I've been criticised in the past for saying that I let my children choose their own clothes and I'm curious to see if I'm the only one who does that because I genuinely can't understand why someone would make their children wear clothes that they don't feel happy in.
Miss Frugal is 11 and she has very individual taste in clothes - she has one pair of skinny jeans and one pair of track suit bottoms in her wardrobe which are rarely worn but everything else is less mainstream for an 11-year-old. In the summer, she spent most of her time in maxi dresses and shortsuits and now it's winter she's all about trousers, vest tops and fitted jackets or dresses with leggings on under them and one of her pairs of Converse.
Even her school uniform has been slightly modified to be more individual as she wears a skater style school skirt with a pair of leggings underneath. She's tried to get away with wearing her Converse to school but I've put my foot down there as I always will when I think something is inappropriate.
You should have seen the top she came downstairs wearing the other week! It was a summer top that's now slightly too small on her so it looked like a crop top - Mr Frugal took one look at her and told her that she wasn't allowed out of the house wearing it! Something I'm sure we're going to be saying lots more in the next few years.
Don't get me wrong though, she isn't vain and she certainly isn't all about her clothes but she does know the clothes that she likes and doesn't like and they allow her to express her personality so why would I not allow that?
She's really good at putting outfits together and likes to shop at places that not many of her friends go to - eBay is her favourite at the minute which I don't mind at all as we've found some brilliant bargains on there recently.
I would never buy something for her to wear unless she was with me - I've made that mistake before and she hated what I'd bought and wouldn't wear it. Yes, I could have made her wear it but I wouldn't do that.
Would you?
Cass and I write The Diary of a Frugal Family. I write because I want to make sure that we don't forget a single one of the memories that we make as a family
Blogs at: Frugal Family
Twitter: @frugalfamily