Pre teen boys....Do their clothes ever match?

[Ottakee]

Older ds was easy...Jean or jean shorts with a t shirt or hoodie.

 

Now 12 year old fds likes track pants and gym shorts. Great....flexible sizing, etc......but not so great as that you have black with red trim, navy with neon green trim, gray with orange trim, etc......then add in T shirts and the boy never matches. How do you match a brown and gold T shirt ( local school colors) to any normal gym shorts? Where does the turquoise camp shirt go? The green Michigan State T shirt, etc.

 

Now Thursday we added his 8 year old brother to the family so I have 2 boys that will never ever coordinate their clothes.

 

Is this typical for this age group? I can't afford to go out and buy all new coordinating clothes or gym shorts to match all of these t shirts. Yet I hate having them look like ragamuffins.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Ottakee

[zoobie]

Typical, though I only have one. Random athletic-type apparel seems normal. :)

[Acorn]

Very typical, and I only argue it for special occasions. However my 10 year old was also just diagnosed medium level of red/green color blind.

[regentrude]

Typical. And they don't look like ragamuffins; they look like preteens who don't care particularly that their clothes "match". "Matching" is an arbitrary cultural construct anyway. It's gym clothes... making them color coordinated does not make them look any better. The important thing is that they are covered and comfortable.

 

When you replace T shirts anyway, you can make sure to buy neutral ones. Black goes with everything.

 

ETA: DS would dress up for special occasions - as in, real pants and a nice T shirt

Edited June 25, 2016 by regentrude

[Arcadia]

Very common :)

My DS10 lives in red polo shirt and blue jeans everyday and he is an outlier. My DS11 will just grab any clean shirt and pants.

[maize]

Why would it matter?

[JudoMom]

Ds15 pretty much only wears athletic shorts and shirts.  Even in winter, when it is snowing.  But I digress.  He's a former tumbling & trampoline gymnast and a current football player, so he's working out most days.  However, most of his clothing is grey, black, or green, so it's kind of geranimals style ;).  He doesn't really care what he looks like, so I've found it easiest to stick to his favorite color palette.

All that to say, just go more neutral as you have to replace items.  

My younger two boys have some different colored athletic shorts (though they don't wear them unless they're going rock climbing or doing something similar).  They are usually mismatched.  I do admit to drawing the line at the youngest wearing the burgundy shorts and his purple shirt with a blue shark on it.  That just hurts my eyes ;). 

[Ottakee]

Why would it matter?

Partly because they are foster children and I don't want them to stick out from their peers and seem like no one cares about them.

 

We do have one or 2 nicer outfits for church and dress up.

 

I will try to purchase more neutral clothing as I buy more but we got a lot of stuff given to us which was great as $150 for a complete wardrobe (including tennis shoes, snow pants, coats ,boots, etc) does not go far.

[JudoMom]

Partly because they are foster children and I don't want them to stick out from their peers and seem like no one cares about them.

 

We do have one or 2 nicer outfits for church and dress up.

 

I will try to purchase more neutral clothing as I buy more but we got a lot of stuff given to us which was great as $150 for a complete wardrobe (including tennis shoes, snow pants, coats ,boots, etc) does not go far.

 

I understand.  Work with what you have.  I do talk to my younger boys about coordinating as best they can, and they'll ask me if something matches now (they've got a few pair of plaid shorts, which adds an interesting dynamic :P).  They aren't going to stick out, but I get your reasoning.  I would just talk them through what works best with the clothing they have.

[maize]

Partly because they are foster children and I don't want them to stick out from their peers and seem like no one cares about them.

 

 

Ah, yes. I can see how making sure they are comfortable and do no stand out is important.

 

I'm not one to notice such things, I'm happy if my ds puts on a clean t-shirt before going out (his shirts are always dirty, even if he has only had them on for an hour or so...). I rather suspect most pre-teen boys don't care much about matching clothes.

[KrissiK]

No! They don't ever match. I don't even look at my 12 & 13 year old boys when we leave the house. Except on Sundays before we leave for church.

[Julie Smith]

Very typical, and I only argue it for special occasions. However my 10 year old was also just diagnosed medium level of red/green color blind.

 

For slightly special occasions I insist on a solid color T-shirt, and as close to solid color shorts that they have. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Neither of mine do/did this, but what they did do and still do is have no concept of dressing for the weather.  So sweatshirts when it's hot and t-shirts when it's cold.  Drives me bonkers. 

[Jan in SC]

They will not look any different than most other boys that age. I was in a store the other day and saw a boy about that age with a black t-shirt and navy shirts with bright yellow lobsters all over the shorts. It looked great on him- seriously. I could never have made that work.

