4 YO girls and wardrobe battles (sub-heading The Curse of theTwirly Skirt)

[Pendulum]

My DD1 has always been a bit of a tomboy, not at all bothered about clothes and happy to let me dress her in whatever I choose.

Suddenly she only wants to wear skirts, and only "twirly" ones at that. Each morning we have a battle if I try to put her in something else, especially trousers or, heaven forbid, a skirt with inadequate twirl.

I do need to buy her some autumn/ winter stuff and wondering how much I should indulge this preference instead of buying mainly trousers like I usually would. It is all bound up with her new notion that she needs to be pretty and princess-like- this makes me very uncomfortable.

I have been told this is a common 4 YO thing... is this right? If I go along with it, am I letting her express her individuality or only committing myself to years of seeking out ever twirlier skirts ?

give in. you can consider yourself lucky she leaves the house without full fancy dress on.

I have no advice I'm afraid - but will be watching this thread as my DD(4.5) insists on wearing an old dress she's had since she was 3, or a dressing up costume. Yesterday we did the weekly shop with a mermaid in wellies...

I would give in it will pass. I miss the twirly skirts phase, three years down the line we are on a rock star, punk, goth phasr!

ooh twinset, that sounds interesting. It's just the extreme girliness that I can't bear.

pigleto, I did have to take tinkerbelle to tescos the other day (costume has VERY twirly skirt!)

Clothes should be fun. And you can always use tights in the winter. Everyone should be able to access their inner tinkerbelle sometimes.

it is a stage IMO and i would not worry too much
when DD was like this I started choosing two outfits each day from which she could choose one. That allowed her a bit more control without her having entirely her own way.

I also found claires accessories helpful as she would often settle for trousers and a t-shirt if she could team it with a tat-tastic tiara

tat-tastic...I like that word

great idea pagwatch!

(but do Claire's do practical, non-gender specific tiaras I wonder )

dd1 will be 5 at Christmas, and is only just starting to come out of her 'pink and skirts only' phase. She's flatly refused to wear trousers for the whole summer.

WHen it started, I had some notion I should put my foot down etc but then I asked myself why and had no good answer....so from then on, I've only bought her skirts/dresses and then usually only when she's with me. The older she gets, the clearer she is about what she does and doesn't like - and fair enough, she has good taste (not mine, necessarily, but I grudgingly admit she has her own style ).

Tights are good, and I do reserve the right to veto inappropriate clothes - not warm enough being the usual, but also 'too smart, thats for parties' or 'thats for dressing up clothes only, not for going out'.

Life's too short for battling over food and clothes, unless health and safety are at stake!

ps agree with Pagwatch re adding tiaras, the other big hit with dd has been letting her wear fairy wings over her clothes for an otherwise boring walk. There was a recent thread where this would qualify me for being a 'Boden type' but as I don't remotely qualify in any other way, and as it gets dd out of the house on cold boring days, who cares

hm. not sure tiaras have to be practical and non-gender specific, do they? ds1 quite likes them anyway... he's been dressed in pink tutu and barbie shoes since he was able to walk - literally, it was the first shoes i saw him walk in at 12 months. scary boy. he and both his sisters quite like their practical, non-gender specific pirate t shirts too though...
dd2 (4) quite likes twirly skirts, but our rule is not for soft play areas or climbing frames. she can barely stay upright as it is (she has sn and even the twirly skits have to be worn with support boots lol) so we force practical on her sometimes. dd1 is long past the twirly skirts only phase, but still gets her twirly dresses out and well, twirls, for hours when the notion takes her. the other factor to consider is, can she get her own tights up and down all day - it's a royal pain having to escort them to and from the loo because they can't get their tights comfy!!

dd going through this at the moment.

I have bought a dress and 2 skirts and 3 pairs of tights for winter.
I have also bought one pair of jeans, for very cold days.
(i did by a TUTU from H&M that can be worn over the top though)

As far as I am concerned She is a girl she will be adequately warm in skirts - Much as previous generations were

DD turned 4 and insisted on pink pink pink as she wanted to be pretty. I think it is a ommon phase. She is great at colour co-ordinating her outfits and now (4.5) gets herself dressed before she even leaves her bedroom in the morning. Saves me heaps of effort tbh so I would say go with it.

Buy some funky tights as the weather gets cooler and ensure if there is anything you dont like in her wardrobe that you take a long time to wash it DD has a skirt I let her pick herself. It is hideous and it always takes abotu a week to wash

DSD5 mostly chooses what she wants to wear ~(mostly pink!), however if DP or I say she has to wear "whatever" she doesnt argue as she knows we mean what we say.
Yep give kids a say but the ultimate veto belongs to parents/carers. My DP describes it as the illusion of choice.