Set The Rules, Being Fair

Realizing that your child wants to have their own unique personality and wants to fit in with everyone else, do take into consideration their needs and wants. You do not have to give in to everything they want, but helping them to get some of what they want may be a good compromise for both of you. A good place to start is with a budget and some rules. Here are some tips:

Let your child know what their budget is. If they can only spend X amount of dollars a month or season, stick with it.

Talk to your child about making decisions and choices. Let them know they do not have to have everything and that clothing does not define them.

Talk about what they like about the clothing. Find out if it is just the label they are after or if they are looking for a specific style. Learn about their tastes; show an interest.

One of the most important things to realize about tween trends is that they change constantly. Media like television and magazines influence these trends but their group of friends will have the largest influence. If you are friends with their parents, talk about this as a group. If everyone sets some boundaries together, there is less competition between the kids.

Ways To Cut Costs

Believe it or not, the tween trends industry continues to grow. Parents fuel it by allowing their teens to purchase high end items. Is it wrong to do this: no. Yet, it can be setting the wrong example for some kids. There are ways to get what you want for less, though.

For example, sit down with your child and get to know what they like about the clothing. They may like a specific style or cut in their jeans, for example. Once you have this information you can then use it to help find discounted products and even off name brand jeans (or whatever the item is) that look and feel just like the original. Show this to your child. They may not believe it at first, but once they see that they can get twice as many things for the same budgeted amount, they may just go along with it.

Another route to take is to encourage tweens to trade in their clothing for trends that others have gone through. There are a variety of second hand stores in many areas which sell these pricey name brand tween trends at next to nothing costs. By trading in their unused items, they may even make some money out if it. The key here is to teach your tween that they can have expensive clothing for less with a few tradeoffs.

Why should you care if they want to follow the trends? Perhaps you have no problem with buying those high-end priced trends. In either case, the fact is this. By teaching your child now about how they have to make compromises to get what they want, they will appreciate this later in life. In fact, you may be helping them to learn how to spend their money more wisely and you could be encouraging tweens who are more often the leader than the follower. Take some time to talk with your child letting them know you do get it. Then, work out a plan together so they can follow tween trends while you both manage the budget.