Saturday, October 02, 2010

matching outfits: guilty as charged


When I was a little girl my mum used to dress my brothers the same. Were they twins? No - they were two years apart. And she didn't really dress them exactly the same. Just different colours of the same outfit. I vividly recall the short sleeved safari suits - Chris's in blue, Stephen's in green. In fact, that's how mum did it. Chris always wore blue (to match his eyes), and Stephen always wore the same as Chris, just in green (and yes, he has green eyes).

As my brothers both live in the United States with their little families, we keep in touch via email (and blogs). Last summer I sent a particular photograph of my boys to my brothers. They were wearing matching orange tshirts and little denim shorts which I thought looked adorable. An email came back promptly from one brother who noted the matching getout and joked, "You know, we're still recovering from that."

Okay, so it's not great for all kids as they may need a little counselling as a result. But at the moment my boys love wearing the same thing. Especially Madison who exclaims excitedly, "Oh Mummy, Noah is wearing the same shirt as me!"

Before I became a parent, I used to think that dressing kids the same was the cheesiest thing ever. I have friends who have identical twins and don't even do it. But since I've succumbed to this appalling behaviour, I'm going to do it for as long as I can get away with it.

10 comments:

  1. LOL I am an only child and don't have any personal experience but I think would listen to your brother but on the other side it does look very cute :-))

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  2. I dressed my eldest 2 the same for a brief period while they were young, but as they get older you will discover they can have very different taste in clothes!! I have one who loves "preppy neat" look while the other loves "grungy" stuff. No damage done while they are really little! They probably wont remember! LOL!!

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  3. My sister and I are 14 months apart and were almost always dressed the same. Even worse, mum used to buy a bolt of material and make a dress for her AND matching dresses for us!!

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  4. LOL Leonie! I almost commented on the fact that in the same photo as my brothers in their safari suits, was Mum and I in matching yellow jumpsuits. Oh, the 70s/80s were great - weren't they?

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  5. you know i have a cousin that does this and i have to say i dont like it, i think the kids need to have their own identity from the other twin, but thats just my opinion, some people do think its cute ;)
    me no im not a fan at all..

    ps. very funy what your brother wrote back.

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  6. When I was young my mum dressed us alike too. We were two girls and a boy. Mum would buy enough fabric suitable for either sex, then make identical dresses for my sister and me, and a shirt for my brother. For years!! Sometimes we had dresses that matched hers, with the boy in the shirt of the same fabric. We'd go out looking like a set of dolls.

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  7. P.S. I'm guilty too. Right now I'm looking across the room at a photo of my girls wearing identical home made dresses. But at least I didn't make the matching boy's shirt.

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  8. Hmmmm maybe it was a 70's & 80's thing because my sisters and I were always matched (but different colours) for special occasions.
    I love seeing kids in matchy matchy ... maybe because I have one of each.
    Yours boys look gorgeous in their little button shirts :-)

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  9. My sister and I are four years apart, but share the same birthday. I remember a period when we wore matching clothes, often made from the same material. I remember wearing the same skirt and waistcoat at my tenth birthday, and she was only six. Not cool. It has never even crossed my mind with my girls who are less than two years apart.

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  10. OMG, I was trying to copy the Fancy Pants button when I saw this post through LinkWithin. I essentially said the same thing. But I'll post it anyway ;-) Cheers!

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Thank you for your thoughtful and positive words and taking the time to comment. Love Kymmie. xx