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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that camouflage clothing on children is in poor taste?

146 replies

chisigirl · 20/10/2007 18:27

Am I just old and grumpy or is it reasonable to believe that young children should NOT be wearing camouflage clothing?! I can't stand the stuff but my DS's (4 and 2) have just been given rather a lot of it as gifts! What do you think?

OP posts:
colditz · 20/10/2007 18:28

I don't care, it's fabulous at not showing the dirt - I bought ds1's first camoflage anything - a top- and my goodness, it can be really very dirty before you notice!

I used to be snooty about it - then I tried it.

NomDeBroomstick · 20/10/2007 18:30

For me it's nothing to do with the warfare connotations, more that I just hate the pattern and think it is pretty tasteless

mmjeozz · 20/10/2007 18:30

I like it

Tommy · 20/10/2007 18:30

I always take it back and change it if we get any as gifts I'm afraid
I can't bear it.

You will find loads of thread about it if you loo - it's one of those issues that gets MNetters hot under the collar!

2shoescreepingthroughblood · 20/10/2007 18:31

yabu it looks so cute on titchy dc's

WorkingClassScum · 20/10/2007 18:32

ds has some. I think it's funny. Also has a camo top that says Major Trouble on it.

I have some pink camo trousers.

Camo FTW!!!

satine · 20/10/2007 18:36

I think that this issue is similar to the toy gun argument. My SIL was determined that her ds (she'd had 2 girls previously) wasn't going to play with guns, tanks etc - she wanted him to grow up respecting others,not glamourising war and killing. Of course he soon started to make guns out of sticks, lego, whatever he could, and loved playing soldiers with all his friends. He hasn't grown up into a slavering, steely eyed dealer of death, despite his mum's fears.

I think that you arein danger of making camouflage clothing, along with toy guns, soldiers etc (which I imagine you also ban) very exciting and 'forbidden'.

Rachmumoftwo · 20/10/2007 18:37

Major Trouble- that is so cute.
I personally think a bit of camouflage is OK, as long as it isn't top to toe, accessorised with warpaint, a gun, a handful of grenades and a bad attitude!

pigleto · 20/10/2007 18:38

I like camo. The colours really suit ds.

My son likes to play soldiers and while I would not want him to actually grow up to do any job that was so dangerous, I think that soldiers make excellent role models.

NomDeBroomstick · 20/10/2007 18:38

Major trouble. Cute ?

WorkingClassScum · 20/10/2007 18:39

I was a no guns ever parent before ds turned bloodthirsty all by himself. I just remind himself that the husband played with toy guns too and he's a non-violent softy!

Thomcat · 20/10/2007 18:39

If you think it's poor taste - well ok then. I think that's a slightly OTT reaction to a fashion fabric made into a pair of trousers or a jacket for a child. Personally the only thing i find tasteless in children's clothing is high heels on a young girl, one shoulder vest tops etc, that sort of thing.

FranSanDisco · 20/10/2007 18:42

Well Thomcat has basically answered for me so nothing more to add

stripeymama · 20/10/2007 18:46

I don't object to camouflage itself but don't like the way that lots of little boy's clothes have military-type slogans etc. Have seen vests saying "mummy's little soldier" and similar and I personally think its not that nice on small kids, I also don't like clothing with skull pictures/patterns.

And some little girl's clothes are pretty gross too - dd (then 3) came home from Grandma's (where else?) with a pack of three crop-tops...

Blu · 20/10/2007 18:48

DS has none.
I don't like it as a fashion image for small boys, any more than I like high heels etc.
I think it looks silly on grwon men, too. But expecft, any day now, to see 'nursing chic' in a woman's magazine, or toerh uniform inspired outfits. No?

I quite like, for a passing moment, pink camoflage or other versions which make it pointless, itswim, and are a bit ever so slioghtly ironic / witty. The first time, anyway.

berrybliss · 20/10/2007 18:49

I think a bit of camo is sweet on little boys. It is only a fabric.

I don't really like little girls dressed from head to toe in 5 shades of pink. But unfortunately most little girls love wearing pink.

YANBU.

You are entitled to your opinion. But i would be if another parent came up to my DS and said that he was dressed in poor taste.

Why do you dislike it so much?

colditz · 20/10/2007 18:53

I dislike heels because of the sexual connotations, ditto playboy, make up and thongs for children.

A fabric pattern just doesn't push my buttons the same way the above do - similarly if there was a fashion for dressing little children as different professions, I wouldn't object to t6hat either.

I get more and more lax as the years go by, though. You can fully expect I will be running a brothel by the time my kids are in their teens.

Lulumama · 20/10/2007 18:55

colditz

i object, as others do, to dressing children in clothes and styles that are too grown up or adult...

TBH< i had never even thought there would be a reason to object to camoflauge, until i saw this thread title

Blu · 20/10/2007 18:56

I don't want my small boy dressed for modern warfare - i don't think it looks sweet at all.

I don't think it will turn him violent, but i don't think it looks 'sweet'.

But it's so ubiquitous now that it probably looks more 'Child dressed in Adams' than 'On manouevres in Afghanistan'

WorkingClassScum · 20/10/2007 18:56

Forgot this is AIBU. I would say YANBU, you're entitled to your opinion. But... I thoroughly dislike having brand names emblazoned on kids clothing, or adults for that matter, but MiL keeps buying them and they're gifts so my son ends up wearing them because I think it would be rude not to.

notnowbernard · 20/10/2007 19:00

Bizarre to me why one would question whether it were 'reasonable or unreasonable' to put a child in an item of clothing that may or may not be considered 'poor taste' to another individual?

If you like it, dress them in it... if you don't, don't!

berrybliss · 20/10/2007 19:09

Do you find it of poor taste when small boys are dressed in those sailor type outfits (for special occations?

Just think its odd if its just children being dressed in camo, Because sailors died sea.

lljkk · 20/10/2007 19:34

LOL, I wouldn't want to use it lots, and at age 2 it sounds a bit ott give it to charity shop if you don't like it. However, I just bought some chamo socks for DS (8) for his Christmas stocking stuffers he loves Army-theme stuff, including anything chamoflage which is fashionable in US clothes, too. Sometimes says he wants to be in the military when he grows up. ... Because he's a thrill seeker, and he loves being part of a hierarchy, a team, and doing something testosterone-fueled but ultra-structured will deffo suit him when he grows up.

Only guns DS plays with are a few broken water pistols, btw, I come from a socialist pacifist family and I often tell DS I don't like guns because their basic function is to kill people. Nevertheless, I can still think of MANY far worse things DS could do, rather than admire people willing to give their life for their country.

Ceolas · 20/10/2007 19:36

Oh god, I hate it.

Thought it was just me!

pooka · 20/10/2007 19:36

DS has a couple of pairs of blue trousers in a camo print and 1 pair of orange trousers the same (boden ).
I like them, think they suit him and that, basically, it's a nice pattern.
Agree entirely with Thomcat about the girl's clothes around.