If you saw Zana, right now, you probably wouldn’t recognize her. It’s the first time in months (seriously) that she’s not wearing a tutu. The amount of dancewear this child owns could clothe a small country.
Here’s Zana in a tutu (and a crown) at the WWII Memorial:
At school beautification day:
And at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden:
Lira wears tutus too (ha), but she has to take them off every now and then to put on her school uniform:
Everywhere we go, there’s a reaction:
“Oh, look how adorable!”
“Is that another tutu?”
A lot of parents tell me they can sympathize; their kid went through a phase like this too. But I don’t know what the sympathy is for. It doesn’t bother me if the girls want to wear tutus every day… or slips… or princess dresses. Parents often tell me how they’ve had to fight to get their kids to wear pants. Who has time to fight about pants?!
I’m too busy with the major battles like “stop taking off your Pull-up and then wetting the bed” and “no, you cannot have Nutella for dinner.” (I probably should have never let her do that).
Despite some folk’s feelings about the “terrible tutu,” I’m truly okay with it. Maybe I’m too Texan? Every time I log on to Facebook, I see pictures of friends’ daughters wearing tutus; of course their tutus match the big bow in their hair and their embroidered onesie. When it’s one of my girls, a baseball hat replaces the headband and there’s Nutella on her face.
A lot has been written about girly girls, much of it negative, and I’ve often wondered if that’s what I’m raising. My daughters do wear an awful lot of pink; they play with Barbies and have seen every Disney princess movie (gasp!); but there’s much more to them than a feminine preference in clothing. My girly girls like to splash in puddles, pretend they’re dinosaurs and kick the soccer ball around the back yard. They paint their nails (yes, I let them) and then dig in the dirt. Most of their friends are girls but, then again, so are most of mine.
When did all of this become an issue? I know my mom never thought twice about the fact that I loved pink and never played with cars– except the one that Barbie drove to meet Ken. I believe that girls should be girls, whatever that means to them. I can’t help the fact that Lira and Zana like to twirl around in ruffles and frills. I’m proud of the fact that those frills are sometimes muddy; but if they weren’t muddy, that would be okay too. Childhood is a time to explore: wear what you want, play with what interests you. There’s plenty of time to conform. Of course, conformity has never been my battle cry…
What are your thoughts on the terrible tutu?
I love Zana and her tutus and your pictures–I see those purple crowns I brought over went further than I would have guessed. Twirling is fun.. When Silvia was 2 she wanted to dress like Diego, like a boy –but she also loved Tutus
Those crowns were a huge hit and continue to be a staple of their dress-up wardrobe. Silvia is part girly, part sporty and all adorable.
Tutus are great. I wish I wore them when I was a kid! Honestly its her expression to the world and if she having fun why stop her? Here is a good article I read one this very topic that you might find interesting.
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/preschool-wardrobe-wars/#more-19596
Great article! I totally agree and don’t think it’s a problem at all. I’m sure one day when they’re all grown up I will miss these tutu days…
I am with you. Childhood is a time to explore your imagination and figure out life. Kadence used to dress like spiderman everywhere we went and I really didn’t ccare. I would rather pick my battles for the important stuff and give them room on other things.
Spiderman! Epic awesomeness. I actually love seeing boys in costumes even more than girls– I think because it happens less frequently.