This seems so obvious I almost hate to list it. But like many "obvious" things, I never once thought of it until a friend suggested it.
Two of my son's friends from nursery school are fraternal twins. Their mother is very careful to only rarely put them in totally matching outfits, but when we go on playdates and it's not just the twins but the little one too, she is sure to put all of them in the same color shirt. This makes it easier to find them on the playground; once she remembers the "color of the day," it's easier to scan for that color and then the face rather than the other way around.
So why is this the '80s flashback? I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of almost an entire boys' wardrobe, from infant to size 5, when Son 1 was born. (Alas, when the donor cousin started wearing size 6, much to many peoples' surprise, a brother came along and the hand-me-overs stopped cold. Bummer, but understandable.) Not only was I lucky that the clothes arrived to begin with, but the cousins who provided them have excellent taste (by which I mean, our taste in clothes for the most part overlaps). Of course, their son apparently would wear overalls, which mine will not, but otherwise, it has been an amazing gift to us.
However, whoever bought these clothes was clearly very happy in the '80s (as was I). A shocking number of the pants (for a boys' wardrobe) are bright yellow (think construction hats) or fluorescent orange. I wouldn't usually pick these. But, when we are going somewhere crowded, they are my first choice. It makes them easy to find, and (G-d forbid) easy to describe if one gets away from me. It has saved me time and time again from needless worry, and has me putting the boys in different clothes than I or they might normally pick, allowing the wardrobe to expand a bit.
That's what works for me! For more (and probably more original!) ideas, go see Shannon's blog at Rocks in my Dryer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Great tip! Now that I have two kiddos, I've been wondering how Mommies keep track of more than one at the park/playplace (the baby is not quite mobile yet.) After losing sight of my son for the hundredth time at the McDonald's playplace, I started keeping a white tshirt in the car. I'd just change his shirt if I felt compelled to let him expend some energy, and he was easier to see among the primary colors of his playmates and the play equipment.
Great idea! We do something similar...b/c we live in the southern hemisphere we have to be very careful about sunburn. So, our kids are always wearing hats when we go out. The older two have bright orange baseball caps (with cute Disney pics on them to counteract the color to make it easier for them to want to wear!) and we are in the process of trying to find a similar one for #3. They are easy to spot in a crowd and it has helped us a number of times!
I try to always dress the kids (five) in matching colors when we travel or hit the amusement park/fair. I was very glad my oldest (and quite tall these days at 5'11") wore an unusual hat to the fair this week (Civil War hat). I was always able to pick him out of the crowd. Ha!
Next year I'll pick a different color for our fair shirts - too many other groups wearing red. Maybe I'll do turquoise or bright orange instead. :)
Duckabush Blog
Post a Comment