Getting dressed

I have a daughter. And she has clothes in her closet. Put those two together and you get a daughter who likes to dress herself. Oh my, is this an adventure!

The outfits my daughter comes up with are- I can’t even think of a word to describe them. Interesting? The word still doesn’t quite do it justice.

Those sweet dresses I purchase aren’t quite so sweet-looking when there’s a t-shirt worn OVER the dress. Or pants underneath it. (I've never actually been particularly fond of that look.) Or when those cute saltwater sandals are worn with socks.

That little pink and grey stocking cap her great-grandmother made is darling, but not so much so when it’s worn with shorts and a tank top. In the middle of summer. Or when she chose the whole shorts-over-the-top-of-a-pair-of-pants look. (You know, for those cooler summer days.)

A few years back I remember being at the grocery store or the mall and I would see other little girls, four or five years old, and think: “Does that mother have NO fashion sense? Her daughter is wearing stripes with a floral pattern!” Now I know. My daughter wore that same combination just today. If each item has one like color- today it was pink- she figures it's a match!


And she thinks a striped shirt ‘goes’ with a striped pair of pants. No matter if the stripes are going the opposite direction. She’ll prance into the room in the morning and say, “Mommy, look! Stripes, and stripes!” (pointing to her shirt, then to her pants.) She is so delighted with herself I don’t have the heart to say, “Oh, honey, no. No, no, no.”

Or she’ll appear wearing ALL OF ONE COLOR. Red shirt, red pants, red socks. “Mommy! I’m matching! I’m all red today!” Nevermind that they are three separate shades of red, one bordering burgandy.

And she often chooses clothes for her brothers.

Here's the thing: I personally actually do like my own clothes to match. But I let her get herself dressed every morning but one. (That would be Sunday mornings). I realize I could inform her which clothes go well together, but I know we'd be having that conversation over and over again while she tries to figure it out. And honestly, I don't want to expend the energy and conversation over something as shallow as clothes. It just doesn't matter. She'll learn soon enough.

And then there's this verse: "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." So I am trying instead to focus my energies on her heart. On those specific patterns of sin in her life that we're aware of. And when we do talk about clothes, we talk about issues of modesty.

So her clothes clash like nobody's business. And some days I have to swallow my pride as other mothers gawk at or comment on her ensemble and remember that it's her heart that matters, not what clothes she's wearing.