I agree, Di. My friends drop their mouths open when I tell them that my parents only allowed me to drink milk for the first three years of my life. But the joke is on them because I’ve only had a few cavities. I do think there is a fine line though (i.e. Cookie Monster having to eat vegetables before cookies-just wrong. . . ) Parents should teach their kids that, not sesame street. (coming from someone who eats just fine, and watched cookie monster be a cookie monster.

i think that kids should express themselves but i still think u should help them out, like if they want to wear the tutu maybe show them a top to go with it. if kids dont express themself they become boring people when they get older. plus theres a stronger chance theyll rebel. when i was little my mom let me express my self to an extent, i never rebelled, but my friend on the other hand want allowed and shes in a bit of trouble.
anyways i think kids should dress them selves with a bit of their parents help

I have been struggling with this issue myself. I have noticed that children vary widely in terms of how much interest they have in clothes. Some just want you to dress them, others are passionate about what they will and won’t wear. My daughter has graduated from a committed 2 yr old nudist, to a 3yr old costume obsessive, to a 4 yr old bikini-over-a-jumper wearer to, incredibly, a 5 yr old boho-type fashionista. Seriously the girl can co-ordinate! She puts things together I think will look awful and she makes it work. I have stopped picking her clothes now because a) she is more stylish than me and b) she gets such a glow about her when she is pleased with her outfit. I love that for her its all about how she feels. I wish I could still dress that way, unaware about other peoples perceptions, just enjoying solely the creative expression of fashion. Personally I have to say that nothing makes me smile more than a girl (or boy) in a fairy dress at the supermarket/sports field/doctors.

I agree children need to learn structure and boundaries. So anything too skimpy or cold should be out. But I think that adults/parents ALSO need to learn boundaries. Kids are not accessories. They are their own people. I think learning to separate your sense of self and ego from them is actually one of the trickier parts of parenting. So, please, let them dress a bit kooky. It will make my day!

I agree with some points of view of the most of above comments.I have my 4 years old grand son living with me,he has been given the choice of dessing himself at 3 with indirect intervention of his mom. The child was thinking that he did the choice himself, and was happy,feeling enjoying himself of being able to dress himself, but really it was an indirect choice of his mom.
The first step starts,as LIZ said by buying the clothes,buy what ever you want your child wear, what ever co-ordinate,appropriate, then put and hang the season – appropriate clothes in his word robe and remove others that aren’t season appropriate when the season changes, give him a couple of clothes to dress himself, put together what you want him to wear and and let him do his choice, ask him to do that, to wear what ever he wants.This will encourage him, let him feel happy, enjoying, give him self confidence, the child will feel that he has chosen his dressing,but really it is an indirect choice of you.
At 3 the kids are able to dress themselves, let them do it and explain if not appropriate, or coordinate.

I don’t have a kid, but I think dressing up kids is mainly selfish because the children want to pick their cloths and have fun in them and parents prevent them from doing so because they want the kids look good. This is not for the kid, because the kid doesn’t understand and care about looking good.

I was always dressed up as a child and couldn’t play like other kids because I was always afraid something is going to happen to my cloths.

What I would do is to let them dress themselves when nothing special is going to happen, let them choose between a variety of decent cloths when they’re going out for dinner or at a friend’s house and alike and just dress them up for special occasions.

My three-year-old gets to choose from a couple of different outfits I’ve pulled out for him. My five-year-old gets to pick out her clothes but I have veto power.

I’ve always given my children a choice between 2-3 outfits with a variety of sleeve lengths and pant lengths. That said, now that my oldest is approaching 8 yrs and wears a uniform to school, I’ve spent the last year letting him choose whatever he wants to wear b/c I’m trying to get him to learn to coordinate his outfits. I think it depends on the child’s age and what their needs are. My younger son wanted to wear non matching socks for about a year and I let him when he wore long pants…he wore them at home with his shorts, but knew that he needed to take them off when we were out and about. I’m all for giving in a bit and letting them express themselves, but I also agree with Michelle about the boundaries and respect issues.

I let mine dress themselves since they were 2 1/2. I have a picture of my 2 1/2 year old son in a t-shirt, shorts and cowboy boots. He was so proud of the fact he could dress himself that I wasn’t going to tell him boots don’t go with shorts. I felt so long as it wasn’t a special occasion, church, and was right for the weather they could dress them selves. Now for school we picked it out together. Now they are teenagers and pretty much I have no say in the matter, except for unapproperate clothing, but for family pictures they had to dress in a suit. Youngest hates collar shirts but he had to wear a collar shirt and tie no matter how hard he tried to get out of it.

My 2 year old nephew who lives with me picked out his outfit today, a talking Winnie the Pooh shirt and that was it. Since we stayed home today there was no harm in him running around in a shirt and diaper.

I have two daughters and one would put on anything i gave her, however, the other has always been her own individual. She always wanted to put on what ever she desired, whether it was pajama shirts with red cowboy boots or her finest church outfit with fuzzy slippers. However, after about 3 or 4 i began to step in to teach her protical as well as to help her develop some form of fashion sense. We must allow our children to be able to express themselves, but ultimately, we are the parents and must step in and stop certain things when its appropriate.