At what age did you let your kids choose their own clothing?

[wishIwasonholiday10]

At what age did you start letting your kids choose their own clothing? I like shopping in the end of season sales to find bargains from brands I like (eg Kite, Frugi, Polarn O. Pyret which I only buy at 50% off sales) but it often means buying clothes a year ahead. Is this going to backfire on me at some point where DD will start to have opinions about the type of clothes she wears or find the clothes from Kite or Frugi too babyish? She is only 2 at the moment so I guess the type of clothes she wears won't change much for a few years or is she doing to start insisting on Peppa pig or Disney when she turns 3?

DD is 6 and I still choose her clothes, I just take her preferences into account and sometimes show her things on my phone to let her choose (eg. You need a new swimming costume, do you like the mermaid one or the rainbow one better?) At the minute she likes to choose her outfit and accessories herself in the morning so does end up with some funny combinations sometimes

I've done a mix since DC1 was around 3, she's 6 now. Either I buy them but if she's around I will show her them on the phone/laptop for her views and take that into consideration. Or if she's with us in a shop will take her views into account. But it's always a choice between options not free rein to pick whatever she wants, obviously. If she's not there I do try to think about her general likes/dislikes when I buy, Im usually able to buy things she's happy enough with as I know what she likes by now. She has never worn much character stuff and not really been bothered. This is more for cost than anything else as we are not a high income family so clothes shopping is on a budget, I still buy a lot of cheap multi packs for things like underwear, PJs and plain t-shirts.

I bought very similar style clothes to you when they were little - age wise i let them choose whenever they showed an interest, my eldest probably from about two and a half, my middle one from about 3 and my youngest who is now 3 isn't overly bothered. When I say pick, they pick from what they have - but I do know what they like so buy accordingly.

Mine are 6 and 4 and I do similar- I buy their clothes based on what they like. At the moment they both like their frugi, so I buy on vinted mostly as its not the end of the world if I've only spent a few pounds on it and they decide they don't like it.
My 6 year old is a fairly young 6, he's not into any of the minecraft/super Mario type clothes available in the supermarkets, so he's quite easy to please at the moment.

When your daughter starts mixing more with other children, if the clothes you dress her in are too babyish she will let you know or hopefully you will notice before she gets any unkind comnents. I think having some basics in multi packs to balance out a 'formal' wardrobe will help. The biggest risk with buying too far ahead is that if she suddenly has a growth spurt you may waste your money on a whole set of clothes that she can never wear.

Mine are 10 and 8 and I still choose a fair amount of their clothes. I know what sort of things they like and I’ve never bought anything yet that they’ve moaned about or refused to wear. It helps that they’re not bothered by brands like some of their friends and don’t seem to be influenced by peer pressure.

I genuinely don’t think mine have had any unkind comments about their clothes, and definitely not at pre school age.

Around 2 and half dc2 had preferences. By 3 (when she started preschool) she would refuse to wear certain things. Now at 6, she picks 95 percent of her clothes herself.

That said, she still wears some of those brands you mention.

Thanks all for the responses!

I do buy supermarket multipacks too and I like the basics from H&M (also on sale if possible). I have had trouble buying good stuff on Vinted but do look there too - I either find the condition is worse than expected or it’s hard to find someone selling multiple suitable items to save on postage which really adds up if buying one item at a time.

They could choose what to wear from their wardrobes as soon as they were old enough to assert a preference. Our only rule has ever been that it must be weather and activity appropriate. They were probably around their 2nd birthday when they started choosing their day's clothes.

Choosing what to buy: I still mostly buy a year ahead in the sales, but I now also pick up the odd item as needed to be worn that season or if I see something I know DC would love. The items I buy for immediate wear are often from Vinted though, so still not bank-breaking. It can be very much down to the personality/tastes/sensory needs of the DC whether this is possible though, judging from our and friends' experiences.
10yo DD1 can be quite particular with strong preferences and dislikes, but she already has a style she gravitates towards and buying ahead whilst matching to this has mostly worked out so far. Basics I buy without her input, but for everything else, I add the things I like and am willing to pay for into the online basket, then get her to look it through and remove anything she doesn't like - we started doing this 2 years ago after a couple of items did go completely unloved and unworn (luckily they were passed onto DD2, who wore them). She's never had completely free choice to scroll through and choose from the full range.
8yo DD2 is much more laid back about clothes with some preferences and dislikes, but nothing complicated. She mostly gets her sister's hand-me-downs and is fine with that (and sometimes extremely happy when it's an item she's coveted!), but I do pick up the odd item just for her. I haven't yet had a 'miss' with an item I've bought specifically for her that she hadn't had a part in choosing. She is easy to please!

