Dress the Part

I have always taken pride in what I look like. Call me materialistic, perhaps my values are askew. Whatever it is, I think it’s important to dress the part. So when Adam was in a nasty long sleeve t-shirt before we left for an adult Saturday night birthday party, I demanded he change and sighed a big sigh (not him too?!?!).

I have been fighting to make my family look presentable for years now. I lost control of what Drew wore before his vocabulary was fully developed. Last year he wore this uniform for three months straight. Perhaps I was to blame for doing the laundry often enough for him to wear it every day. I figured he’d wear it either way so better it should smell good.

I’m not the only mother who has battled their child to get them in decent apparel. I have a friend who’s son prefers shorts. If Ginger Zee says the weather is below a certain temperature, shorts are not allowed. I wouldn’t want to be in their house October time.

I repeatedly complain that the eldest of the family sets the tone for the family. So if I had a docile, well behaved daughter (perhaps like Gabby COULD be if she weren’t influenced by our residential menace), some of the core issues wouldn’t be there. I’m sure others would pop up in its place but wearing grubby knee length sports t-shirts might not be one of them.

I have given up with Drew. I may occasionally demand a weather appropriate shirt (basketball jerseys must have a shirt underneath if we are leaving the house) or occasion appropriate outfits (he is not wearing a Blackhawks jersey to his cousins’ B’nai Mitzvahs), but for the most part I let him be. I can do that because I have my little girl to dress. And that is so much more fun!

So when she starts demanding that she wear her Lebron James jersey (thanks a lot Uncle Sam) or her hand-me-down Konerko t-shirt, that is something I will not stand for. I was most certainly given a girl to doll up in tutus and bows. I’m done fighting the fight around here with the male species, they can keep their grimey t-shirts! But Gabby will be dressed up and properly accessorized if it kills me!!!! There’s no temper tantrum big enough. I can already tell she’ll love me as a teenager 🙂