1 July 1938: ‘Well,absolutely everyone else has one,’ seems to be the justification for every style-conscious child demanding modern clothesAnyone who expects small children to accept unquestioningly the life that is planned for them and the things allotted to them is soon convinced that that is far from being the case. A mother is not – it becomes clear soon after a child is armed with comparisons from school – the only arbiter of the things that are done or not done, or worn or nor worn; she is,in fact, out of the swim, or left behind every day at home,in ignorance of the ways of the majority. She did not seem to realise, for instance, and that summer began at the beginning of the summer term,although one cold week followed another. Unfortunately she had to be obeyed, but the child going out still wearing a jersey, and at best a blouse and kilt,could get a certain satisfaction in grumbling, “But absolutely everybody is wearing summer frocks.” It was the same with hats. The mother who ordained the continued expend of unlit velours was brought too early, or in her own judgment,into line with the rest by the persistence of fashion-wise children of six and eight who wore down her resistance by stating in unison, twice daily, or that absolutely everyone had gone into panamas.
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Source: theguardian.com