KIDS don't stay young and cute forever.

The years spent bouncing the little ones on your knees are way too short.

Not to mention dressing them in whatever you fancy.

At some stage, they would rather don bed sheets than wear anything you pick out.

You're lucky if your teenager still goes shopping with you and tries on the clothes you suggest.

Back when I was 12, being seen shopping for clothes with my parents was uncool.

Cool meant shopping with other cool friends; deciding where to go, what to buy and having full control over how we spent the our uncool folks' hard-earned money.

Cool also meant Esprit pullovers, MCM jeans, Ixi:z wallets, baggy Ocean Pacific shirts and super short tennis skirts.

Not exactly your typical Christmas or Chinese New Year fashion fare.

No dinky outfits for me

So imagine the drama during the festive months: The tantrums, the long faces and the tears - all because I refused to be caught dead in what I thought was a dinky outfit.

Didn't matter if it was a designer frock or if it cost mum a tiny fortune. If it was pink, had laces, ribbons and it bounced when I walked, it was dinky.

My long-suffering parents didn't even have to wait till I hit puberty to experience these growing pains.

I became a fashion rebel the moment I went to school - play school, that is.

Conformity wasn't a natural trait of mine, as my parents found out the hard way.

Good thing was, my father didn't really care what I wore as long as I was decently covered.

As for mum, she always had her collection of feather dusters on standby when the going got tough.

Now that it's my turn to do the parenting with two girls of my own, I've learnt to accept that no matter how young they are, kids have a mind of their own. Especially when it comes to toys, clothes and food.

So dress them up the way you fancy while you still have the chance.

And there's no better time to do it than now with Christmas and New Year parties round the corner.

WANT TO BE A GAP KID?

GAP is looking for four kids from newborn to 10 from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia to appear in its spring 2011 campaign.

They will be featured in the storefront window of all babyGap and GapKids stores in the three countries after results are announced in February.

To qualify, head to Gap at Wisma Atria today or Gap at VivoCity next weekend from 11am to 6pm and spend $80 in a single receipt. For details, check: www.facebook.com/ gapsingapore.