It’s not backwards. It’s fashion forward.

My daughter believes that shirts are designed to be worn whatever way she wants. This shirt, for example, was designed by the manufacturer so that the dog would be on the front of the shirt.

Clara decided to wear it with the dog on the back because, in her words, “I don’t feel like looking at that dog today.”

She assumes this option with all her clothing.

I love this about my daughter. In the words of a parent at a recent toddler birthday, “Your daughter truly views the world as her own.”

This was a polite way of pointing out that while all the other children were happily engaged in organized party games, Clara was in the kitchen, pretending to bake a cake.

She rarely participates in organized, rules-based play when it can be avoided. 

My wife will tell you that she gets this rejection of social norms from her father, but don’t let her fool you. This is coming from a woman who once wore aluminum foil in her hair in middle school because she thought it looked good.

As I’ve written about before, Elysha is a radical nonconformist. She’s just more subtle than me about it.

Good or bad, Clara’s nonconformity is the combination of both her father’s and her mother’s genes.