What I wore all week: Get in touch with your child.

They're in there. And dressing for them can help.

psst — want the real tips now?

• Break up outfits you buy together

• Use a gray T to casualize fancy bottoms

• Dress up pajamas or matched sets with luxe bags with hardware, real jewelry, bling-y sunglasses. And tuck the drawstring in.

• “Big T + party skirt” is a good formula (tucked or untucked)

• Have your T-shirts altered (collar made higher, sleeve made more flattering, slits added)

• Experiment with layering a “party top” over a T-shirt

Now here we go.

First up, some transparency.

I keep getting confirmation, the more I learn, that unbiased recs are both a) a challenge to maintain and b) a value to readers. (They’re a value to me!) When I look at my long term - like how will I keep doing this when it takes time and brings limited income - the options are partnerships, which I’ll only do a few of and they have to be really meaningful, or affiliate links or paid subscriptions or both.

Affiliate links are great because the brand takes on the lift of paying the writer rather than you, the reader. But inherently that means that using those links is how you get paid. So you really have to work and be scrupulous around recommendations (I am) who you partner with (yes) and also whether knowing about these links makes you more inclined to point to something rather than another.

On the other hand, if I say, deepened my paid subscribers, I could largely go on without reliance on those links for payment. But that (clearly) has its own challenges. It’s also very important to me that I provide free subscriptions to anyone in a precarious financial position. I call this a Standing Coffee, and you can DM me if this is you and simply ask for one.

Anyway, not that there’s an answer, just a window into my thinking and feeling. And why paid subs are so important. To that end, I’m trying something different here this time. “What I wore all week” is for paid subs only until Monday evening, and then opens up for all. That lets you get to the secondhand “one piece” items first, etc. And when I DO offer links (with a very conscious effort and lots of tactics in place to keep them unbiased), they will be seen by more people. p.s. Is all this boring? Feel free to say.