Swimming trunks for boys – shopping nightmares

I’ve found in the past that whenever I’ve wanted to buy the next size up clothes for N, I always struggle to find the size I’m after. It’s almost like the whole of our town have gone out and bought every item of clothing in that size just before I have. Sods law. But I’ve never been as exasperated as I have the last couple of weeks trying to buy swimming trunks for boys.

Of course, if N was like any other child, he’d be perfectly happy wearing his beach/holiday swimming shorts. None of them are big baggy knee length board shorts, but he point blank refuses. It’s swimming trunks only. And I’m talking boxer length ones rather than really tight speedos.

But I’ve struggled to find them everywhere. Online and in shops. Actually I lie. Marks and Spencer have a lovely pair in their summer range, but even at the start of the season, I’ve only ever seen them available (in 2 stores) at age 9-10 and bigger, and online they’re all sold out in smaller sizes.

Most shops only have baggy shorts. Or if they have the style I want, there’s no stock or they don’t come in N’s size. It seems age 6 is stranded inbetween toddler and junior clothes sizes when it comes to swimwear. Or maybe the baby boom of 2010-2012 meant that retail buyers haven’t realised that maybe they should be stocking more of size 5-7 in stores. I know I also struggled when it came to boys trousers to find the sizes in stores and had to resort to buying online.

Maybe there’s a reason why N is so particular…I’ve bought a set of 2 trunks from Tesco, but they’re too short – I don’t really want his backside showing out the bottom so they’re going back. And I don’t want really tight ones or long jammers style.

Last year was easy. When we reviewed House of Fraser swimwear, I ordered a pair and they fitted perfectly. Not too tight, not too short. But they don’t have any similar styles in this year.

The other day I did have a bit of a strop in Sports Direct. I found their trunks in numerous styles, but only in age 7-8 and bigger. The alternative was character swimwear for toddler sizes. Argghhh. I hate character wear. N isn’t a toddler, he hates superheroes, and the rest of the choices were too young (and more shorts anyway). I asked the girl at the till if the trunks came in age 5-6 or 6-7 and was told their boys wear start at age 7-8. They must be the only shop that does because most start at age 6 and occasionally smaller if they have a larger range of sizes (eg age 3-12). She suggested the ‘infant’ range.

For school age children. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous. I was not happy. Plus of course they didn’t actually have anything in stock across age 5-7. Let’s just say I had a bit of a moan about how stores (not just theirs) obviously don’t think 5 or 6 year olds go swimming or if they do they have to wear character stuff even though it might be for serious swimming lessons.

In the end I had to resort to trawling the internet again (after a twitter rant). Thankfully John Lewis looks like they’ve got plenty of the type I’m after although it’s annoying having to do a 2 hour round trip to a store to avoid spending postage charges on such a cheap product.

But Zoggs are on the ball on twitter. They tweeted me saying my local leisure centre stocks the brand and to check if they have any of what I’m after in their range. So a 5 minute walk at lunch time will hopefully solve the swimming trunk dilemma. And hopefully calm my angst about shopping for N.

Have you had problems buying the clothes or sizes you need? What winds you up about clothes shopping for children?

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