Dressing kids in matching clothes

[ZML]

I don’t like parents dressing their kids of the same gender in the same clothes - twins and siblings about 15 months in difference.

Have friends who have nieces, nephews wearing the same clothes all the time. The children are individual, so treat them like they are.

it may look cute but it’s going towards resentment later on. As I have friends who were dressed in the same clothes as their sister as a child and hated it. They do have kids of the same gender. The only time they wear the same matching clothes is school uniform.

Days out and special occasions I dress all 3 of my boys the same easiar for us that way. If we did happen too loose one of them and Im asked what wearing I can show police exactly what said child is wearing.

My SIL does it with her kids who are 6 and 4. Every single outfit. I think it's bloody ridiculous.

You could just supervise your kids and let them have a bit of individuality. Or take a photo of them.

I absolutely LOVED matching with my sister when we were kids.

Why do you think people care about your opinion of their child’s clothing?

Sometimes though it just avoids the arguments. Like pp, my girl (3) loves her big brother (6) and loves the things he loves. As such, they have a few matching or coordinating items, because whoever doesn't have the pikachu top or the mario hat will go nuts otherwise! Most of their clothes are different though, partly because super tall and sensory ds only wears giant clothes that don't come in tiny dd's size, or because dd is only wearing pink this month, or only being a witch.

I think enforced hand me downs are much worse if/when the younger(s) don't want them anymore. I was an eldest and still was in all jumble sale hand me downs! My dd loves having some of her big brother's old clothes so far, but when she doesn't want mario and sonic anymore, we'll stop that.

Seems like none of your business.

I can't afford to coordinate my DC. They wear hand me downs.

I used to do it sometimes when they were little, it was cute. But yeah, not all the time.

Mrs Hinch does it with her eldest 2, right down to socks, shoes and hats. It makes me wince slightly but it’s up to her. Now she’s had a third boy I’m guessing he’ll be dressed identically too.

Personally I love it and think it's really cute. Could only do it with mine until they were about 3 & 6 though.

I do supervise them but 2 of them have high needs and are know to elope I've not lost one yet and don't plan too.
They wear different clothes most the time because they have been handed down from the older ones.
Only on special occasions and days out.
I don't care if people don't like it. It works for us and has the proofessionals keep saying do what works for your us had a family. We have enough challenges just getting out the house.

I’m not a fan - but my MiL was, and the kids were, so the marching items were bought and worn. I would find ways of bringing the fact that this wasn’t my idea into the conversation with whoever we were with though!

I think there is actually a security element to dressing them the same or similarly though. It shows they're part of a group, looking out for each other, makes them more noticeable and it's easier to spot them. It obviously doesn't replace supervising closely.

I had 2 girls in the 90’s and occasionally would dress them the same. My sister had 3 boys very close together and on a day out say at a park she would put them all in the same colour, but that was so that she could spot them more easily, ie, they all wore yellow t-shirts, so she just had to look for yellow to keep track of them.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with dressing children the same while they’re young, but once they get a bit older, say older than 8, then they should be able to choose what they wear to a certain extent.

I agree matching clothes for siblings is bad but not nearly as bad as the mother daughter matching outfits that I am currently seeing.

Used to put matching ( or same outfits in different colours) on my girls for photos and occasionally family weddings etc. Don't see any big deal. Wasn't day to day

Yes, and this is an important point of pride for some people.

There were 2 little girls at our nursery who were always dressed identical and immaculately. I always had a little morbid curiosity about whether nursery staff had to change both of them when one got covered in baked beans.

Agree, not a fan of it. It’s worse when it’s twins, as they’re less likely to be treated as individuals than siblings of different ages, so dressing them in matching clothes makes it worse.

I would have thought the same as you OP. But my daughters had other ideas. Especially when we were buying their summer clothes, they went through a patch where they actually chose to have the same outfits. We'd go shopping and one or the other would see something and they'd both want it. So we have lots of holiday photos with then in the same dresses and cardigans. There was a 21 month difference, and I'd say that from 3/5 to 6/8 they wore the same spring and summer outfits quite often

Absolutely agree. I also have a sister four years older. There wasn't much money, no one would have ever thought I wouldn't wear the clothes she had grown out of. We had matching outfits at one point too.
No one was bothered, no resentment. Honestly, there are much more important things in life.

Though I have 3 kids so we did hand them down!

I have 3 girls under 5 and the two oldest LOVE to match. They don’t always but if they want to why not! The 3rd is only 4 months old so has no option yet 😂

My DS are two years apart (age 7 and 9). I dress them the same. Not all the time, obviously but a fair amount of the time.

Never even thought it was an issue. If my kids want to grow up distressed by it, they can give their head a shake. They have clean, well fitting and appropriate clothing, it’s hardly abuse. When they pay for their own clothes or express an opinion/agree go with me to the shops then I will buy what they ask for (pigs would fly before my kids willing went to a clothes shop/website and browsed for clothes).

I do it for several reasons:

• It’s easier for me to buy clothes. I see a T-shirt I like; buy it in 2 sizes (I hate all this black/grey/khaki/greige/camo that’s around for boys, but I also don’t like bright primary colours or too much character stuff - my kids like a small number of characters and don’t change their likes very often. They’re not into Marvel, football or bands for example. So it’s not always easy to find something!)
• My kids don’t care what they wear. They go to their wardrobe and just grab anything, they’re not bothered.
• They do love to argue with each other though. They both love Mario (that’s pretty much the only character stuff they have.). It saves arguments about “he’s got a Mario t-shirt. That’s not fair” if they both have one.
• Their build and colouring is the same.

As they get older I do anticipate they won’t want to be dressed the same, but like I say, at the moment they have no interest in clothes and I’m sure I could give them pretty much anything to wear and they wouldn’t be bothered.

It’s odd to think it’s not letting them have individuality; they can have their own likes and interests without it being reflected in their clothing, which they don’t choose/buy anyway. Their toys and their bedroom decor are very different, they do different extra curricular activities/clubs, they have different interests and they have very different personalities.

Used to be very popular on patterns in the People's Friend. My mum never fell for it though.