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It is lovely to see well dressed children particularly small children who can look cute and fashionable at the same time. Babies have no say in what we dress them up in so we can be as flamboyant or simplistic as we like!

Specialist shops are in abundance nowadays with prices ranging from sensible to the ridiculous. A small child has no concept of wearing designer clothes only the parent. Whether the clothes be cheap and cheerful or expensive and chic, babies and toddlers will still make a mess while eating, crawling and generally doing things small children do!

No matter how much or how little you spend, clothes still need to be practical. For anyone who has had the pleasure of dressing a wriggling baby or toddler, the buttons and zips definitely need to be in the right places. Time is limited when dressing or undressing your child so fiddly buttons and badly positioned zips and ties are a definite no no! Easy access via poppers especially in baby's trousers is an excellent invention. Just think how much time it takes to put kicking legs into a pair of trousers!

Babies grow at an incredible rate so one doesn't have to worry much about clothes being worn out, they tend to be outgrown and still in beautiful condition. This is great if you are possibly going to have more children or have someone with a smaller baby to pass clothes on to. Definitely a money saver if you are on the receiving end of another parents generosity.

Toddlers are wonderful little people who you can still dress to look cute ' until they suddenly start to become independent and pick their own clothes. When they are at this stage you can forget looking stylish and fashionable, toddlers tend not to have any colour co-ordination or dress sense ' be warned!

Early school years can be really simple, as most of the time the child will spend wearing a school uniform. Clothing your child is easier though it can be expensive depending on where you buy the uniform. Most of us buy at least a size bigger blazer or trousers so that the child 'can grow into them', this can cause embarrassment to our children. Be diplomatic and not too enthusiastic about your child's growing abilities.

The wonderful teenage years! ' A clothing nightmare. Just when you thought that purchasing a school uniform was simple you find out to the contrary. Your teenager suddenly must have designer named shoes, trainers, trousers ' whatever they wear has to have the latest logo emblazoned on the front or back. Buying labels and sewing them on won't work, teenagers may be difficult but they are not easily fooled.

At the end of the day, buy what you can afford, make sure the clothes are reasonable hard wearing and put together properly.

Dressing smaller children should be practical, it seems silly putting a pretty dress on a crawling baby as they will probably come to a stand still if they keep putting their knees onto the dress! As to dressing teenagers, well that is another matter, birthdays and Christmas come in handy for purchasing expensive clothes or trainers as presents, this can often be a good compromise.

Trends chop and change like the wind for teenagers so while your child is small enjoy dressing them up in colourful tasteful clothes that you have chosen, they at least won't worry about losing their street cred!