How I Accidentally Fell Into This

I heard something once about being a parent that I thought summed up the entirety of my parenting style: “I’ve never done this before.” Every day I find myself in a situation that has me thinking about that line and how everything that I’m doing is something I have never done before, every day a new minefield of experiences and decisions and how in the hell do I know that I’m not messing up my child for life?

I mentioned that to someone and they pointed out that there are plenty of books on being a parent. First of all, nice of you to assume I have time to read. Second, there are SO MANY books that I have no clue which one is the right one. How do I know? How do any of us know? The fact that every person seems to need a parenting book tells us that no one knows what they are doing in this mad world and everyone thinks their method is the right one.

So, when my little one was still a baby I decided that I had a choice to make. I could be my normal hot mess self, just as a parent, or I could try to fake it. I chose option 1. I decided to be myself and let my offspring know that I will make mistakes, that no one is perfect, and that normal is an illusion. Sometimes this has led to some interesting conversations and choices, but I think I might have collapsed under the weight of pretending to be a put together mom.

Now, you might be asking yourself what all of this has to do with me making children’s clothing, and the answer is that I am not 100% sure. What started this was my little one’s obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They wanted a dress, but everything we found was pastel and overly girl gendered. This was not something that would be tolerated. As my child pointed out (more than once), “Ralph was NOT PINK.”

So, I found Ninja Turtle fabric with the right colors and made them a dress that was free enough to move around in and climb in without feeling penned in or having rough tulle or lace rubbing on their legs. They loved it, and so I kept making dresses, and then skirts. Before long I had people asking me to make their kids dresses and skirts featuring their favorite characters. I had them asking about my modified baby bootie pattern that I’d used when my little one was a baby because they were warm and comfy and the elastic around the ankle held them on better than usual crib shoes.

Eventually I decided that if I were going to make these items for friends, I’d start making them for sale. Of course, the more patterns and fandoms I saw, the more I wanted to buy, and so I fed my creativity. That is why we now have so many different options for other children who want to celebrate their fandoms and interests in a way that works for them.

Because parenting may be something we are all stumbling in the dark trying to figure out, but at least I know there are other hot mess parents like me out there, trying to do what they can for their kiddos while at the same time not go insane.