Chloe's Style

I’m sitting here at my computer with not one clue as to what I should write about. I have been thinking all morning and hoping it would come to me as it does sometimes. Sometimes I look at the program icon and something begins to come to me and I can hardly get it open and a new page started fast enough. Today I waited. I deleted emails and checked fb which is a huge taboo. I also checked a website for little girl clothes to see what’s trending, and sure enough it’s that one kind of dress which Chloe hates. Chloe has a style she is drawn to and it has nothing to do with trending styles. It has nothing to do with what anyone else is wearing or advertising because she doesn’t get out much. Her style has everything to do with how a dress makes her feel on the inside and who it makes her feel like on the outside. How competent it makes her feel, how bossy, how creative, how studious, how adventurous. She does not want to play princess anymore. I think that was ages three to six. Sometimes she likes to play fancy lady. You know, when a lady gets dressed up for tea. It may involve kid gloves and a bustley dress, a scarf and some baubley necklaces. A tea lady is dressed properly in lady attire and is serving tea to her guests. She speaks with an English accent, in proper English. She brings out the best dishes and tableware. She seats all the stuffed animals around the coffee table. Then there is the pirate, and the adventurer, the farmer and cowgirl, the pioneer woman. All of these must be attired. The time for feeling special and worth saving has changed into the time for hard work, adventure and saving others. We have the archaeologist and the builder. The painter and designer. Her poor Grandmother. Quite a few times lately I’ve had to tell her that Chloe will not wear those kind of dresses and it’s kind of a waste to keep buying them for her. I’m careful to ask if there is a chance she could return them or give them to someone else and that I’m sure they weren’t cheap and I hate to see them wasted. Really I wish she would bring her catalog over here and just let Chloe pick them out. That hasn’t happened yet. I look at the pile of clothes set aside for Good Will and wonder which lucky girl is going to get those brand new, never worn before clothes. It’s not that Chloe is picky. Most of the clothes we have bought her are from Good Will. She falls in love with some of the most unlikely but really cool outfits put together from inexpensive sources. We have the studious, I’m ready for school look which happens a lot lately since we’ve started back to our home school. It’s what helps her to feel the business of school work and getting things done. She changes at 10:00am to go and do chores. Then she changes back to get back to school mode. When school is out for the day she changes again into whatever it is she will be until dinner time. Some days she gets all dressed up for dinner. A velvet dress or lacy with proper shoes. I’m not sure where today’s style for this age group is coming from because I am not in the know about these sort of things. You might say that I have been out of the loop for a few years. I have noticed that the styles for girls this age tend to be toward the suggestive side, as opposed to the imaginative side. Little girls suggesting that they are big girls. Not on purpose but because that is what is available to them. Portraying perhaps an icon in the entertainment industry. I don’t know what girls this age are watching on television. Chloe doesn’t watch television. She doesn’t have much influence from the entertainment industry because we want her to discover who she is without any of that. She has a couple of favorite shows on Netflix but her time on that is limited. We have a movie night which we look forward to each week and generally watch together as a family, with pizza and popcorn. It is also our ice cream night. Usually we are ready for bed so that if the movie ends late we can just brush our teeth and pop into bed. All this being said, Chloe is still quite concerned about style. Chloe’s style. It is a wonderful thing for me as her mother to escort this imaginative and completely free child out in public. I’m thinking ‘oh, dear’ and her father raises his eyebrows as we get into the car. Recently she was a pioneer woman and had to have a bustle. She pulled one skirt after another on under her long dress and tied the belt. She really needed that bustle feel. We looked at her in that way since she also wore a scarf on her head. She was ready to go. We didn’t say anything. She enjoyed herself so much. Often when we are out I see other people respond to her, she brings a warm smile to many a face, especially in the proper lady attire, which includes a large brimmed hat with flowers. Her distance from today’s trends is so great it’s refreshing. Mostly though she just wears a pair of shorts or jeans and a T-shirt, just like any other almost 9 year old. The way clothes make you feel is an important part of growing up and discovering who you are and what you will do. Don’t get me started on foot wear. We’ve got cowboy boots, fancy boots, winter boots, rubber boots, black school girl shoes, silver glittery shoes, running shoes and sneakers. There are all colors of flip-flops and the favorite of all, bare feet.

Elizabeth Williams, daily writing exercise, 1,010 words