Help a Mom: Seeking age appropriate clothes for girls

When I read a recent email from a Go Ask Mom reader, my first response was "Amen!"

Posted 1:00 a.m. Mar 21, 2012 — Updated 1:00 a.m. Mar 21, 2012

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

When I read a recent email from a Go Ask Mom reader, my first response was "Amen!"

As the mom of a seven-year-old daughter, I'm shocked sometimes at what clothing designers think are appropriate for young girls. I can only imagine that the choices get worse as girls get older. Over the weekend, I actually made a new house rule while my daughter looked through the racks of a consignment sale: Nobody in our house wears slogans on their butt.

The Go Ask Mom reader who emailed me is having similar issues. Here's what she wrote:

After trying to shop for shorts for my 12-year-old daughter and finding most inappropriate, I was wondering what other mothers do to find suitable clothes for their daughters. Most of the shorts and skirts that I found barely covered my daughter's rear end and would come no where close to meeting school dress code. What can we do to make the designers of children's clothing realize that we don't want our girls dressing like they were going out to a club?

I'm still shopping in the kids section, which means even the littlest girls are forced to wear short shorts and skirts because that is all that can be found in the stores. Some of my friends are having to resort to buying shorts in the boys department for their daughters. Any ideas on what we can do?

I think the best thing we can do is support stores and designers who do offer age appropriate clothes. I've had a lot of luck with some of the children's clothes from Lands' End, which also has great sales online and at Sears stores that carry the line. I'd love to hear where others find decent clothes for girls.

Where do you find clothes that are appropriate for girls. (If you don't see the comments box below, you'll need to log in or sign up for a WRAL account. You can do that by going to the top of the page and clicking on either "log in" or "register").

Help a Mom features questions from readers every Wednesday. If you have a question that you'd like to ask Go Ask Mom readers, click here to email it to me.

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