[lovinmyboys]

I understand. My boys live in athletic clothes and they always have some random color stripe or something that makes it hard to match. It bugs me when they don't match, but it seems to me that their friends don't match either. I have started looking for plain gray or black bottoms for them so any shirt will match. It is harder to find those then ones with a stripe.

[happi duck]

Ahh, the track pants/gym shorts years! Bonus points if the track pants are too short in record time.

 

We didn't have trouble with matching because back then it seemed everything was black, red and gray. It was hard to find other colors.

[Laurel]

Nope. When I went summer clothes shopping with dss14 a month ago, he picked out shorts he liked and then picked out shirts. I pointed out that none of them matched, but it didn't bother him. And he wears them all, and doesn't care one bit.

I think as long as the clothes are appropriately sized, new-ish looking, and relatively clean, they will look fine. I understand your concern.

[Tita Gidge]

Older ds was easy...Jean or jean shorts with a t shirt or hoodie.

 

Now 12 year old fds likes track pants and gym shorts. Great....flexible sizing, etc......but not so great as that you have black with red trim, navy with neon green trim, gray with orange trim, etc......then add in T shirts and the boy never matches. How do you match a brown and gold T shirt ( local school colors) to any normal gym shorts? Where does the turquoise camp shirt go? The green Michigan State T shirt, etc.

 

Now Thursday we added his 8 year old brother to the family so I have 2 boys that will never ever coordinate their clothes.

 

Is this typical for this age group? I can't afford to go out and buy all new coordinating clothes or gym shorts to match all of these t shirts. Yet I hate having them look like ragamuffins.

 

:lol: mine only wear athletic shorts to workouts or sports practices, which are times they're not really trying to dress to impress. But it drives me nuts!! I buy mostly black or gray shorts, but they come with a variety of trims - like you say, some are neon and some are just odd colors we don't wear a lot of. There's no way to match them well to tee-shirts, especially if your boys are like mine. Mine are all roughly the same size, so they swap shirts and I can't stay atop of them. And it seems every camp or event they attend offers them a free shirt, usually in colors we wouldn't normally pick. For my own viewing pleasure, I do my best to stick with black or gray sports shorts. When I find decent ones without trim, I stock up. But it's hard to find those with pockets, which the boys all insist on having.

 

But as other posters say, this seems to be a common boy thing. The only ones who ever seem to care are the moms!  I've had this conversation IRL other moms LOL.

 

Congratulations on your new boy!

[Julie Smith]

For Eldest almost all his favorite clothes happen to be mostly the same shade of blue, with a stripe or words in the same shade of bright orange.

[gingersmom]

My 16 year old still does not match. According to him if he likes it it's okay.

Edited June 25, 2016 by gingersmom

[Janeway]

All the shorts here are khaki or black (the athletic ones are black). Those go with anything, literally. Problem solved.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My 11 year old can find a way to mismatch jeans.

[J&JMom]

I let them wear whatever as I am thrilled they still don't mind clearance/sale stuff from Kohls.  However, I do draw they line at high waters (pants that are several inches too short). My 13 yo son will argue to wear the fool things!  

[LucyStoner]

My son who turns 13 day after tomorrow just doesn't give a flippity flarn. He doesn't wear much athletic wear as he's not into sports much and he hates baggy stuff and on his frame most athletic pants are very loose on the legs. I don't mind but I do have to occasionally stop him from wearing his dress pants to go play in the mud or hike or do volunteer conservation work. I also have to remind him not to wear all cotton next to his skin on wet winter hikes.

 

He also has a particular hoodie I would love to burn but I keep my mouth shut unless he wants to wear it to a funeral or something.

[Critterfixer]

Not a lot of color coordination going on here, either. But then I don't always match, so I'm probably not the best of role models.

[nd293]

Typical here with ds9, and I agree on the 'ragamuffin' look! He finds jeans stiff and uncomfortable, though. I can't fault him on the thinking: boys jeans seem much harder than women's jeans, at least the stretch ones I buy.

 

I only buy pants in plain and neutralcolours, and try to keep those in mind when buying shirts. Dd or I occasionally 'veto' something he's put on, like the black, grey and burgundy shirt with the blue pants. And I tell him when he looks good, with details about why "Those pants match the colour of the trim on that shirt". I really need to put in a concerted effort to find him comfortable jeans.

[HeWillSoar]

Yep, sounds like us--grey and green striped shirt with black track pants with a yellow stripe down the side.   If we are at home I don't care but if he has a class or something, I'll send him back up with some advice on finding something that matches/fits.  There are always the high water pants going on here too that I have to watch out for.  Or food stains on clothes. 

[Ottakee]

Sounds like these boys are in company then. If they would wear blue jeans it would be a lot easier.

