Just Curious Why

There is something ridiculously adorable about my boys (2.5 year apart) in matching pj's. They have very different looks and personalities, yet when they are snuggled up beside each other, reading in their matching pjs, it's such a poignant reminder of the sweet connection they share.

I dress my kids in matching pajamas, I have a 3 yr old and a 10 month old. My 3 yr old gets really excited about it, she likes to pick out which pjs they are both going to wear. Other than that I usually dont match them. I did get them both skeleton shirts for Halloween, so.if the baby was wearing his, my dd would have to go.change so.she could wear hers too. My guess why some people dress their kids to match is maybe the kids like it??

My younger boys are 22 months apart and loved matching outfits. They even do it now at ages 6 & 8 from time to time. My oldest son would sometimes join in - they'd all show up at the breakfast table wearing, say, red t-shirts and blue jeans. My middle son thought it was so cool when we could find something in both his "big boy" size and a baby size for his little brother.

Oh the answer is obvious. Sometimes it's just too cute to resist!

As a twin I feel like I can answer your question. My mom dressed my sister and I alike all the time, although sometimes the same outfit in different colors. It stopped when we were about 5 or 6, and we developed opinions about what we wanted to wear. However, we often chose to dress alike. We especially did for special occasions, and it was fun! We always enjoyed it and the attention that came with it. Even to this day (and I'm 35) my sister and I STILL dress the same from time to time.

When growing up I often wondered the same thing as you! Those kids are clearly NOT twins. Why are they dressed alike? It actually annoyed me.

Fast forward and I now have two boys, ages 4 and 6. And yes, sometimes I dress them alike. Often it is for special occasions or pictures. The biggest reason is because they LOVE it.

But, you are right. It depends on the kids. Mine have similar personalities (to some extent) and enjoy wearing the same thing. Plus, little brother loves to be like big brother. Hope that helps!

I just think its a fun thing to do that some people are totally into (others not, which is ok too). My mom was a sewer and we have a couple family easter pictures with us in coordinating handmade Easter dresses... so cute and so dorky! There were 4 of us girls at the time, and my then 16 y/o sister is in this sexy off the shoulder 80's version of Easter dress, the 12 year old in matching 80's open shirt of the same pattern and an 80's belt, 6 year old me in a cute kid dress, and the baby girl in a little romper. All the same floral pattern. I know my mom must have been so proud of her ability to knock out four matching ensembles.

This same mom totally encouraged the twins' in their love of matching "same but different" clothes (these two were #5 and #6 of the family so that was beyond my moms sewing capacity, thankfully for all us older sisters who were mostly teenagers and up by then) but my mom bought them everything in coordinating sameness, like identicle blue and green dresses, and they loved it. They were doing "same but different" well into 4th grade.

All 5 of my sisters and I dress pretty similarly though and swap clothes when we can.

I haven't done too much matchy-matchy for my own girls, mostly because I rarely purchase them clothes I have so many hand-me-downs. The few times I have it is pretty darn cute.

I also remember a period where my elementary BFF and I would buy each other outfits for our birthdays, and show up to the party wearing that very outfit- like my new outfit? Got it for you too! Then we would call each other and wear it to school on the same day. We loved the attention and when people asked "did you plan it?" we always said no :)

I guess I have to admit I am pretty down with the matching, for funsies.

My mom just thought it was cute to have daughters in similar clothes sometimes and my sister liked dressing like me. And sometimes it was about a good sale. We were the same size for a bit (I'm the shorter sister) so Mom would get 2 sweatshirts if they were a good price. Even though we are not twins, I look back fondly on old pictures where we had the same Easter dress in different colors or the exact same dress that our mom made. Sometimes DD likes to imitate SD and dress like her, too. It's just cute.

Even now, my sister and I sometimes show up at family events in similar clothes. Or half of the family will accidentally show up in purple.

I do have twins who are now 6 years old and they love to dress alike. Most of our clothes are hand-me-downs so they rarely have an outfit that is identical but they always like them when we have one. My older daughter who is 8 also wants to be part of the crowd so on occasion, they have all been wearing the same outfit together. The push to dress the same comes completely from them, not me. I do think it depends a lot on the individual kids.

