Clothes

I'm going to share something that I struggle with: How many clothes do my kids really need?

I'm not sure if it's the natural woman in me that likes to have lots of clothes and lots of options, or if it's laziness of not wanting to do laundry too much (I don't think so), or some repressed memory from childhood (just kidding, Mom!), or what it is. But, I really struggle with wanting my kids to have lots of clothes.

I specifically deal with this with my middle child, my oldest son. I think the reason is because my daughter has a bazillion clothes due to being in a great "hand-me-down" line, and my baby has a bazillion clothes also due to hand-me-downs.

This makes my son's collection of clothes look pitiful. Unfortunately, he is not in a hand-me-down ring, so I have to buy all of his clothes. Which, of course means that he doesn't have as many clothes as the other two. So, I struggle constantly with feeling like I need to go buy him clothes.

My husband tells me all the time that our son doesn't need more clothes. He thinks that the kid can get away with just one set of church clothes. This is from the man who has three suits and rotates them. Okay, men can get away with that. Just change the tie. Women can't. And I want my son to have more than one set of church clothes. Frankly, he needs more than one set because we go to church twice on Sunday and even though I tell him to save his morning clothes for the night service, often we have to get something else for one reason or another.

Then there's Tuesday night, which is a little more casual, so I'd like him to have something different for then.

And, of course, he needs casual and play clothes, so at least two pairs of jeans, one for casual and one for play.

At least two casual shirts, one to wear and one to wash.

At least two play shirts, one to wear and one to wash.

And let's not forget his uniforms. Thank God for uniforms or I might be even worse. Three sets so that I can wash on Wed and Sat.

Guess what? He's got all of that. So, why do I feel like he needs more?

He's got a pair of black pants, black courdoroy pants, tan pants, brown pants. He has four dress shirts that can rotate with the pants. He's got three plaid shirts for Tuesday/casual.

Two pairs of casual jeans; one pair of play jeans.

Five or more casual/play shirts.

Four uniform shirts and two uniform pants. One of his pants got ripped. I patches it, but he has sensory issues and the patch bugs him so he won't wear it. I solved the problem by throwing his extra pair of pants in with whatever else I am washing that day.

So, see, he's got plenty of clothes. Now, if he growth-spurts, I'm going to be in trouble. But, he doesn't need anything else in this size!

So, why do I feel like I need to go get him some clothes?