[Wabi Sabi]

My 11 year old has a self imposed uniform and thus always matches : 

He has multiple pairs of the same gray pants. 
All of his shorts are gray or some sort of gray/white/black plaid. 
He has a bunch of solid t-shirts all in white, gray, or teal. 
His pajamas are solid gray.
All of his athletic shorts and pants are gray. 
Both pairs of his sneakers are gray and black. 
He has a good gray wool sweater and a gray hoodie. 
He has several nice plaid button up shirts all in gray/white/black/teal and one gray tie. 
One pair of black dress shoes. 

No matter what he wears, he matches and coordinates! It's super easy to shop for him, but sometimes a little annoying because when we get hand me downs he won't wear them unless they fit his color scheme. 

[Emba]

DS8 has the same problem.  I got him some turquoise shorts, once, with gray trim, and I've regretted it ever since, because he loves them but has no idea of how to coordinate an outfit with them.  Ditto for the green plaid shorts.

[momof4inco]

I'm glad to see that other people have this problem. My two oldest are 12 and 11. I used to buy them lots of khaki cargo shorts and my oldest loved to wear polo shirts to school. Now, they wear athletic shorts all day, may or may not have a shirt that comes close to matching, and they often wear the same clothes to bed. Then, when I ask them change clothes the next day, I hear, "But I just changed clothes yesterday!"

 

They don't understand why they have to change underwear everyday. DD and DS3 will have an appropriate amount of underwear in the hamper, DS1 and DS2 will have 2 or 3 pairs they wore over 7-10 days. Who takes a shower and puts dirty underwear on afterwards? It scares me. I feel like I failed them.

[Tenaj]

We had two baseball games for our kids today.  I realized AFTER we got home from the first one that my 12 yods was wearing lime green basketball-type shorts with a red/white/blue patriotic shirt :)  Yep, he went out in public like that.  I'm not sure whether to be more horrified that he dressed like that or that I went out with him and didn't even notice until we returned home!

 

In my defense for not noticing, he rode with his older brother to the game and sat in the shade while I sat in the sun, so I guess we weren't really together all that much, but I did definitely see him several times without noticing it.  He must have me conditioned.

Edited June 26, 2016 by JanOH

[heartlikealion]

This thread makes me feel better. I was having similar thoughts tonight as I was packing a bag for ds. One pair of athletic shorts was purchased with a matching top but I can't find the matching top anywhere. His shorts are a big mix... plaid, khaki, athletic with multi colors and camo. It helps that a few of his shirts are black with a picture. I figure that matches more of his shorts. What's funny is we have a big problem with socks here. He has a million different kinds of socks (some were gifts). There are a lot of days I just can't find the match so he wears mismatched socks. Like the crew socks all have one colored stripe but I can't seem to find the pair so he'll go out with one gray stripe and one blue lol. The no show socks are crazy. Some are orange and black with strips and another pair is orange and black camo. Then another pair has one stripe while yet another has multiple stripes. I'll find two blue/gray socks but then realize one has the mult stripes while the other has just one. Drives me bonkers. Sometimes he'll just go without socks because the style of shoes look ok without socks, but I prefer him to wear socks.

 

nd293, one of ds' pairs of jeans is from The Children's Place and they are kinda thin, but seem comfortable.

[fdrinca]

Ds15 pretty much only wears athletic shorts and shirts.  Even in winter, when it is snowing.  But I digress.  He's a former tumbling & trampoline gymnast and a current football player, so he's working out most days.  However, most of his clothing is grey, black, or green, so it's kind of geranimals style ;).  He doesn't really care what he looks like, so I've found it easiest to stick to his favorite color palette.

 

All that to say, just go more neutral as you have to replace items.  

 

My younger two boys have some different colored athletic shorts (though they don't wear them unless they're going rock climbing or doing something similar).  They are usually mismatched.  I do admit to drawing the line at the youngest wearing the burgundy shorts and his purple shirt with a blue shark on it.  That just hurts my eyes ;). 

 

All of my children are horribly mismatched. We get a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift store clothing, and they have...opinions...while my only opinion is that they are dressed in clean weather-appropriate clothes.

 

I will say that **neon** has been spectacular in getting my son to dress in a reasonably coordinated manner. Neon goes with neon. All colors, all designs. Bonus: I can always find him a crowd. 

[SharonUF]

Nope. They do not care one bit if their clothes match. They also do not care about wearing clean underwear or socks each day, but that is a topic for another thread.

[Tita Gidge]

Nope. They do not care one bit if their clothes match. They also do not care about wearing clean underwear or socks each day, but that is a topic for another thread.