Depends on the child! Dd1 very biddable and not that bothered so I was in charge until about 8. Dd2 fashion conscious from about 3 ish onwards and is now doing textiles and wants to work in fashion…

From about age 10ish they got more keen to select what was bought for them, prior to that they'd just select from their wardrobes - from around age 10 I'd give them a budget and we'd go shopping and within the realms of reasonableness - they could choose.

Until secondary school at least. But I always paid attention to their likes - eg favourite colours, materials (eg DS hated any itchy or textured fabrics, or embroidery which could be felt on the inside of the item), the fit of the clothes (eg loose or tight, buttons or zips etc), and the style (dislike wearing tights and prefer leggings, like dungarees, don't like jeans, etc)

And even in teen years, I occasionally buy clothes for them which they appreciate as I pay for better quality than they can afford!

Both mine started around 2 I would get a few weather suitable clothes out they can pick from, now my son is 4 we go through wardrobe together and he picks what he wants I only say no if it's not weather appropriate like shorts in snow or big thick jumpers in 30c, they both from 2 help at buying there own clothes from shops like Asda or Primark by saying yes no to t-shirts or whatever. But I don't care if there clothes don't match

DS coming up to 10 and I still have a lot of influence - I buy things that I think will suit his taste (and understand that if they don't, he wouldn't wear them) and he chooses what he wants to actually wear on a particular day (most of the time), but I do the actual shopping. For trainers/coat etc I'd offer a couple of choices if no strong preference had been expressed in advance.

They could wear whatever they wanted - even jumpers in the heat or shorts in the snow 😂

the only proviso was that I wouldn't be listening to any moaning as a result of their choice. This was probably from like 6 or 7 maybe? Same for a coat - if they didn't want to wear it don't be moaning you're cold! Before that I'd give a choice of this, that or tioli (take it or leave it)

My 3YO mostly picks his own stuff. We use the ipad for online shopping and he picks whatever from h&m, zara, next type places but I’ll direct it eg bring up H&M’s t shirts filtered to his size and tell him that he can choose 3. He spends 5 days a week in a school nursery uniform so why not let him choose? The results aren’t that bad actually. Then weekends/holidays he chooses his own stuff to wear from his wardrobe and I only intervene if it’s massively inappropriate for the weather.

We currently still have lots of handme downs from other girls. However if I'm buying anything new and DD5 is with me if she doesn't like something she makes it known.

I started giving her a choice of 2 outfits at 2. Now at 5 I give her a choice of clothes that fit the season and weather.

I actually have most fights over shoes as she keeps trying to wear shoes that aren't suitable for the weather e.g. sandals in the rain or cold. She also turned down getting a new pair of boots at winter. She then decided a week later she wanted them but they had sold out.

They both started picking their own clothes for the day from before 2. DD1 did well with 'this or that'; DD2 knew that was a false limit, and actually does much better just asked to choose from her full set of everyday clothes (one or two nice dresses are kept out of sight, as is really out of season stuff). I intervene if something's not weather or activity appropriate, but otherwise let them crack on.

For buying stuff, I started offering DD1 a curated choice for online purchases from about 2.5. In person, she'd had the odd choice before. She's just turning 5, and that's still pretty much how it goes, although she'll also make the occasional request. DD2 is at the in person, immediate result choice stage, probably just about ready for online.

My kids were always allowed to wear what they want.

If you don’t want them in character clothing then I think you can limit it to pyjamas and underwear for a while longer.

DD had a stronger opinion on clothes than her brothers but it was around school age when they started having favourite items of clothing and they were old enough to say why (colour, softness…) so I could look for similar in bigger sizes.

For the most part I choose my kids' clothes (3 and 1) as far as what to buy, but I've always let them choose what to wear from what they have. But my 3 year old has definitely started having more of an opinion recently. His current obsession is the Super Mario Bros Movie and we've had to stock up on Mario tshirts because he started crying every time we tried to take off the one he had 😂 so now he has multiple so we can actually wash them. Other than that he doesn't seem to care, but I have a feeling it's coming. I don't mind the idea of him choosing his clothes though. If it makes him happy that's worth more to me than whether or not it lines up with my personal fashion sense, and I like to know what he likes or doesn't like so I can find things in the future that he has a better chance of liking.

That being said my parents always tell me that by age 2 I refused to let anyone else dress me and would throw a fit over anyone picking out clothes I didn't like, so I'm sure to some extent it depends on the individual kid.