My three biggest boys are footballers. They climb trees. They make dens. They play in mud. They wrestle just for the hell of it. They practice their football kicks by scraping the toes of their shoes along the road. They go through trouser knees and shoes like I go through chocolate (although they don’t show anything like the same level of guilt).
On the last Bank Holiday you would have found me in the car at 6am winding my way along the country roads to the local annual mammoth car boot sale, the lynchpin in our financially-astute lifestyle. Every year here I buy the children’s smaller Christmas presents, books for me and the children, football trading cards (latest obsession) and any boys clothes I can find. But, despite racks and racks of clothes, there are very few older boys clothes, because they rarely survive well enough to be sold on.
I know this because I keep the local textiles recycling facility in business with the clothes I send to them for recycling because they are unfit to pass on.
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I was thrilled to be nominated as the winner of Laura’s competition to receive a box of clothes from Tesco’s Back to School range (@ClothingatTesco). Thanks to our recent delivery, the boys now have brand new trousers, shirts, summer shirts and stationery and I have a fab voucher to spend at Tesco clothes online.
I'm not sure who was more excited, me or my 'helper'.
So is it just mine or do your children tear through their clothes too?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the photo. There is no way Maxi can pass much on to Mini as he destroys clothes and mini well some things are lucky to last a week!
Oh my, it sounds like Mini would fit right in in our house!!
We go through clothes at a rate of knots here too. Scary – and there is always me howling in the background ‘please use your brakes to stop not the toes of your shoes!’ or something like that. Sigh.
My mother in law does however point out that clothes are a lot cheaper now than they were – when my husband used to put holes in his knees she would weep a little.
And then she would have to patch them
For my three boys, the older they are the faster the holes come.
You and I are in for an expensive few years, at least until they are old enough to buy their own clothes.
Yey! This is great. I only have two children and know what a pain uniform is, so I’m really glad you and your four won!
It was a great prize!
My son turned ten a few days ago. He doesn’t have a single pair of pants that hasn’t been patched at the knees or needs a patch at the knees.
His brand new trainers for school… He wore them there for the first time on the day the teacher decided playing soccer outside, after it had rained for most for the week, was the way to go. The trainers were white. Emphasis on were. Now they’re a muddy sort of brown green. Why there are no black trainers available I do not know.
I also realised yesterday that he’s managed to outgrow all but two of his t-shirts and all of his light sweatshirts suddenly have 3/4 sleeves. Oh and tonight he told me all but one pair of underpants don’t fit him any more. I’m not sure I want to know about his socks, but I’m guessing an entire new wardrobe is in order. OUCH, I can feel the pain in my wallet already.
It all sounds very familiar
I know you are not alone. I have 2 girls so they don’t tear clothing but the stains are never ending! My friend has an older daughter and is nice enough to pass along all her clothes to me. Her youngest is a boy and she said that she has a hard time finding hammy downs for him b/c like you said boys are just rough on clothes. We have a second hand store that is very picky about what they will buy and re-sale. My friend has had a decent amount of success finding things there. Congrats on your win! You gotta love free stuff
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