AIBU to let my 12 year old son wear a dinosaur tshirt

[Italianmeringuebuttercream]

My dh thinks I shouldn't be buying him any more jurassic park t-shirts. Reckons he'd get bullied. I asked what he should be wearing then? Fred Perry or something similar he suggested. To be clear, ds chose the t-shirt, I didn't just get it. What do you think? I said if he thinks ds would get bullied then perhaps he was the sort of child who would have done the bullying! I guess I'm asking AIBU in allowing ds to wear what he wants and not what others expect?

IhaveBrilloHair - I have Harry Potter canvas shoes from Primark and I'm 51!

For the love of god Chavvy means child!!!! Gees......

For the love of god Chavvy means child!!!!
Since when???

If we assume that kids shouldn't be forced out of wearing clothes they like by bullies....which I am assuming is what we think....then why does your DH want to be the bully that does it to your son?

I feel a parent's job is to support kids against peer pressure and bullying...not to do the bully's job for them!

I think it's fine, as 12 I let my DS choose what they wanted and I think Jurassic Park is fine. I think it depends on the person, I have 2 DS, one always wears brands and "trendy" stuff, the other chucks anything on and will only go to Primark or Walmart (in the US). They have an allowance and spend it how they want but no issues re bullying/clothes I believe.

I kind of get where your DH is coming from (but not with Fred Perry) I have DS’s 15 & 14, and at 12 they wouldn’t be seen dead in a dinosaur T-shirt from next I’m afraid. The exception would be a vintage indie vibe t-shirt.
Nike, Adidas and North Face are all acceptable brands in their opinion. Old vintage band T-shirt’s are popular amongst some of the indie styled teens too.

I'm going to be blunt (sorrry):

YANBU and only chavs wear Fred Perry. Your DH needs to get over himself.

There's all the time in the world for labels and to grow up, and at the age of 12, now is not the time.

Your son isn't stupid: he wouldn't pick something the other kids aren't wearing and if someone comments negatively then he will wear something else. Jurassic Park is very "in" at the moment and movie shirts in general so it shows what your DH knows!

This isn't about other children, this is your DH pushing HIS fashion choices/preferences on your son and he needs to back off and let him be a child.

I strongly disagree that you DH interest is "lovely", it's not and actually it's a form of toxic masculinity so I would be telling him to keep his toxic role model crap to himself.

He's a child, not a fashion accessory.

Chav is a Romani child, another word of ours taken and twisted in a derogatory way

DS is 15, he lives almost entirely in T-shirts with pictures on, there are a couple of dinosaur ones, minions, quite a lot of Dr Who. He's never been bullied for it. Your DS is 12, its not up to you what he wears (as long as its not offensive)

DS by the way says Fred Perry is the height of chav and his friends would definitely take the piss if he wore it, band t-shirts and characters are fine, plain t-shirts are fine but anything with a logo is a minefield.

FFS don't teach your DC to obey the mundanes for fear of being bullied. Teach your DC that the bullies are the losers, that they are scared and inadequate, and that wearing what you like makes you a better, cooler person than them.
And teach your DH this, as well, as it sounds like he didn't learn it when he was younger.

I think if you were choosing it and expecting him to wear it it wbu but seeing he chose it him self it’s probably what him and his friends are in to. I’m sure he’ll ask for something different if he ends up being teased

As long as you can afford to let your child not wear the item of clothing if they change their mind, then allow unconventional choices.

An example, if I could only afford to buy my son one pair of shoes for the next 6 months and he wanted a pink sparkly pair, I might balk. I don’t want to be in a position where he is stuck wearing something he now feels self-conscious about. But since I could afford to have two pairs of shoes available, I would buy them without hesitation.

Let him wear it if he wants to. I'm 27 and I wear a Jurassic Park t-shirt.

Never too old for dinosaurs!!!

I’m 28 and love a Dino related outfit.

I’d like that he’s wearing what he wanted, even when his own dad is trying to change him.

DD is 17y and wears film, music and character t shirts at times - Harry Potter, some retro Disney, retro films and music, Hard Rock Cafe, etc.
Many of her friends are the same. Some pain tops, some brands.

Let your DS choose.

At 12 it is rather stupid for parents to buy t-shirts they don't want or to try and make them wear something else.
They know what they want and what their mates will accept.
More importantly, they won't wear it if they don't like it.

YDHIBVVU.

This is a joke, right? I'm 68, and currently wearing - well, not a dinosaur T-shirt precisely, but something along those lines. As I proudly have ever since such garments became a 'thing'.

I have a slight phobia against 'brands', and might gently tease someone I considered to be a 'label queen'. But did anyone REALLY ever get a hard time for wearing a Jurassic Part T-shirt? PLEASE tell me it's a joke?

Jurassic Park; Fine.
Barney the purple dinosaur from
your im-ag-ination: Not Fine.

The thing is I can sort of see your DHs point and to a certain extent I am the same.

As a child I was very aware that my family was less well off than the families of my peers. I had clothes and shoes from the market and it was obvious. And I was bullied for it.

I grew up in the 90's in the NE and all I wanted one year was an Adidas tracksuit (height of fashion you know!!). Never got one, I got a two stripe knock off market version. And I know my parents tried their best, I do, but I still hated it.

And while I am now an adult - I still have these serious hangups about "nice" clothes for my children. If it is an own clothes day at school, I make sure they go in wearing their branded stuff. And not even expensive branded stuff - just Nike or Adidas etc. But in my mind - that is still really expensive stuff and something that when we were growing up we were too poor for.

So I am knowingly over sensitive about this sort of thing and I try to be careful not to over compensate for my hangups from my own childhood with my own children.

However in saying that - I would have no issue my 11 year old DS wearing a Jurassic Park T-shirt. He also is a huge fan of dinosaurs. My pride and joy is my T-Shirt collection! We are a family of geeks and I have Dr WHO T-Shirts, Beauty and The Beast, Big Bang Theory etc.

My son got this t-shirt for his 19th birthday, nothing wrong with dinosaur tops.

I had a Jurassic Park t shirt at 12! It was when the first film came out( revealing my age)so if he's happy with it who cares?
You should be encouraging him to develop his own sense of style rather than be led by labels and what everyone else thinks.
Your DH is coming across as the kind of kid that would have bullied a kid in such a t shirt.
To the poster whose child is only 8 and wearing labels only...really? At only 8?
You're not all decked out in labels are you,by any chance?

I think bullying for not having brand names is hugely over exaggerated. I think you are more likely to cause an issue by shaming his choices. I hope dad didn't say this in front of the poor boy. It's Jurassic Park, not Dinosaur Train. I had one in my 20's.

My 12 year old wears Pokémon t-shirts most days. I really cringed at the poster who 'lol'd' at their 8 year old only wanting brands. Gross.

I'm sitting here, mumsnetting in a dinosaur sweatshirt.

If anyone finds this immature, let me reassure you, they're not childish cartoon ones, they're proper ones.

A ‘road man’ isn’t a chav he is a man who works out on the road ie drug dealer