A new technique

At the beginning of the year, when the unwanted honour of becoming Mrs Trunchbull was bestowed upon me, when we eventually graduated out of pyjamas, i allowed my students to choose their own outfits for home school.

I could tell you it was my way of allowing them to express their personality via the medium of fashion, or, i could admit that i pick my battles wisely and this was a daily battle i chose to pass on. To give the situation some context, they are aged 5 and 9, so although its slightly neurotic of me to have chosen their clothes until now, not unheard of.

During the early stages of the experiment we experienced mixed results, the 9 year old always opted for maximum comfort with DIY Tie-Dye featuring heavily, whilst the 5 year old used a unique styling method, one i haven't witnessed before, its known as the “pull the clothes i can reach off the hanger and hope for the best” technique, which as you can imagine gave varying degrees of success.

I soon learnt that the lowest bar in his wardrobe needed to be well stocked with weather appropriate garments, he learnt that if he pulls too hard he will be struck on the head with the arm of a snapped hanger. Over all it was a success, my 9 year old utilised our Google Home speaker to ask the temperature each day and now knows the difference between 12 degrees (will need a hoody if i go in the garden) and 22 degrees (come down in a bathing costume and ask mum to turn the sprinklers on) while the youngest used the opportunity to explore dressing in character, with Fred from Scooby Doo a firm favourite, i was beaming with pride when he fashioned himself an Ascot Tie.

The lessons i took from allowing my saplings to dress themselves include that fact kids look cute in anything and rarely need adult intervention when it comes to choosing clothes and that sometimes the most spontaneous outfits are the best.