Clothes

My nearly 10 year old daughter will only wear certain clothing and prefers items to be well worn in and dislikes clothes washed.  She finds it incredibly difficult to throw out clothing even if is severely stained and has holes in it.  I am currently battling to throw out the only pair of socks she wears to school.  They are now permanently brown on the soles, have holes in the toes and fall down as elastic has gone.  She will go into meltdown when they get thrown out and even if thrown out on a weekend, will threaten and possibly not go to school on the Monday morning.  She has new ones but complains they are too tight and don't fit.  Discussions result in screaming from her and items being thrown around the house. Suggestions made by us on how to help such as stretching out new socks are shot down by her. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with transition between old and new clothing?  This is invariably going to be a long term issue for her.  Is it just a case of bracing for the fallout? Or do we wait longer until she decides they can no longer be worn?

  • You all have my sympathy but not understanding.  Our family had clothes problems with my late father.

    I have many peculiar habits.  But with clothes I enjoy trying on brand new clothes bought from a shop for the first time.

    But with my father it was a constant battle, first with my grandmother than my mother. He changed his clothes weekly, to his best clothes for the weekend and church.  But then on Sunday night went searching for his old soiled clothes.  Clean clothes were laid out, but he kept demanding "where are MY clothes?" , it seems that after clothes were washed and dried he refused to accept them as his own.

  • hi I had the same problem as your daughter growing up (must have been a nightmare for mum) I'm not quite as bad now but I do still have some clothes difficulties. it wont work for all types of clothing for obvious reasons but I found that there was a much higher chance of me being comfortable in clothes if they were hand-me-downs or from a charity shop because someone else had got them past that new and uncomfortable stage already. I know not everyone likes the idea of second hand clothes but I do recommend trying it because it made a huge difference for me and might help her as well.

  • Thanks WhatsLeft for your message.

    i have bought her multiples but she then insists on wearing one of them constantly until they are worn out.  By this time the others are either too small or she insists there is something wrong with them (at this point they feel very new compared to the much loved worn out item)!  It's very difficult and frustrating.  

  •  sorry to hear that you're having a difficult time with your daughter. I experienced the same with my son who is on the spectrum he didn't want to  change his vests and socks too. I decided to buy these in bulky same brand and colour  and use them all at once so that there is no difference in wear and tear. That helped. So now my only issue is he goes thr seven white vests a week and 14 pairs of white socks a week because he wears two pairs of socks a day - so I wash more which Im more than happy to do.