This is our first entree into the world of Works for Me Wednesdays. Shannon, over at the Rocks In My Dryer blog, hosts a fun carnival on Wednesdays where other bloggers chime in to share their tips and tricks and general advice.
This week the topic is parenting which is timely because I am a parent. If the theme had been Creative Ways to Decorate with Lint or Techniques of Professional Grouters, I would have been hard pressed to come up with something helpful.
Tim and I are very passionate about parenting. We are constantly studying, learning, and praying for wisdom in our parenting. One of our desires is to start a Tips for Tuesday Parenting Blog, to post, conveniently, on Tuesdays. We will begin next week, so come back and visit us for some further thoughts on parenting.
Today’s Parenting Tip – Coordinating Travel Outfits
Whenever we travel as a family, I make sure we are dressed in matching colors. This is done for both safety (easy to spot a wandering child in a crowd) and entertainment. By today’s standards we are a huge family and it pleases me to revel in our distinction. I am eager for everyone to know we are together and pleased to be known as a family.
August 2006 – By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35
There is also a subtle accountability that comes with this coordination. When a child puts on the Chosen Color of the Day and begins the journey, his identity has connection and meaning. He isn’t just a person traveling alone in a crowd; he belongs to a family. He is connected and his actions reflect upon the entire group. Similarly, as parents, when we dress to match the children, we are recognizing and identifying them as part of our circle of travelers. Without any additional words, we are acknowledging responsibility and culpability for our little color coordinated tribe.
Of course, the resulting amusement of those who see us, often works to our advantage. People become more amiable and jovial, softening in the presence of our group of sojourners. It helps that the children are heavily stocked with candy, treats and books/movies and are usually very well-behaved.
June 2007 – Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other. John 13:35
The only problem is keeping the outfits clean. One little spill, a change of clothes and the poor child is symbolically ostracized from the entire family. The trauma of that could last for years. Obviously this little parenting tip is rich with many far-reaching implications.
Join us next week for Tips for Tuesday – Parenting.
Kathy
Sarah does not look happy with your color choice in the bottom picture. I am sure she is thinking that pink or purple would have been a better choice than brown!
We used this idea too when we went to Disneyland, I heartily endorse this travel tip!
We’ve never tried the matching outfits thing, but I’ve often seen families do that and thought it would be very helpful and fun! I never thought about other meanings or reasons for matching other than the ease of finding each other! Thanks for sharing.
Cute! Your family looks kind of like mine–a bunch of blondes. I haven’t dressed everyone in matching colors when we travel- Yet. I just don’t have all the shirts for it. But my sister, who does have a HUGE family (8 kids) dresses all her kids alike, and they are just the talk of the town when they go on vacation. Everyone in the hotel recognizes them, and if one should get lost or wander off, people know where to return them. Good idea.
I’ve always loved the idea of matching outfits (at least shirts), but haven’t been able to pull it off. I’m going to work harder.
I love your thoughts on how the dressing alike can really set you apart as part of the family. In our family, that has so many different “faces” (we do not look alike), this would help to unite us and set us apart as belonging together, when we are out on our travels.
I do the same thing. Though I only have 3 at this point. Because my boys are 22 months a part and fairly close in size we always get twin comments. I’ve found it makes shopping for clothes easier as well.
Last week my husband decided to take the kids to the park in the evening. I suggested he change the boys (4 & 2.5 years) into matching bright yellow shirts. He also put on a yellow shirt. Boy was he thankful for that yellow shirt when he lost track of the little guy for a few minutes! I’ve found yellow is the easiest color to spot in a crowd or from a distance.
I love this!! I’ve always loved watching you all match!! love the indication that you parents are being responsible for the tribe. Also that any of the kids are a reflection on the group as a WHOLE. Loved the scripture esp.- we show our love for the Lord by our love for each other.
As a grandparent- I love the parenting tips. Keep em coming!! Aunt Kate
Hi Kathy! I am definitely with you on this tip! I think this is the first summer we didn’t have matching outfits, and I was bummed. Just not in the budget, though. We typically do shirts now that the girls are getting a tad bit older. We hit Disney World last year, and I remember when Scott and I turned to each other and were SO thankful we’d dressed them matching. It is simply SO much easier to count heads!
Loved looking around your blog. My hubby is considering starting a blog for family ministry; I’ll send him here since you both write.
You asked about the photo at the top of my blog. We went to the beach in MD this spring. I (of course) blogged about it. It would have been the end of April/beg of May if you want to hunt it down. It was fabulous. Last year was the first beach vacation we did and I had no idea how much I would love it- I’m not a sun girl, but the beach was incredibly relaxing and of course seeing our God’s majesty in the waves and creatures was wonderful.
I do believe this is the longest comment I’ve ever left. Sorry!
A friend of mind (she’s a mom of 5) gave me this tip a while ago, specifically for flying. She felt it got them expedited treatment through security. We happened to have matching shirts available on that trip (they’d been used for an extended family photo shoot) so we tried it and sure enough: we got whisked through the fast line at security! So now we use this. I must confess it was purely practical, and I hadn’t thought of a deeper meaning behind it, but I like the way you put this.
[p.s. I also use the "wear bright colors in crowded settings" idea. One of my most gut-wrenching scary experiences was losing track of my son at a kid's bike race, where all the kids were wearing identical race t-shirts!!]
Love this advice! I have considered also numbering the shirts 1-6 for the children. LOL
Thanks for the visit and comment on my blog!
All for His glory, ~Rhen
Love the idea! Of course the kids are moan and groan when it’s time to go actually buy and try on the shirts! Hmmmm….I don’t think brown is Sarah’s favorite color or was it because her big brother was so lovingly holding her still in the picture? ha!
Thanks for the tip!
Kathy – we used to do this when we went out to busy places. The older boys, however, really began to hate all the attention. We decided it was important to honor their feelings…. The past year has been difficult when we go out…but I’ve hit on it. I’m going to make tiedye for when we got out….they can chose their own color or maybe we’ll use the same colors…but they’ll all be the same and yet different. I think it may work….or maybe when you become 16, 18, 20, 22 you really don’t want to match with a 2 yo. ::snort::
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Travel Outfits, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.