Figure 1.--
|
Figure 1.--
|
The idea of play clothes is a relatively modern concept. Affluent mothers in the Victorian era dressed boys through much of the 19th Century in rather elaborate dressy clothes and most expected to stay neat and presentable. Less affluent boys would be likely to wear their fathers hand down clothes, often for work as poorer children had to enter the workforce at a very early age. Protective clothes like
pinafores and
smocks served the purpose of modern play clothes, protecting a child's clothes.
Many mothers and especially fathers in the Victorian era thought it was their duty to prevent children from behaving like children. Often religious mandates were part of this parental philosophy. mothers and nannies sought to keep children inactive to keep them from
soiling their beautiful and often expensive clothes. Many parents, even
in the lare 19th Century still clung to the idea that play was a
frivolous, wasteful activity from which the child should be disuaded.
But increasingly parents were begining to see value in childhood play.
Increasingly parents delighted in watching their children play. Toys and games for children became increasingly popuklar.
The respected and influential fashion magazine, The Delineator in 1905 published this letter. It was typical of a widely held maternal concern during the Victorian era on this issue:
I have a dear little boy who is very active. I am quite particular about his clothes, and he is so full of life I find it impossible to keep them looking clean and whole. I have punished him and find it of no use. He is in other respects a very obedient and affectionate child.
My friends say I am too indulgent with my little son but it doesn't seem to spoil him, and it's always 'Mama, dear,' and "I love my mama,' and ever so many more little expressions of endearment for me. He is ever thoughtful of my welfare and so kind that I can't find it in my heart to deny him anything I can afford. Am I right in this?" How should I act in regard to his clothes? I find it very hard to teach him to take care of them. He is only six years old, and I sometimes think I expect too much; but I admire a clean, wholesome-looking boy, and it's my ambition to have
The Editor of The Delineator responded to this mother's letter in a way that would have been radical only a few years before. The revolution in children's clothes, however, by 1905 was well underway.
It is impossible for the average child in the average environment to look spick and span all the time. Healthy, normal children delight in activity, and it is positively cruel continually to hamper their freedom by admonitions concerning the care of their clothing. Don't expect them to come in from play as clean as when they left the nursery, and don't, I beseech you, mothers, scold or punish them when you see mud stains or an occasional rent. Look in- stead at the rosy, smiling faces and rejoice in the vitality and absence of self-consciousness, which are two of childhood's most precious possessions. Remember they cannot retain either of these in their pristine purity if they are constantly told to take care of the clothes or are received, after a morning's orgy with mud-pies or an hour in the brook, in some such fashion as this: 'Mercy me, Johnny, what a fright you are; you are mud from your head to your heels. Oh, don't come near me! Do not touch me! Why can't you keep yourself decent? I'm sure I never got so dirty when I was a child.'...
I should not punish a child for anything short of willful disregard of his clothing; for instance, if he should deliberately cut a piece out of a garment or commit some similar offense I should not mend the garment immediately, but have him wear it as it was, telling him I was sorry to see my little son with such a hole in his trousers, and the best way to make him remember not to do such a thing again would be to leave the hole so that he could see it. I should also say, after a day or so, that I would mend it as soon as he was quite sure he would never, never repeat the offense. Children who continue unduly heedless and who express no regret over the fact that their busy mother has to spend much time in mending the rents they make, might be dealt with in some-what the same way; but as you hope for lasting results in the training of your children and for harmony in your home, keep all your admonition free from any trace of resentment.
Since it should be our ambition to make the child- hood of all children a period of such normal, wholesome activity and happiness that the memory of it will be a joy and inspiration to them throughout their lives, we can safely indulge all their reasonable wishes without fear of spoiling them...
Children should have some clothing especially adapted to play-hours, and in these garments they should be as free as air. If they are permitted this latitude they will, I assure you, take much more care of their best clothes at such times as it is right and proper for them to be this attired. I know a mother who from infancy impresses upon her children's minds the difference between their play clothes and their afternoon dresses. She tells them that papa likes them to have a grand good time in the morning, and doesn't mind in the least if they soil their clothes; but he likes to find them sweet and clean in the afternoon when he comes home, and so the afternoon amusements are of a quiet character-reading, story-telling, drawing, walking, quiet games, etc., etc., and habits of neatness are established without the enforcement of any irksome restrictions. Many a mother in this matter of children's apparel show's far more consideration for the imagined opinions of her friends and neighbors than she does for the comfort of the children. (Source: The Delineator, October, 1905)
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main activities page]
[Introduction]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Biographies]
[Bibliographies]
[Countries]
[Activities]
[FAQs]
[Contributions]
[Boys' Clothing Home]