Before I had children I thought it looked silly when kids were dressed alike.  Then after I had two children, I started to dress them alike.  Part of it was that it looked cute in photos, but I soon learned that there were benefits to having them wear the same clothes as well as problems. 

Pros
1. Photos look cute when all the kids match.
2. It is easier to buy clothes when you just have to decide on one design in different sizes.
3. It is easier to select clothes to wear each day when you are just looking for the same pants and top for each child.
4. You can spot them in a crowd more easily when you just have to remember one outfit they are wearing.
5. You get more comments about how cute your kids are.
6. They won’t complain if they prefer the dress or sweater you picked out for another child.
7. You can even match the whole family, especially with catalogs selling matching Christmas pajamas.  (Con?)
8. It is easier for people to buy gifts for your ids when they can match everything.
Cons
1. Sometimes they look a little too matchy, especially when they are older.
2. When one gets older they get hand-me-downs that look similar to clothes they already wore years before.
3. You can’t pretend one of them is not yours if you are seen with one wearing the same thing as the offender.
4. You can’t just grab anything for each child when you have to look for the matching clothes.
5. As they get older they start to complain and want to dress like themselves and you might have a fight for a while when you already bought matching clothes.
6. You can’t always buy things on sale or your first choice of outfits when you are looking for a match and you can’t find all the sizes you need in one style.
7. You get more people asking if you have twins or triplets.
8. As one gets older and has the hand-me-downs, you have to buy different styles for the oldest child and they can’t always match.  If you have more than two children, you may eventually have two matching and the oldest without a match.
9. They may turn into the adults who dress like their spouses.
10. It is harder to match things like shoes and coats as they get older and the hand-me-downs are still in good condition.
11. Sometimes they have different interests and one wants a Peppa Pig shirt while the other wants a Minecraft shirt.
12. Sometimes you can’t find one of the matching pieces you bought and it causes last minute stress.
Although I have mostly not purchased matching clothes, I have mostly purchased them for photos and special events.  However, in recent years I have started to compromise and just kind of match them.  I find a cardigan from the Gap in two different styles or a sweater from H&M in two different colors.  Or they wear different pants or the same style blue cardigan from two different stores.  However, I unintentionally did not match a tie in recent photos or pants in another when I could not find the match in time and it just didn’t look quite right.  It is easier to buy the clothes when I have only one idea of what I am buying for each yet they won’t exactly match and so it might be a little easier to pretend one of them isn’t mine and they won’t have the same style to wear a few years later. And although I have more cons, the pros may just be stronger.   

By one bad mom