My boys are three years apart. There are many times when I would dress them in co-ordinated outfits, if not matching. First, I would often have the same item in both sizes because if I found it on sale I would get one for each. If we are going out, and the boys are in dress clothes or dress casual, then their dress clothes will likely be very similar. For portraits I like them in matching or co-ordinated clothes. I would always dress them in matching clothes, or at least colours when we were going to be in a large crowd (amusement park, museum, mall, sporting events etc.). It just made it much easier to keep visual tabs on them. (Daycares do this when they take kids on outings.) They dress themselves now, so they don't usually match, but they both wear the same styles of clothes most of the time.

My Mother is a tailor. When I was younger, my sister and I often had matching sun dresses and skirts because she made them(and often my sister wanted one just like it).
As we grew older, even when our styles differed, we still either shared clothes(this was around High School for her) or made/had Mother make matching pieces. She liked her skirts shorter and flirtier, and I liked them longer. We're both girly and tom boy all rolled into one.

We're both parents now and we look back on those pictures of us growing up with smiles.

My two girls, less than three years apart, own about 3 sets of matching clothes (did if for photo op) and about as many matching PJ's. If I ever dare put the little one in PJ's that come matching, the older will go and change into the matching PJ. She loves being twins with her sister. I have stopped buying the exact same clothing for them because I can see I will tire of looking at them (the clothes) when the baby gets the hand-me-down. So now I do occasionally put them in similar, but not identical looks when I can be that organized. It stream lines shopping, dressing and its adorable. I love shopping at Naartje and do mix and match, coordinating, yet different outfits. I don't see why anyone would care or be bothered if a mother wanted to dress non twins the same. Its such a non issue to me.

When my boys were little, I dressed them similar... both in red plaids at x-mas or both wearing stripes (yellow and blue or red and blue). They are 20 months apart. I thought it was cute - and even still they like to be matchers (they are 7 and 6). They currently have matching Darth Vader T-shirts and also matching gymboree shirts with airplanes, oh - and also KU shirts that match their Dad's shirt :) My daughter likes to match them - so sometimes all 3 end up being similar or the same.

I guess I just like that they like each other so much.

My oldest boys dress alike on their own. One is a few months away from 12 and the other will be 9 next month. I am ordering matching pajamas today for my 3 to wear on Christmas day, they asked me if I had done it yet. We've dressed all 5 of us the same before and everyone gets a kick out of it. If we don't all have exact matching shirts we will all wear shirts to match in some way, like all Star Wars or something.
The easy answer is because it's fun. We all share so many interests as a family. It's never a forced thing, we just do it because we want to.
You aren't going to loose the kids' individuality. They will still do things their way. Clothes do not define a child.

My mom told me once that when we were little, when she found a sale on an outfit for my sister, she'd get the same for me. Also, she made alot of our clothes, so I guess since she had the material and patterns out for one kid, she might as well make something for the other kid as well and just took an inch or two off.

my cousin has twins that are 4 and a 6 year old. she dresses them in cooridinating outfits a lot. ussually same style and colors but a bit diferent and does their hair all the same
she was a hair stylist and is into fashion...she pulls it off really good/

ussually i think the same as you do, but i like when its cooridinating but isnt the same. its cuture for photo ops too

i also think its because her kids want to. she;s so inot fashion and style and they J. let her do it.

some people just find it cute. Kind of like how some people find that putting those huge flower bows in their babies heads that are just as big as their babies heads are cute (as you can tell this makes me want to barf no offense to anyone JMO)

My girls are not more much than a year apart so it just simplified things. I didn't have to find so many different outfits that I liked all the time and at a young age, they often liked the same things anyway. Both are girlie too. I do think it was cute when they were young. I didn't do it a lot but often I'd really like a dress and my girls have the same body type so it made sense to get one for each. They didn't always wear the dresses etc at the same time. Now that they're older, it's not so cute and they have their own opinions and the styles that suit them are starting to be really different too so it's rare now. I only would raise an eyebrow if a mother did it all the time - twins or not - or when the kids were say 9 and older.

I used to dress my son's alike till they got old enough to decide what they wonted to wear for themselves except for on vacations. They up till two years ago on vacations to Disney or Sea World they would dress similar not necessarily identical and that was so they where easy to find.

Think of it being a little bit as being a family uniform.
We don't wear a family tartan pattern, but if we're on vacation, we'll all wear the same Hawaiian shirt.
Especially when our son was little I wanted to be able to point to mine and say "He's wearing this" if he was ever missing (but he never got lost).

My best friend's daughter and step daughters range in age from about 9 - 11 and they love to dress alike. They have been doing this since they met. They are always dressing in the same clothes and it is because they want to. So I guess it just depends on the kids. I am sure they will grow out of it soon, but it is sweet.

