Tales From the Laundry Basket
There are clothes in my child's wardrobe that I absolutely love.
Unfortunately, my child doesn't.
You know the ones.
The gorgeous top that looked perfect online.
The outfit I was convinced they'd live in.
The slightly more expensive piece I justified because “they'll get so much wear out of it.”
Except they didn't.
Meanwhile, the same handful of clothes seemed to make their way from child...
to laundry basket...
to washing machine...
and straight back onto the child again.
I Started Wondering What I Was Getting Wrong
For a while, I thought it was just children being children.
Then I actually looked at the clothes they were choosing.
They were soft.
They stretched.
Nothing scratched or dug in.
They weren't too hot.
They were easy to move in.
And, perhaps most importantly, once they were dressed, they seemed to forget about them.
That last bit hadn't occurred to me before.
I Was Shopping With My Eyes
I'd been choosing children's clothes much the same way I choose my own.
I noticed the colour.
The style.
How nice they looked.
Whether they'd go with something else.
My child appeared to have an entirely different selection process.
How does this feel?
Not consciously, perhaps.
But their wardrobe choices were answering that question again and again.
Suddenly, some of those barely worn purchases started making sense.
So I Changed How I Shop
I still want my children's clothes to look beautiful.
But now I pay much more attention to what happens after I've fallen in love with how something looks.
I touch the fabric.
I check inside for labels.
I feel the seams.
I think about stretch.
I wonder whether they'll still be comfortable after several hours of wearing it.
And I ask myself a surprisingly useful question:
Would my child actually choose this from the drawer?
It has saved me from quite a few purchases.
The Best Clothes Aren't Always the Ones I Choose
Perhaps that's been the biggest lesson.
A wardrobe full of beautiful clothes isn't particularly useful if your child only wants to wear five of them.
I'd rather buy fewer pieces that actually get worn.
Clothes for climbing onto the sofa.
For daycare and school runs.
For long car journeys, playdates and quiet afternoons at home.
Clothes that survive the washing machine because they're constantly ending up back in it.
I've stopped measuring value by how impressive something looks hanging in the wardrobe.
Now I measure it by how often I see it coming out.
Because apparently my child knew something about buying clothes before I did.
The best clothes aren't necessarily the ones you love looking at.
They're the ones your child loves wearing.
A Little Note From Baby Todd & Co.
Children choose favourite clothes for all sorts of reasons, but comfort can play a surprisingly big part.
That's why Baby Todd & Co. designs everyday clothing around the details children actually experience - 100% tagless construction, ultra-soft fabrics, gentle seams, breathable materials and comfortable four-way stretch.
Beautiful children's clothing should still look good.
We just think it should feel even better.
Because the real test of a great piece of clothing isn't how good it looks in the wardrobe.
It's whether your child keeps choosing to wear it.
Tales From the Laundry Basket is our series of fictionalised parent stories inspired by the everyday experiences, questions and clothing challenges shared by families.