Rachel
Jen
An Exercise in Frustration. With Flashbacks.
I realized this morning that my soon-to-be 5-year-old is gearing up for a growth spurt. Well, I’ve sort of been aware of it for about a week or so, given the difficulty I’ve had in keeping food in the house. His appetite has been voracious. This morning a pair of shorts which fit him just fine the last time he wore them (last week some time), did not fit him today. So while I was out today (grocery shopping of course!) I decided to pop into to Target to see what they had for him. I found a couple of super cute pairs of Shaun White shorts (on sale, w00t!) in the next size up, so I decided to poke around and see what they had in the long pants department.
Here’s the thing. My kid is not, by any standard of measure, FAT. He is built on the stocky side with short legs and wide hips, just like his mama and there is no getting around the fact that he needs a husky jean. Last year, I wasn’t able to find any long pants in his size at Target or Walmart or the second-hand store, and honestly, I just can’t justify $25+ per pair of pants from one of the higher-end stores for a 4-year-old. (I needed at least 3 pairs, too.) I ended up just making a few pairs of pants for him myself.
Today at Target, it was the same thing. They had maybe 3 pairs of husky sized jeans and not one of them was in his size. Not one. While I was vainly searching through the stacks of little boy jeans, I had a sudden crystal clear memory of pants shopping for me with my mom at Sears, and having the exact same problem: needing a Husky size and not finding it. [sigh]
To top it off, Target charges $2 extra for Husky sized Wranglers. A fat tax. For children. Who aren’t really fat. It’s ri-goddamned-diculous. Luckily he is 5 years old, and won’t care that his jeans are homemade (again). *grumble*
vesta44 are discussing. 
Fat Sisters 
vesta44 10:39 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink
When my son was little, I had the opposite problem. He was tall for his age and thin. To get pants with legs long enough for him, I had to buy 2 sizes larger than what he really wore, and get the slim version, then put darts in the waist so they would stay up. Needless to say, up until he started school, he wore a lot of homemade pants with elastic waists. I’m just glad I knew how to sew.
He had problems finding jeans to fit up until a couple of years ago, when he started gaining a bit of weight. He used to wear a 34″ waist with a 34″ inseam (did I mention he’s 6′ 2″), he’s up to a 38″ waist now, and it’s easier to find that waist size with the inseam he needs than it was to find the 34/34s, for some reason.
spoonfork38 6:01 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink
My 7-year old is now clearly in young misses, and I’ve hemmed three pairs of jeans and two pairs of pants about a foot. My MIL wanted me to cut off the legs, but she’ll grow into them by Christmas. She wants leggings, but those are for younger girls or women—and I’m not paying $40 for a pair of legging for me, much less someone who’s going to climb trees in them. . .
My three year old, on the other hand, can still fit into her two-year old pants around the waist, but they hit her about knee-high . . .
Rachel Smith 11:24 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink
I have had the same problem with my son!! We ended up ordering pants from a husky boys site that were actually (surprisingly) really nice pants. Going through this with him has brought up all of my memories of shopping, and never finding clothes that fit. I still start to panic a little bit when I go shopping to this day.