Saturday, August 11, 2012

Red Striped-Shirt of Shame

 Except for the dozens of shots of my headless daughter, I don't blog much about my kids, so feel free to skip this post.  If you read it  you can either laugh or be horrified by my parenting skills.

My boys usually dress like slobs.  I do buy them nice clothes, which they either ruin immediately or never wear. They have brand-new clothes (some even with tags attached) hanging in their closets, but they daily choose stuff with holes and stains. I want to force them to wear a wardrobe disclaimer that would read something like "I am not neglected or unloved, I just choose to dress this way".


My fashion frustrations with my boys go way back:
 When my middle son was 4, we drove up to St. Louis to visit our good friends. I was excited to leave all his ratty clothes home and pack the clothes I wanted him to wear including adorable matching striped red shirt that matched his baby brother. Unfortunately, he was going through a phase where he refused to wear anything w/ a collar except to church.  We compromised- he wore the shirt to church, and then changed into a t-shirt  for sight-seeing later in the afternoon. 
Check us out in our post-church clothes.  Notice baby brother's shirt.

I can't even remember exactly what, but he got caught doing some sort of four-year-old mischief.  Since we were busy sight-seeing w/ another family, "time-out" was not an option and I needed a quick discipline idea. I pulled the red shirt out of the diaper bag and told him that he had to wear it for 20 minutes.  It worked so well that through-out the week, whenever he was naughty, he'd have to wear the shirt. 

After the trip, we reviewed our photos and the poor kid is wearing the shirt quite a bit-the zoo, the Arch, dinner, historical sites etc.  

The shirt eventually got handed down to his little brother (who actually didn't mind it), but even he has out grown it. I cleaned out my boys closet and got rid of 2 large trash bags of clothes.  However, I just couldn't bring myself to donate this shirt, which we have lovingly named the "Red Striped Shirt of Shame". Now this shirt just makes me a little nostalgic for my naughty four-year old. 

He still has those big hazel eyes and dimples, but sadly the blond bowl hair-cut is gone and he will start middle school in a few weeks. 






14 comments:

  1. LOL!!! They grow up way too fast, don't they. I can distinctly remember wanting to frequently hang a sign on one of my boys... 'he dressed himself today.' And the other sign... 'he's learning to iron his own clothes and he really doesn't care if they're ironed or not.'

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    1. I just keep hoping that it will change when they start liking girls:)

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  2. That gave me a good chuckle! Anyone with children will recognize that a family with one child in wild clothing is a family that has a mother gritting her teeth!

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  3. My son will only wear collared shirt to church too! And he is 28!!! Drives me wild! You should keep that shirt for his children - as my Dad always said "Paybacks are hell kid!" He used to just shake his head and laugh at me whenever my two were acting up and drop this little pearl of wisdom!

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  4. As a mother of two little boys, this post made my day! I'm stealing the shirt of shame idea.

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  5. Hi,
    My name is Rose, I'm a follower and big fan of your blog. I would like to invite you to be a part of an event I'm hosting on my blog , A Rosie Sweet Home, called Autumn Celebrations. Since fall is a crafters dream when it comes to decorating for the season, I will be dedicating the month of October to all thing Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I would be so flattered if you would like to be a guest on my blog, You may share any thing you like that pertains to the this wonderful season. If you are interested in participating in this event contact me @ roejoe2@gmal.com for more information or if you have any questions.
    Thanks,
    Rose
    @ http://www.arosiesweethome.com/

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  6. I got quite the little laugh from this Tara! Its' too funny that this shirt would be his punishment... and that he was actually wearing it so much! Luv it!

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  7. I still remember the time Grace said to R, "R, what's it like to be rich?" R said, "What are you talking about?" I asked the same thing. Grace said "Well, she always wears such cute clothes and looks so pretty!" I said "GRACE! You have a closet and drawers full of clothes that are so cute and match together! If you would just wear the stuff that goes together, you would look just like R!!" She (still to this day) wears random things from different lines of clothes that don't go together and like your boys, tends to choose the things that are getting too small, or have stains (that are supposed to be used for hiking or working out in the garden). I used to start off every school year with a disclaimer that I let her dress herself, if she looks cute one day it's because that was a day that she asked for my opinion. One teacher said that she and some of the other teachers always looked forward to seeing what "outfit" Grace was going to put together each day! Glad she could entertain! ha ha ha! Miss being backyard neighbors!!

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  8. I still remember the time Grace said to R, "R, what's it like to be rich?" R said, "What are you talking about?" I asked the same thing. Grace said "Well, she always wears such cute clothes and looks so pretty!" I said "GRACE! You have a closet and drawers full of clothes that are so cute and match together! If you would just wear the stuff that goes together, you would look just like R!!" She (still to this day) wears random things from different lines of clothes that don't go together and like your boys, tends to choose the things that are getting too small, or have stains (that are supposed to be used for hiking or working out in the garden). I used to start off every school year with a disclaimer that I let her dress herself, if she looks cute one day it's because that was a day that she asked for my opinion. One teacher said that she and some of the other teachers always looked forward to seeing what "outfit" Grace was going to put together each day! Glad she could entertain! ha ha ha! Miss being backyard neighbors!!

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  9. I still remember the time Grace said to R, "R, what's it like to be rich?" R said, "What are you talking about?" I asked the same thing. Grace said "Well, she always wears such cute clothes and looks so pretty!" I said "GRACE! You have a closet and drawers full of clothes that are so cute and match together! If you would just wear the stuff that goes together, you would look just like R!!" She (still to this day) wears random things from different lines of clothes that don't go together and like your boys, tends to choose the things that are getting too small, or have stains (that are supposed to be used for hiking or working out in the garden). I used to start off every school year with a disclaimer that I let her dress herself, if she looks cute one day it's because that was a day that she asked for my opinion. One teacher said that she and some of the other teachers always looked forward to seeing what "outfit" Grace was going to put together each day! Glad she could entertain! ha ha ha! Miss being backyard neighbors!!

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    1. Ditto on the neighbors:) Grace is so cute she can wear whatever she wants:)

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  10. Ha ha! I remember you telling me that story some time ago...Love it!

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  11. Hahah! I thought it’s only my kids who prefer “tattered” clothes at home. :D Such a relief for a parent like me to learn about your kids clothing habits as well. But I don’t really prohibit them to wear those, as long as they’re comfortable, and we are JUST at home. :D Aww… I would love to see the boys wear matching red striped shirts. I hope next time he’ll be more obedient. ;)

    Jerri Washam

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