes for children in need.

He doesn't have any spotty clothes and I refuse to go and buy clothes needlessly.

I suggested a pair of charity £1 children in need spotty socks from the supermarket but he refused. The only thing he was willing to consider wearing was a spotty children in need t-shirt which was £6, tbh I'd rather just give the whole £6 to children in need than buy more tat that we don't need.

I suggested that we take on old white PE top and design a spotty t-shirt ourselves, ds is quite artistic and we did something similar years ago and it looked fantastic and we had fun doing it. He's said no way is he doing that.

Wibu to say you're doing it, and that's that.

I think so, yeah. It's £6, and can you ask that he pays 50p from next few months pocket money, if he wants it? And you give £6 to charity too? It's not a huge amount and I would hate to be made to wear a subpar homemade top as an adult to a social event, so can see where he is coming from.

Its £6

Could he wear it over summer as a pj top?

If he's the only one in homemade, he's going to get the piss ripped out of him.

YABU. He's 11, appearances matter at that age!

Just pay £6 for the t-shirt.

£it's not the £6, although £6 isn't a tiny amount of money for some people.

It's the principle, I hate being forced to buy unnecessary tat to be used once.

Right, but your son doesn’t want to. What about him and his feelings?

He's 11 not 6, buy him the t-shirt it's £6.

I'd say he's not too old for a homemade t-shirt if he was comfortable with it but he's not he's embarrassed and thinks he'll be laughed at.

Also socks? Clearly you don't care about him being the odd one out and that's not very nice. Buy him the t-shirt and as pp said he can wear it as a pj top/scruffy round the house.

Id be thinking along similar lines as you OP. Although Id offer the option of paying for it himself and coming up with a third option. My kids are very free and easy with my money. If they have to use their own they tend to be a bit more discerning and willing to be adaptable. Which will probably be useful skills when they get to be proper teenagers who really care about what they wear.

We're constantly forced to buy unnecessary wasteful crap so as not to be the odd one out. I'm well aware that image is important at 11, he has a wardrobe full of lovely clothes, he just doesn't have anything spotty.

Fyi previous years I've never seen any of the boys wearing children in need t-shirts, most wear spotty socks or whatever. So it's absolutely nothing to do with me not caring about him, the school have specifically said please don't buy anything.

Just to have a bit of a rant, it's not 'just £6', there are several of these dressing up type days throughout the year, next will be the obligatory Christmas jumper.

I already spend loads on his regular stuff and sports equipment which he actually needs.

So I do resent having to spend money on things to be worn once in the name of charity.

Give him a choice

• wear school uniform
• wear handcrafted spotty top.

My 2 DC would both have gone for school uniform in Y6; I think they are rather past costume days at that age.

But your son doesn't want to wear a homemade t-shirt. He's old enough to decide what he wears, isn't he?

Completely agree, the money would be better spent giving to the actual charity. The Christmas jumper thing is ridiculous too, cheap tat that get sworn once and chucked into landfill.

Honestly I’d go as basic as possible. Get a piece of cardboard, cut out a circle, draw spots on it, sellotape a safety pin to the back, pin home made badge to school jumper. It’s something spotty, he’s wearing it, job done, no unecessary tat bought.

I don't think he's afraid of being laughed at. I highly doubt there'll be a single boy in his class wearing a CIN t-shirt, most will probably wear socks going by last year, but ds didn't want the socks.

I won't force him to wear anything that he doesn't want to.

I really think I've just had an epiphany and I'm utterly sick of spending money on useless shite.

Can you ensure that he does wear it more than once?

Where are the socks and shirts made and what does this mean for 'children in need'?

Just send him in school uniform or normal clothes (depending on whether you were acessorising school uniform or not) and a contribution to CiN.

What will happen if he turns up not wearing anything spotty?
Will anyone be checking?

The answer to both of these is probably "no" and "no".

.. or even "Nothing" and "no"

Or his crony force him to wear spotty shit? If he wants to he can sort himself out. If not then all the better.

Get a piece of cardboard, cut out a circle, draw spots on it, sellotape a safety pin to the back, pin home made badge to school jumper. It’s something spotty

Yeah, do this.

And then tell the school to stop these ridiculous events which waste time, money and resources. They can ask everyone to just put coins in a bucket if they want to collect money for charity.

“It’s just £6”

And that attitude is why we end up with so much useless tat

I’m with you OP, I wouldn’t buy a T-shirt either. In fact I’m not going to with my children (but they’re less bothered by it than your ds). It’s not the money it’s the principle...