It won't harm kids' individuality to dress them the same as a sibling when small. People have always liked doing that. I don't, but others do! Actually, my mom made my daughters (3 1/2 years apart) matching dresses which they wore all day once for photos at my grandma's 90th birthday. I saw no harm in it.

My two girls are 14 months apart and i dress them alike sometimes. I think they look cute and most of the time they like being dress the same. And its easy because if i get one outfit the other one flips out because they wanted that one too.Their brother i will sometimes get a shirt that matches their dress or clothes because it looks cute and because i know when they get older they wouldn't want the same clothes or similiar clothes to match. None of them YET had a problem with it. People always comment and said they look so cute to be matching or whatever. So i see no problem. :)

My mother dress my sister and I (23 months apart) alike when we were younger. Of course when we got to "that" age we didn't want to look alike or even wear dresses anymore.My mother accepted it and let us choose what we want.

Good explanations below, and I also think there is a convenience factor. It was easier to dress my sister and I in the same dresses, but we did get to wear our own color at least. I was the oldest and hated it . . . on the other side, my best friend and her sister were dressed alike, and she loved it! She is the younger of the 2 though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I am a twin and my mom dressed us the same but in different colors. It was cute and we liked it. Up until we were about 7/8 yrs old, then we had our own taste and styles. I really don't see anything wrong with it. You are still an individual. As long as its not too creepy looking like those twins in the Shining!!! lol

My mom did that often for my sister and I. We are two years apart and look very dissimilar. I hated it. BUT...I think she did it for several reasons...
1. She thought it was easier to pick out one outfit in two sizes.
2. She thought she was "being fair." (Something she was always concerned about.)
3. She thought we looked cute.

I agree with you, however, and try to recognize the two very different personalities present in my two boys. They never have matching clothes. We do use hand-me-downs, however!

because sometimes it's cute.
sometimes the kids want to.
sometimes a beloved friend or relative gave them matching outfits.
there are as many different reasons as there are people.
khairete
S.

You answered your own question.
My boys are 3 years apart. We have dressed them the same before because they WANTED to dress the same. If they don't we certainly wouldn't force it on them.
Depends on the kids.

The parents like the coordination factor of the outfits. It's cute. Regardless of how you are dressed that doesn't cover up that you are different people (kids), individuals. Plus, kids will certainly tell you when they don't want to wear something. My daughter went through a girlie stage for a few years, now she loves sweats, t-shirts, ugg boots and jeans.

My girls are 5 and 7 and they mostly LIKE to dress like each other. I take them shopping to pick out their clothes and while they do pick some things different they like to dress similar, coordinated, or straight up matching. True sometimes when they were little I dressed them a like or in the same thing but different colors. It was fun. As long as what they are wearing is weather appropriate and somewhat goes together they have a lot of control over what they wear.

I think it depends on the mom. Every so often I would get these catalogs that pretty much you could even dress your extended family the same!! Creepy I know. I used to set them on the cocktail table and tell my kids behave or that's you for the holiday pictures.

Oh yeah, I was mother of the year! :p

I am not sure what drives it but I know it comes from the one buying the clothes.

My second child turned out to be twins and I always said that.my kids would not dress alike because of the individuality thing. Well the first time little sis got a new dress big sis was mad cuz she wanted it. I joked this must be why people dress their kids alike. I do like to coordinate,not necessarily match, their outfits for holidays cuz it's cute. My girls are 4 and 2 now and think it's fun to dress alike.

My DIL does that with the boys. I never did that n my kids were only a year apart. They are all different and if you hand down clothes you are looking at the same clothes for years. Boring.

For the same reason that parents and children all dress in the same color when they go somewhere or for a group photo. They think it's cute and shows togetherness.

I agree with Lizard's answer, too. For some it seems to be just easier.

I have an aunt who is six years my senior. My grandmother used to try to dress us alike, and my mother had to tell her to stop it. She is big on "fairness" among the kids and always wants to do the exact same thing (at least in value) for each. There is no such thing as doing something special for one. Even her kids are all named after other people. She had two sets of children, two men, four kids. In order, they are named after husband number one, grandmother's brother, husband number two, grandmother. Yes, her one daughter is named after her, and she si big on naming children after their fathers. Oh, but I digress.

if i had two children i would dress alike (or very simalar) for pictures. but thats it.