Audrey's been dressing herself for quite some time. I try not to interfere with her choices, because there will come a time where peer-pressure may very well do that for me, much to my dismay.
Every so often, though, someone will look at my daughter and look at me and ask if I really intend to let her wear that... and, horrors, if we'll even dare leave the house! Well, aside from a few considerations, I figure I'll let her express herself any way she likes. In my mind, it shows creativity on her part.
The considerations are often boring: Can she wear that to school? (Apparently flip-flops are not allowed as we found out about a month before school let out for the summer.) Is it weather appropriate? (A long-sleeved shirt will be just as unwelcome in July as a sundress in December.) Can you see her underwear? (Fortunately, this is not because of any pant-sagging tendencies, but because of her penchant for skirts. A pair of simple shorts underneath does the trick.)
She has also started fixing her own hair, and I am more than happy to have her learn, even if the results often look like she's been trying to apply hair ties in a tornado. She'll need to know how to fix her hair soon enough. However, I try to make sure that her hair looks nice when my status as a decent mother might come into question.
While Ben was away training in the Army, he often only saw the kids from the shoulders-up via Skype. However, I made sure he got a good look at this ensemble:
Yeah. My little outside-the-box-thinker. In her mind, if she likes it, she should be able to wear it all at once, never mind matching. :)
Honestly, as long as I'm working on my kids' social graces, grammar and knowledge of the world outside their neighborhood, I figure fashion sense will only need to be taught if they don't grow into it on their own... I think if they haven't gotten it worked out by the time they're thinking about getting married, we might need to have a sit-down.
