Why do parents dress their kids alike?
I've never really thought about it but why do parents dress their kids alike? I know when my little brothers were younger my mom used to do it a lot. Then it was just for Christmas pictures and now for pictures we just wear something in the same color scheme.
Comments
There are lots of reasons:
-- It's often more convenient to pick up a couple shirts/dresses in different sizes rather than browsing for different outfits with a good price/feel/etc.
-- It makes it easier to find small children in public when they're dressed in similar clothes/colors.
-- Small children (and even some older children) think it's fun to dress alike.
-- If I found a shirt/dress/pants I liked for a child, I'd sometimes buy it in a larger size so the child could keep wearing that favorite clothing item as s/he grew. That meant the younger child could wear the smaller-sized hand-me-down.
-- Some of the hand-me-downs we got already including matching clothes in different sizes, and my kids would wear them on the same day on purpose.
-- It cut down on arguing if I bought the exact same item for each child.
-- It can make for cute pictures.
I never forced my kids to dress the same (other than the occasional picture or outing when I'd encourage them to wear the same color), but my girls who are only 17 months apart often liked dressing the same. They thought it was fun when people called them twins. Even at 8 and 10, they like to dress alike now and then.
For the same reason that some families use the same initial for all the kids' names, or name their children with variants of their own names. It's a form of "branding," or identifying what belongs to them.
Psychologists have theories on just how healthy this is for the children involved. In worst cases, one or both parents may see the kids as "property," rather than individual autonomous human beings who are entitled to their own preferences.
Having everyone wear red sweaters for the Christmas card photo seems harmless enough, in my opinion.
There is a very practical reason: there is a very affordable brand of very comfortable play suits my son wears. They're great, nothing pinches and he can move very well in them. He wore them in newborn size and now still wear them in size 12-18 months.
What am I supposed to do when our second child is born a few months from now? Buy all new stuff when I still have perfectly good clothes my son used to wear? Or take away my son's comfy play outfits?
For me it's usually only because It is easier to buy clothes for both at the same time since I buy online mostly. If I am buying a tee shirt I just buy 2 of them for each kid so they end up having most of the same stuff, I try to buy different colors if I can but it doesn't always happen.
It looks cute and it's easier to spot them.
Fun!