There’s a famous photo in the Whittle Family Archives.

You know how it is at Christmas – it’s the time of year you put your children into their Christmas jumpers, line them up and say, “Cheese!”

Back in the late 1970s, though, this was an annual challenge because I – even at two years old – knew that I did not want to wear a dress.

My Mum loves to tell the story of how all my brothers were lined up, in their Christmas jumpers, while I stood at the top of the stairs screaming, “I HATE YOU!” at my Mother for having the temerity to suggest that I should wear a frock.

And so the result was this photo.

me

That’s right. It’s me, aged two, with my three older brothers. If you look very, very closely you can see the pair of trousers I’m wearing underneath the dress. This was the only way my Mum could persuade me to pose for the picture.

Don’t I look happy? If you don’t count the scowl and the eyes that are just a l-ee-tle bit red around the edges from the INJUSTICE of it all. To be fair, though, that frock was something of a crime against fashion, even in the 70s…

Anyway, fast forward 30 years or so and I am raising my own little dress refuser.

Given the choice, Flea will always choose trousers and t-shirt over a dress. Although as she gets a little older, for a special occasion, she will consider wearing certain dresses. It has to be not too fussy, modern, nice and colourful, and the sort of dress you can wear and still get into mischief.

The good news (for me) is that I think we’ve found the perfect dress, which was sent to us by the lovely people at Bread and Jam. Their amazing range of pick a pocket dresses combine classic styling with fun colours, and retro patterns. Flea chose a navy blue and red dress and I think she looks absolutely gorgeous in it (yes, I’m a bit biased).

dress3

It’s made of corduroy so it’s nice and cosy, and we’ve found it washes really well. At £33, it’s a little more than the dresses we’d pick up on the high street, but the corduroy is lovely and warm, and we’ve found it washes well, so I’m confident Flea will get lots of months of wear out of it.

Anyway, Bread and Jam has given me the chance to give away one of their dresses to one lucky reader (subject to availability). All you have to do to enter is comment on this blog post telling me which dress from the website you’d like win – you can say “any” if you haven’t decided quite yet – and then complete the Rafflecopter widget to confirm your entry, and unlock the bonus entries.

Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Competition Terms and Conditions: The giveaway is as specified on www.whosthemummy.co.uk. The giveaway will close at 11.59pm GMT on 14 Dec 2013. You must be over 18 and a UK resident to enter. The prize is one dress from the Bread and Jam website, subject to availability. There will be one winner, chosen at random from all eligible entries. The name of the winner will be added to this post after the closing date.  To enter, you must comment on the giveaway post. Entrants are entitled to up to three bonus entries if they like Who’s the Mummy on Facebook  and follow @swhittle on Twitter and subscribe to the email list. If we are unable to contact the winner within 48 hours by email, then the right to the prize is lost, and another winner will be selected.  The promoter’s decision is final, no cash alternative is available and no correspondence will be entered into. Promoter: Bread and Jam Ltd, 22b High Street Witney, Oxon OX28 6RB