What size clothes does your 12 year old dd wear?

[emsiewill]

Dd1 is a normal sized 12 year old. She is not skinny, but she is certainly not overweight - I would say that she has a "womanly" figure, with hips etc.

She has just ordered some clothes from Next, they are age 15. She recently bought a bikini age 16 from Tammy. She is convinced that all of her friends are still wearing age 12 clothes, and that by the time she is actually 15, she "will be in size 20 womens' clothes".

Can you please help me to reassure her that

a)the number on the clothes is pretty much arbitrary
b) many 12 year olds are wearing clothes that are marked as being for older children.

Thanks

not a dd but ds aged 12 wears more like aged 14

My dd has moved on from girls clothes with 'ages' in and is now in womens size 6 or 8. But she is v.v. slim. Your dd will probably be a small size in 'grown up' clothes.

My stepdaughter was in a size 12 at that age, and a 14 when she was 13/14.

She is now 16 and in a size 10 or 12.

my dd is 13 and wears a size 8 in womens clothes

it depends where you shop

these "teenager" clothes from eg. Tammy, New Look seem to be sized small

today we bought a skort from New look in age 14-15 and some shorts in the same size were too small

she is tall for her age but definitely not overweight

When I was 11 I was in size 14 women's clothes and size 7 feet. Clothes sizes make no sense whatsoever - get her to ask anyone out there!

it depends very much on the lenght of limbs, I think.

dd1 is very slim but she has a size 7 feet ( - I still can't beleive it) and I bought her a size 8 jacket the other week. Her school blouses are age 13.

It depends so much on teh individual child and the shop.

(dd1 is 12)

Thanks everyone - the point I have tried to make is exactly what most of you have said - it depends on the shop and the child.

She does wear size 8 women's clothes, but took some persuading that it's OK for her to wear women's clothes rather than childrens.

My 12-year old is 5'4" ish so wears a lot of size 8 stuff now. Haven't bought any "children's" clothes for a while but would be looking at age 14 (her school shirts are 14 and think her blazer is 15)

Just 13yr old DSD wears sz8 women's clothes and has done for a while. Just 14yr old sister in a 10 or 12 petite women's size, again for a few years now.

my dd13 is at the point of refusing to wear anything other than womens clothes, tbh

Incidently, I have always suspected that the sz 6 in Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, New Look etc must surely be mainly bought by young teenagers?

bump

My dd is only just 9yo and wears size 10/11/12 yo clothes and has just gone into a size3 shoe.

it depends if the childrens clothes are made for children or young adults, their bodies change at different points so hard to know where to shop.

Newlook seems to be ok with the cross over when you get into older childrens and adults. I am a 6/8 in there and can wear their age 14 clothes no probs (a lot cheaper too!)

Topshop etc size 6 is bought by more than just young teenagers too!

My DD14 wears whatever size fits her. That size may have different names or numbers, but to her credit, she doesn't care. She is slim and healthy and couldn't give a damn about what size is on her label. More power to this attitude to female size.

My dd is 13 and wears 8s and 10s depending on the label. I quite often have to take things in a bit at the bust or they gape under the arms. In "age" clothes, she is probably a 13-14. I bought some 14- 15 school shirts from Tesco last week and they drown her. The variety is huge!

My dd(12) wears women's sizes 6, 8 or 10, varying between stores.

DD1 is nearly 13 wears size 8 tops but is a shorty so 'real' bottoms don't fit her so have to buy age 11. has size 5 feet though. she is hoping she evens out a bit soon

What is a size 10? It is amazing when you check the size guides on the websites of the different stores. New Look's size 10 is 35/28/37 ins = 90/72/94 cms.
Next's size 10 is 34/27/36 ins = 86.5/68.5/91.5 cms.
Dorothy Perkins's size 10 = 33.25/27.25/36.5 ins = 88/69/92.5 cms.
M and S's size 10 is only given in cms = 86/69/94.

I have a theory that M and S have changed their sizes over the past decade or so to make it sound smaller to the customer, so a 14 then is between a 10 and 12 now, iykwim. Sneaky

My 10 yr old dd has clothes in a variety of sizes as others have found.

Things that fit seem to come down to the store and the style.

Thing is age 12 girls clothes don't seem to accomodate hips, they all seem to be straight up and down.

My DD 1s nearly 13 but is already 5 foot 3 with size 6 feet.I would say she will not grow much more before fully grown height wise.

She is very slim but with an obvious curve at the hips. SHe often buys size 8/10 from New look adult range but will still fit comfortably into age 13 clothes from some shops. Sizing seems to be very haphazard and Next teen range always seem to come up quite small IMO.

I remember when dd was this age and had hips before clothes her age catered for hips iykwim.
She found trousers hard to find at that age.
She is 17 now and a size 8 .
Tell your dd she is completely normal and just between child and adult sizes.

Thanks again to you all. This is exactly what I knew you would all say, but of course dd believes it much more if Mumsnet says it rather than just me.

I am trying to get her into the mindset of "it's just a number", but it's difficult when her friends are not 100% open & honest about this subject. This is exactly how body image problems start IMO.

I have explained to her that taking account of her genetic make up,she is very unlikely to be a skinny beanpole. However, as long as she eats healthily and keeps moving, then she will be fit and healthy and perfect!(which she always is to me)

The power of Mumsnet is once more proved!

This is less of a problem for dd and her particular group of friends, thinking about it, because they are all fans of vintage/charity shop clothes, so they are used to sizing being an inexact science and trying stuff on. Hadn't thought of not being obsessed by the numbers as a side benefit!