They’re All Dressed Up, But Kids Will Be Kids
What parents in their right mind would dress their kids in these ridiculously impractical and overpriced clothes (“Wild Kingdom,†Aug. 19)? I don’t know any kids who would want to dress this way either. Any parent knows that in the real world it wouldn’t take long for Evan to lose that $265 blazer, for Cinque to soil that $80 T-shirt or for Iliana to tear those $48 tights. And let’s not forget that kids can only wear clothes for a season before growing out of them. I guess “parents with too much money on their hands†would be the answer to my question.
Jessica Sackman
Los Angeles
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I noticed in one of the photographs, front and center, the red plaid lunch box my sister and I carried through our late 1960s/early 1970s elementary school years. Our mother bought one for each of us, vowing that we’d carry our plaid boxes for years while the TV show boxes we craved would quickly go out of style. And we did.
I also wore my sister’s hand-me-downs, and my younger sister wore mine. And we weren’t poor. My mom, a Depression kid, was just being practical.
So I’m hoping that any parent who would buy their child a $106 blouse, $123 gauchos and $48 tights would have umpteen other kids who could wear those pricey duds once the original wearer had outgrown them--until, that is, those trendy duds went out of style.
Sally Nemeth
Los Angeles
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I retired in 2002 after teaching photography at Cypress College for 32 years. I had always looked for photographs and stories from the L.A. Times that I could bring to the classroom and share with my students.
If I were still teaching, I would have brought in your Aug. 19 issue. The “Wild Kingdom†photographs by Jay L. Clendenin are superb! They capture a beauty and innocence that seem lost in our society today, as well as the spirit of another time, which, at age 77, I was able to enjoy for a few quiet hours Sunday morning.
David F. Drake
Anaheim
