Peer pressure in Kindergarden

[Cathyclysmic]

A coworker of mine is going school shopping for her twin girls who are starting kindergarden this month. The girls say the other kids make fun of them because they don't wear DKNY and such. What is wrong with this sentence? Five year old girls worried about labels?

discuss

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. How much TV do they watch?

How else would they even be aware of labels?

[Cathyclysmic]

5. We wondered that, too

Apparently, they are picking it up at the preschool they attend. The mom says a couple times the girls have come home crying because the kids teased them(the other kids mentioned the labels!) They are the cutest kids, cute outfits from Target et all, clean and very sweet kids.

[SmokingJacket]

2. That's crazy.

My son's starting kindergarten too, and it's all I can do to get him to put his clothes on the right way around. The concept of fashion is a very long way off. It's no different with the girls his age.

Either that mother is lying, and she's just afraid her daughters will be made fun of, or they live in a very sick neighborhood.

[murielm99]

7. It didn't start for my kids until about sixth grade.

My kids went to school neat and clean. I tried to keep up with the styles for them, too, within reason.

But whenever they brought up labels, I asked them about the kid behind the label. They were usually the shallow, mean ones. And I began to notice that some of the label wearers had divorced parents, who tried to buy their love and assuage their own guilt with material things.

By seventh grade, there was a group of girls in my oldest daughter's grade who tried to appoint themselves the fashion police. They would walk up to other kids and ask them why they were wearing such and such. They made the mistake of questioning one boy who was actually pretty dapper, but he set his own style. He explained why he was wearing what he was wearing, and said, "But thank you for asking." They were too dumb to know what to say to that.

His mom was a friend of mine, and a riot. We helped our kids come up with snappy comebacks for the seventh grade fashion police.

It is tough to help them with this form of peer pressure. But kindergarten? No way.

[blondeatlast]

10. I agree that I think the mom is overreacting.

Whatever the scenario, it's a sick situation, IMHO.

Could we just let them be kids a little while longer? Geez.

[Deja Q]

3. Get them to have inner peace and a strong ego.

They don't need to be label slaves like the others.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. As Archie Bunker might say, " I have one word for you":

School uniforms.

[fishnfla]

6. Teach them now

That labels such don't matter! This is hard to believe at age 5.

[tjdee]

8. My daughter knew Polo and Baby Phat.

She knew Polo because of the pony, and Baby Phat because of the cat.

DKNY doesn't even have a cool animal like that, plus, those people are *way* behind fashion, LOL. I don't think Donna Karan's done anything cool for years!

But seriously, obviously your friend lives in a wealthy area where the parents talk about things like this. That's a shame.

[Cathyclysmic]

12. Mayfield Heights, Ohio..the Mecca of Fashion

:eyes:

But, seriously, I think you hit the nail on the head.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Tell her to buy normal clothes. You can buy the cool labels...

And just sew them on. I know a lot of people who do this. They buy jeans from Target or Walmart and order labels off the internet, and you can find some in stores. Then you sew them on. Or just tear off the labels all together. Five is awfully young to be worrying about such things.
Duckie

[AlCzervik]

11. stories like this make me glad my daughter has to wear uniforms

a 5 year old concerned about labels doesn't get that from other 5 year old girls alone, her Mom must be into labels as well.

[Cathyclysmic]

15. Agreed...

I like fashion as much as the next girl, but I miss rolling out of bed in the morning and putting on the ugliest green plaid skirt ever...and knowing there was 150 other girls wearing the same ugly skirt. A sort of solidarity of ugly skirts.

[coffeenap]

13. I told my daughter that this idea was simply stupid and explained

that people who cared so much about this needed to be caring about other more important things.Later, I told her that all those clothes are made by slave labor and kids--that was enough for her!

[Midlodemocrat]

14. My nine year old still wears Gymboree.

She likes it, it fits, great quality. SHe is not influenced by her peers at all.

Now, her sister, well that is another story.

[ComerPerro]

16. Have your coworker get the girls "FUTK" shirts...

Better than DKNY.

And then, just tell people it stands for something else.

[JimmyJazz]

17. I am so glad that my kids go to a school with a dress code.

I don't have to worry about that stuff. :)