I was so happy to read this article on the heels of taking my 10 year old shopping. The low rise pants have been an issue for a couple years now -- utterly ridiculous since she's only now a preteen. My daughter looks longingly at the Bobby Jack t-shirts everyone else is wearing (the monkey with the bratty phrases) and I'm put in a position of refusing to buy them for her. Long shirts seem to have come into style this year, thank goodness, so it is a little easier to keep her covered up.

My other problems shopping for my tween are the lack of sizes to fit her and shoes. She is in the ninetieth percentile for height and weight. She is well-proportioned, but her belly is a little round. It is very nearly impossible to find pants that fit her for an affordable price. It has long felt to me that even children's clothes are made only for the skinny. It makes her feel just awful about herself, and more than one shopping trip has included tears. And the shoes that are available for kids. Who wants their daughter running around in heels or platform flip-flops? Apparently a lot of people do.

In the stores, I get into so many conversations with other mothers about the ridiculous state of girls' clothing. There must be some way to make our voices heard.

when i was going through puberty, i remember a lot of that awkwardness. i wasnt fat, but you've got baby fat still in somem places and then you've got womanly curves starting to come in in others. and everyone goes through this at a different rate and it's incredibly hard to find anything to look good on you. this was quite a few years ago, and i can only imagine it's even more difficult now when everyone wants to dress like they are 23 instead of 13. i've had to watch my little sister go through the same thing instead of worse because she grew tall early and for a few years there, it was almost impossible to find things to fit her that still were as "young" as her mentality. oh. and most of the shoes you could find had heels, as if fourth and fifth graders need heels for some reason. i'm not a podiatrist, but isn't that kind of thing bad when your feet are still developing? (not too mention i was so clumsy around that age, my leg would've been in a cast year round if i were wearing heels then)!

My tween daughter doesn't even ask to try on pants in stores anymore--nothing fits her. I buy her jeans in plus sizes from Gap Kids and stretch pants from Gap Kids, Old Navy, and L. L. Bean (and, yeah, I have to pay full price for most of them--and believe me, I'm grateful we can afford it). I send back anything that doesn't fit or she doesn't like. It's frustrating not to be able to try things on, but it's way better than spending hours shopping and finding nothing that fits.

She did get some cute tops at Kohl's this year. The quality is mediocre, but the sale prices were reasonable, and she enjoyed the chance to pick some things out herself rather than having me order them for her.