This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.
Back in February, the preschooler and I went on a shopping expedition to BIG W, to put together some kinder clothes for him. The clothes have coped exceptionally well with the rough and tumble of kinder life and with the acrobatics and jumping he does in general.
BIG W invited us to go along to our local store and kit out the preschooler for the upcoming warmer months. While Melbourne’s weather isn’t showing any signs of spring time yet, now is the perfect time to update the wardrobe, with a wide choice and plenty of sizes in stock.
Our preschooler is growing in independence and along with that independence comes a dash of feisty, particularly when it comes to the clothes he will wear. This characteristic along with being indecisive are completely normal for 3.5 year olds (you can read some more about that in my post on 3.5 year old behaviour). While normal it can mean dressing a preschooler can be challenging.
I worded up our little fellow that we were going to go shopping for new clothes for him and that he could help choose what he wanted. I wanted him to have a say in what we bought – I have made the mistake before of buying things I like, to see them go unworn as independent preschoolers refuse to wear them. But the clothes did need to fit my criteria and be practical for kinder. They needed to:
- Allow him to run, jump and tumble without being restricted.
- Look good.
- Be easy to wash.
- Be kind to the family budget.
Taking an indecisive 3.5 year old into the BIG W store and saying choose what you want from their entire range would never work, as there would simply be too much for him to choose from.
So my plan was to focus item by item, giving him a small set to choose from, like asking him to choose which colour stripe top he wanted. I thought these tops were very cute:
He actually chose two colours (blue and white and yellow and white), as they were only $4.92 each that was fine with me.
We chose a few more t-shirts the same way and the little one was really quite enjoying himself.
We then moved along to shorts and he found it even easier to choose here as he could reach the ones he liked best:
There was a big range to choose from, so narrowing it down to section by section, made it not so over whelming for him and I could also target the clothes I liked best too!
Buying bathers wasn’t on my list, but the little one was very keen on them and they were a good price so we added them to our basket as well.
Letting the preschooler choose the clothes was running a risk that we could have completely non matching outfits at the end of our shopping expedition. I was prepared for this and had weighed up this to be a preferred scenario, rather than have clothes he wouldn’t want to wear. In reality it is only me that cares about the matching of clothes, preschoolers do not care at all!
But with a bit of mixing and matching of the items he chose, I think you will agree he did pretty well:
And with the most expensive outfit coming in at only $18.71 (two were less than $10!) he is a savvy little shopper too!
The range of shorts and t-shirts at BIG W is great and perfect for active preschoolers. BIG W also now have a new maternity range in store – Nine and Mine, which you might like to check out if you have a bub on the way.
Do you let your kids choose their own clothes?