I love shopping for clothes at Wal-Mart. One of the best parts is, of course, when I bring the clothes home, show off the cheap price and watch my wife shake her head oh so sadly. I think most dudes can find casual clothing for a good price there at Wal-Mart. And, no, this isn’t some kind of stealth advertisement for the Walton family. (Although, seriously, call me. I can be bought.)
What I wanted to talk about was what happens when I take my three dudes shopping for clothes for them at Wal-Mart or any other bargain-basement clothing retailer. My little eight-year-old dude has no problem shopping bargain. After all, he’s the dude who has long-ish hair and will only brush it when I tie him down, dunk his head underwater and begin the hours-long process of picking out the tangles. My oldest dude, 15, has little to no interest in clothes. All he wants are shorts that fit his waist and white t-shirts with something funny printed on them. It’s my middle dude, 14, who’s giving me fits.
He’ll happily take jeans purchased on the cheap, but shorts and shirts? Not a chance. See, most cheapo-retailers don’t have shorts that fit his narrow waist and still hang down low enough that I could probably call them culottes and get away with it. (Hah! My wife owes me money. She said I’d never get culottes into a post. Boo-yah!) For him, I have to traipse all around town going to places where they actually expect me to spend good green folding money to buy clothes. I’m trying to break him of this habit, but it’s just not working. I think it might be time to just give in and let him have the good clothes.
I’d send him out with his mom to buy his clothes, but I’m afraid they’d come back lugging an entire store behind them.
– Richard
Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, A Dude's Guide to Teens, buy, clothes, shopping, teenagers, teens, Wal-Mart