Clothes on inside out or backwards, etc.?

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Do you let your children wear clothing backwards or inside out, etc.?

If you used to want to wear your clothes different than the norm as a child, how was it handled (or not) and how do you feel about it now?

LOL. My youngest does this ALL the time. He wears his underwear backwards more than he wears it as designed. His pants are frequently on backwards, too. His shoes, particularly his summer sandals are almost always on the wrong feet. Most of his shirts are t-shirts (which fit about the same either way, so he doesn't care which way they are) or polo type shirts (which he doesn't like the collar of on his neck, so they are on right).

The underwear--I let him wear it however he wants. I've also bought him boxers (not a great solution, because he's only five and can't tuck the boxer legs into the pants legs and they get bunched up), and boxer briefs (about perfect and usually on the correct way, but expensive and not all have been replaced yet).

If we're at home, I'll mention to him that his clothes are on backwards or inside out, but basically let him wear them how he wants. If we are going out in public, then I do make him turn his shirts and pants around. I either cut out the tags or buy tagless shirts, so that's not an issue for him.

The shoes he puts on wrong, because it is late in the sandal wearing part of the year and they are getting too small on him. He's figured out that if he wears them on the wrong feet that it is easier to get his toes on the floor, which apparently makes it easier for him to toe walk. I actually discourage the toe walking, so I do try to gently push him to keep the shoes on the right feet. I say gently, because if it appears that it is going to be something that stresses him that day, I drop it and let him wear them how he wants. Just being out of the house is enough stress sometimes to cause meltdowns, and I don't want to hasten the start of them when I need to run errands.


I don't recall wearing my clothes not as designed as a child, although I did have to cut out tags and wouldn't wear certain types of material. I also had to be convinced to wear clothing consistently, apparently at a much older age than is typical, because I can remember conversations my mom had with me when I was a small child (but old enough to remember) about keeping my clothes on. I can remember having one pair of corduroy pants that I loved because I would spend long periods of time staring at running my fingers across it. I liked the way it looked, felt, and sounded--stim trifecta-lol

What I did do that was different was pick a certain shirt and wear it everyday. I had one every grade from grades 2-5. I guess before that my mom picked my clothes, and after she never would buy any shirt that I got "that look" about, to keep me from doing that. She'd have to grab it every night when I was taking a shower to run it through the laundry. It also required a trip to the school to explain to them, when I started this, that yes I had other shirts, yes the one I was wearing constantly was washed every day, and no we weren't too poor to buy other clothes. This was the late 80's, so their only real concern was that I wasn't coming to school in dirty clothes.

When the shirts got too holey or too small they all had a mysterious accident wherein the washing machine just...ate them. Tore them to shreds--actually my mom was burning them and presenting me with a scrap of them as evidence of the washing machine's dastardly deed. She drew the line at letting me go to school in a shirt worn so thin that it was see through and full of holes. Which was actually a lie that was probably the least traumatic avenue of getting rid of them. I wouldn't have been able to handle watching them go into the trash and get burned. Even thinking about them being destroyed by the washer led to quite a while of mourning and anger at the washer. By the time I figured out what really happened, I was old enough to understand why it had to be done, so wasn't mad at her.

Ha! It's only now I realise that my son has stopped doing this - he must've grown out of it.

Yes, he would wear clothes inside out and back-to-front, and shoes on wrong feet pretty much every day. I would sometimes point it out to him, and if he was going to be wearing his shoes for a while, get him to change them as I didn't want him to harm his feet. Other than the shoes, I just let him get on with it.

I've never grown out of the inattentiveness of putting my clothing on inside-out.

Just want to point out that NT kids can go through funky phases with clothing, too. But usually not as extreme.

Oh, I know!

I have one AS child and one NT child. I have AS myself, as well.

My AS son puts his clothes on to meet the minimum required status of actually wearing clothes. Beyond that is simply not interesting or important (even when it is not completely covering him).

I do not think it has anything to do with sensory issues, only a complete downplay of wearing clothes at all which may not be an AS trait at all!) I *do* think he will likely not become embarassed about it either at all or at a much later age than his NT sister.

I'm just curious what other parents do about it with any of their kids, regardless of their brain category.

My mother has been known to go out wearing odd shoes. Usually the shoes are the same apart from the colour, but she once managed to go out wearing shoes which were not only different colours and styles but had different heel heights!

At this point I am just happy that my son is willing to help dress himself, sometimes. I only really intercede if I think whatever he did will end up being uncomfortable or if we are going to be out in public. So he knows it is as a social convention to wear clothes a certain way, because he needs to know that.

I went through a funny phase wearing a bunch of clothes at once and when I was six, I decided to wear a bunch of panties and my mom did not like it. My guess is she didn't want more laundry so she was bothered by me wearing three our six pairs of panties.

I can't even get my girl to keep her clothes on! At 10 she nearly always remembers not to strip when out, but at home, well, down to the knickers she goes. I have told her she must keep her panties on as people can come to the door etc and she forgets she is starkers and goes to open the door! Scared the neighbour one afternoon... It drives my hubby nuts but I dont worry, if they are comfy in backward/ inside out/ no clothes then they are happy and thats all that matters to me.

One reason could be that the labels and stitching are on the inside and some kids find them uncomfortable. I know someone who wears his socks inside out because of the stitchings.

My guy is about to turn 5 and I was hoping he'd grow out of it soon. He even takes off his underwear. I was the exact opposite. I hated being naked to the point that I would beg to be allowed to wear clothes in the bath.

DS occasionally puts clothes on backwards, though usually not inside out since I always take the time to turn everything the right side out as it has always been a source of frustration for him if he has to do that step. I matter-of-factly point it out when he has something on backwards but if he doesn't want to fix it I let it go. Even if we are going out in public, to school or whatever. I figure I told him and he can choose to do what he wants with that information. The only time I push it is if it is something I think is really going to make him uncomfortable if it is not corrected. There's no point in him having a terrible day because his feet hurt because he has his shoes on the wrong feet.

I used to lay out my son's clothes in the morning, only to discover at bedtime that he had put his clean underwear on over the dirty ones. Not because he wanted to wear both pairs, but because he was so absent-minded that he forgot to take the old pair off. He still sometimes gets his shoes on the wrong feet.

My mom never cared. What I usually did was cut my tags off and the shirts were fine to wear. Same with the pants. In regard to socks... I flipped those inside-out and cut the seams to be smaller. I always had sensory issues and still do. Probably worse now than before.

Mim's never been bothered by labels scratching, but she'll only wear 1 style of shoe, and hates tops that have short sleeves. Her cuffs are constantly disgusting, but anything else "fells funny". I generally don't worry, although the refusal to wear trainers, and insisting on wear Mary-Janes to places like parks, is occasionally frustrating.