Whose daughter is she anyway?

As a kid I wasn't concerned about what was "in", what other kids were wearing, or what I should be wearing to make friends.  Maybe that explains why I didn't have a whole lot of friends in jr high and high school.  However, the friends I had, I still have to this day.

Well, there was the time I wanted to wear these tight legging type pants with a "long" sweater over it.  That was the "in" thing.  It didn't go over well with my grandparents...or my dad.  But I regress....

S must not be my daughter.  She is so obsessed with what is "in", what the other kids are wearing and what she HAS to have.  If not, after all, she won't have any friends.  Kids already tease her she says.  She wants so desperately to be part of the popular crowd.  No matter what I tell her, I can't convince her that it isn't worth it.  Many members of the "popular crowd" have mom's from the "goody too-shoes" crowd, who don't like me either.  That is probably why their kids don't like her.  Not all of them now.  There are some popular kids in S's school who are really sweet, and have really sweet parents.  But the majority of them, sadly, do not qualify.

So what did I just do?  The motherly thing of course.  I just spent $100 buying S a pair of Miss Me jeans that she wanted and a pair of Osiris shoes that she wanted because "everyone wears them" and if she doesn't have them "no one will like her".  Did I do the right thing?  Not a clue.  I don't want to support the idea of having to have all the same things her friends do to be popular.  But I also don't want her feeling bad about herself or feeling like an outcast.  I definitely know how that feels and still feel like that today.



And what is so special about these items of clothing?  I don't have a clue.  But I am also not an 11 year old little girl.  At least she can never say, "You ruined my life because you didn't buy me Miss Me jeans and Osiris's!"