To not want to dress my 6yo DD as a mini whore, but as a little girl?

[littletortie]

I feel really angry as I look round some of the popular clothes shops and see mini skirts, crop tops even 'bras' for my 6yo DD. She still plays with dolls and yet some of the clothes that are aimed at her age range are really inappropriate.

What happened to dungarees????!!!!!

Is it only me who feels like this cos when I get on my soap box about my friends just look at me as though I am nuts.

Well, we all have different tastes.
I personally think that jasper Conran jumper is hideous & my daughter would turn her nose up at it as looking like something Granny knitted!

OP, I´d be looking at charity shops to geta chance of stuff that isn´t the current trend.

Depending on what you´re after, can you make something yourself?

i agree on the difficulty of getting it right forthe older girls . my dd1 aged nearly ten, doesn't want to wear smocked dressees anymore - fair enough- but also i do not want ehr wearing:

a) black
2) skull and cross bones
3) cropped tops
4) etc etc

BUT there are loads of loely clothes but you do have to look for them , agree H+M can be good, boden, crew club and joules and definightly zara ( but rather like H+M there is sections of rubbish among some gorgeous stuff- i treat it a bit like a jumble sale) and i don't think anyone has mentioned John Lewis - brilliant for "nice" clothes at ok prices ( and no id on't work fo rthem)

I dress my 9 year old girl in trendy clothes not unlike what I wear myself, not the bra's obviously. I look around Next, M&S and Debenhams and do not see any mini whore outfits.
Those links from Next are not tarty, if the top was worn with a short skirt it might be but it was with jeans and the other skirt had leggins with it.
Some of you that want Boden/John Lewis for less need to have a look on ebay, I can't give it away at the moment.

mummydoc - what on earth is wrong with a child wearing black?!

Interestingly, I've found the opposite - now that my dd is a bit older (7) its much easier to find her clothes that are not insanely impractical (pale pink/violet & frilly).
Mostly she wears jeans & t-shirts or leggings & a pinafore style dress (most recent one eight quid from Pumpkin Patch) with a long sleeve t-shirt underneath.
I guess if I were looking for something that she would like this would be the sort of thing I would go for with a pair of leggings underneath.

I second H&M they are great and I have a house full of girls who don't like the awful stuff you have described. My six year old has a lovely pair of H&M dungarees and refusses to wear anything else most of the time. Heated we buy those knee patch cords from H&M every year they are lovely.

Gap is also good for basic well fitting jeans and t-shirts and they have great sales.

My 12 year old wears dress tops over jeans most of the time. Converse boots on her feet TK max is good for surf stuff for older kids.

I wonder who buys that stuff actually. I rarely see anyone wearing it.

If only H&M sold online

branfalke - i don't know i just feel it isn't right for little girls to wear sucha "grown -up colour" . it is a coplete irrational thing i do know and lots of parents are happy to buy black and i don't have a problem wiht that at all. it is all personal choice after all. some people like their kids in clothes that reflect current trends and some people liek a more old fashioned or traditional look . I like the latter but i am not saying everyone must adhere to my way of thinking.

I don't find it too hard to find non-tarty clothes for my dds. they tend towards things that are the opposite of tarty or girly.

H&M is our favourite, my dds don't like pink or lilac or sparkly and H&M is good for avoiding these. Mini boden and Vertbaudet and Gap are OK for non pink and non tarty, Next has some Ok stuff in among the lilac.

Gap kids used to make a shortish skirt with built in shorts. It managed to be both practical for climbing and cartwheeling, and still satisfy DD's girly demands. Dow that DD is a very tall 7 (curse her father's giant genes) I simply can't find anything even remotely similar.

The problem with these "mini-crack-whore" clothes is,a part from sexualising young girls in a truly disturbing way, they are not easy to run, climb and jump in. The clothes encourage girls to sit nicely, run quietly and generally encourage the whole 'female as passive object' ideal.