 

My sons are all active and competitive athletes. They play hard, they train hard, they sweat hard - several hours each day. Their socks remind me of those toddler years when your kid exploded in his cotton undies and you're just like ... "Yeah, these are beyond washing!" and you tossed them. These things could probably walk themselves through the door and load themselves into the washing machine.

 

We remove our shoes at the door when we come inside. I make them remove their socks, too, because I don't want the smell following them into the house. So we have a pile of socks and shoes at the door. THEY WILL PUT ON EACH OTHERS' DISGUSTING, SWEATY, SMELLY SOCKS because they'd rather do that than take 1 minute to run to their bedroom or the laundry room to get a clean pair.

 

EACH OTHERS' socks. Not just their own dirty socks.

 

I'm not sure where I went wrong with these kids. Maybe it was all those years I made them share undies? LOL It grosses me out. I actually moved all of their clean socks into the laundry room which is about four steps from the door, but even those four steps are too much for them to manage in the name of cleanliness and hygiene. I gave up. I keep telling them they better hope none of them brings home some kind of athlete's foot or something.

[MEmama]

I will say that **neon** has been spectacular in getting my son to dress in a reasonably coordinated manner. Neon goes with neon. All colors, all designs. Bonus: I can always find him a crowd.

Mine does this too. It's awesome. :)

 

Other than that phase, it's never even occurred to me that pre/teen boys "should" be matchy matchy in their clothing selections. Not that I really notice such things, but I would think it unusually stuffy looking if they were. Like a school uniform, but off duty as it were.

 

The OP sounds like she has good reasons to make sure appearances are well maintained, but I don't think perfectly matching outfits are necessary. Does anyone dress that way? (Honest question, I don't really notice what other people are wearing).

[Critterfixer]

 

So we have a pile of socks and shoes at the door.

 

I think my sons have trained me to just always have the washing machine open to dump dirty clothes right in. This summer I've noticed that I really ought to keep a little bottle of anti-smell to spray on top of clothes before I even start the water up over some of the sock infested loads.

[wintermom]

Nope. Often their socks don't match, either, which is a little bit of a mystery as I rarely buy anything other than black socks for them. ;) 

 

The only special instructions they have for their church clothes are: no holes, clean, solid colour shirts. 

[Jan in SC]

Also- you won't be in the athletic stage forever.  Now, my guys will only wear it for relaxing at home, working outside, or sports.  They want nice clothes that match for everything else.  

[Emba]

Mine does this too. It's awesome. :)

 

Other than that phase, it's never even occurred to me that pre/teen boys "should" be matchy matchy in their clothing selections. Not that I really notice such things, but I would think it unusually stuffy looking if they were. Like a school uniform, but off duty as it were.

 

The OP sounds like she has good reasons to make sure appearances are well maintained, but I don't think perfectly matching outfits are necessary. Does anyone dress that way? (Honest question, I don't really notice what other people are wearing).

 

I generally don't say anything, but sometimes the green plaid and mismatched whatever are so eye-wateringly bad that I have to ask him to change.  I don't EXPECT him to see the difference on his own (DD10 has a similar blindness to matching things).  Some combinations are so painful, though, that I don't want to see them or be seen in public with them. :)  My DS also wants to wear cowboy boots with shorts sometimes, which I find equally painful.

 

[Emba]

Both DS and DD started out as foster children.  I definitely understand OP's desire to not have them look like they've dressed out of the rag bag.  I think my standards for their outfits have declined since we've adopted them and I don't worry about what people think as much.

[Farrar]

Some of my boys' friends match, but most of them are like mine - totally a mess. I do try to get neutral shorts but they somehow acquire random other ones. Like, we own three pairs of orange shorts. I only have the vaguest notion where they came from.

[Ewe Mama]

My boys look like they belong at a Grumpy Old Men convention most of the time. Alvin insists on wearing white tube socks with shorts. Simon is the King of Clash. Theodore regularly pairs plaid shorts with striped shirts. I have been known to hide their "favorite outfits" if I know we need to be seen in public the following day.

 

Usually they are fine wearing whatever they want. I just wish I didn't have to chase them around with deodorant or threaten bodily harm to get them to take a shower. I can't believe how stinky they get and they don't even care. And they always want to hug me. Shudder.

 

ETA. Theodore will not change his socks. Ever. I literally have to pry them off of his feet. He showers with them on if I don't take them off. If he ever steps in a dog accident puddle, he will take off the wet sock and just wear the dry one for days until he finally decides the remaining sock has too many holes to bother with any longer. His socks die an agonizingly painful death. If I do manage to snag his socks and wash them, he will only put that pair back on. He will not touch another pair of socks until the first pair is so old/stained/full of holes that they must be discarded.

 

I thank the Good Lord above that he doesn't do that with his underwear.

Edited June 27, 2016 by Ewe Mama