Hand me downs, Part 2 - the children

You may think that someone who had to suffer the indignity of wearing flares in the 80s would not want their own children to be dressed in second hand clothes, but you would be wrong. 
In fact I have rarely bought my boys new clothes. Between the grandmothers picking up bits for them (often from charity shops) and my lovely friends passing clothes on to me, I just haven’t had to. I consider myself very lucky. But do the boys think so too? Actually, at the ages of 5 and 3, they do. Fortunately, my boys really look up to the older boys whose clothes the get, so think it’s really cool to be wearing Billy’s coat or James’s shirt. They’re not embarrassed about it at all and will actually ask “will Billy be there, I’ll wear his t-shirt”. And my elder son has made me change before now so we can all go out wearing coats that used to belong to Ingrid’s family. He found it hilarious. I know this won’t last but am making the most of it while I can.

I’m not all take, take, take, I do pass on clothes myself. Admittedly, not much makes it through both of mine especially as it was second (third or fourth) hand in the first place, but as I’m a keen recycler, I’d never throw anything away that still had some life left in it. I’ve recently had a big clear out and passed on some of the boys outgrown clothes to friends of mine which has been appreciated. It’s actually lovely for me too as I get to see clothes that I loved on my boys still being worn.

So, as I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of pass me downs. It makes even more sense with children as they’ve quite often grown out of stuff before it’s got any wear. I do feel a little guilty sometimes though when I present the boys with something new and they say “whose was it?” “How do you know it’s not new” I ask and they look at me as it to say “Mum, this is you we’re talking about” – and they’re always right.

Sophie x