Bring back dungarees as a fashion item!! (says slug who has held onto her maternitiy dungaree shorts because they are the most practical gardening clothes ever)

I have a lanky 4 yr old dd and a 2 yr old dd, I dont like overly grown up clothes, but, I also dont like pink, bunnies, bears, anything too girly....I dont have any trouble buying clothes for them, it just costs more, boden are ok for trousers but i'm not keen on the tops with the big pics on for the 4 yr old, H&M do some nice bits, as do gap, vertbaudet and zara, nordic kids and hedgepig sell gorgeous scandinavian clothes, really cool and unusual, but quite expensive, they do have good sales tho...I also buy loads from the no added sugar sales.......I avoid next, adams and peacocks/primark like the plague, I was one given a denim glittery mini skirt with a white halter neck crystal covered top (all from primark) for my 6 month old, I kid you not!

Try ebay - you can do a brand search so select H&M/Gap/Boden etc. Much cheaper than new.

I find 3 month old ds a lot harder (and expensive!) to dress in clothes I like than my dds.........

It is possible to get some nice things from Primark though. We had some completely plain dungaree shorts from there this summer and they were lovely.

slug we put H&M patterned leggings under any old skirt for climbing etc. Have you tried that ?

The other blessing with the leggings + skirt/dress combo is that they withstand an awful lot of growing
Whereas dd's jeans are either dragging on the floor or dangling around her knees, there never seems to quite be an in-between point at which they are actually the right length.

Thanks for the tip about Nordickids, but a baby t-shirt for £17?!! Shocking... Think I'll stick to H&M!

Excellent point Takver much better than faffing around with tights as well - tights are a nightmare they never fit just right.

My Dd is 5, and while I don't want her dressed in Black, sparkles or anything too "adult" I also don't want to dress her like a "baby" anymore.

Most of her clothes come from H&M, she tends to wear skinny/straight leg jeans with a T-shirt and converse, or sandals.

She likes to wear skirts, so she wears them with thick tights or leggings and her ugg style boots.

I hate all that skull & crossbones stuff too!!

Did warn you about nordic kids! look out for their sale
Leggings instead of tights is the way forward, I agree, leggings stand up to the abuse my girls throw at them much better than flimsy tights, and seem to say up better on my skinny dd1, much better bright colours too, I rarely manage to find bright stripey spotty tights in 18-24 months for my shrimp sized 2 1/2 yr old, in the baby sizes they are usually all pastels....

Lizzy Shirt is very expensive but gorgeous and very children-y rahter that grown up. Can get it on e-bay sometimes or online in the sales. Lasts for ages too, so can be handed down.

mollymoo the link to the clthes at next- do you not think wet look skin tight jeans are totally inappropriate for a 3 year old???!!!! Cos I sure as hell do!!!

It seems that to find suitable clothes I just need to look harder- I think its a shame that DD now falls in to such a large age range though. 5-16 is just daft, its common sense that 16 year olds wont want to dress like 5 yo surely??!!! She is really tall as well and in some shops she is in the younger age range but has to buy the older age range just to have them fit. I just dont remember having this problem when she was 3 or 4 and I think its really sad.

We are saving up for a deposit for a bigger house as well and budgeting for nice clothes is difficult. Think I may have to start a sewing class....

Also, where do you find out about NCT sales?

littletotie charity shops and ebay are good as well. I have a group of friends who all have daughters who share with mine and we hand things down to each other. If you can find people who have similar taste it is helpful.

I think the current fashion of dresses and skirts over other things makes it really easy. Things last for ages now becasue it doesn't matter if it is sort. My older kids wear the younger ones dresses over trousers it looks really nice. The only problem i have is shoes - that is expensive.

NCT sales in your area:
www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/in-your-area/nearly-new-sales

Have searched Boden on e-bay and have found loads including mix bags of stuff.

Thanks guys!!