My View: However you dress it up, four-year-olds and fashion don't mix

I know it is half-term in our house. Not just because of the lack of packed lunches to be made, book bags to be collected and gym kits to be remembered. I know it is half term as my four- year-old had already tried on and dismissed three outfits before 8am.

With the joy of not having to wear school uniform, she had the excuse to trawl through her array of garments, many hand-me-downs from her big sister, and put together all manner of spots, stripes and colours.

Although I flinched internally at the flowery leggings, spotty skirt and stripy top in a variety of clashing colours, so long as they were suitable for the climate, it isn't a battle I believe worth fighting.

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However, when we did get out of the house and I eventually made it to work, I read an article about Suri Cruise and her designer wardrobe which is allegedly worth more than 1m already. Suri is a similar age to my youngest, whose second-hand wardrobe probably totals nearer 100.

Well I suppose Suri's parents do have the money to indulge their daughter's expensive tastes. However, the Suri-effect is apparently now being felt over here, with children, or rather their parents, trying to keep up by lavishing their little ones with designer clothes.

One mother from West Yorkshire has told how her four-year-old daughter likes to co-ordinate everything – even down to her vest and pants. This doesn't sound like any four-year-old I know.

The same mother reports that she is having a pink Dior T-shirt made for her little girl who spotted a grown-up version sported by Sarah Jessica Parker and "fell in love with it".

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You have to ask the question: who actually fell in love with it?

Experimenting with fashion is what every little girl does, at four it is their way of expressing their personality and exerting some independence. It is part of growing up wanting to team as many clashing colours as possible. There is something quite disturbing about creating a generation of "mini-mes", where children are encouraged to look like their parents.

It smacks of competitive parent syndrome once again.

And then there is the cost. On average parents spend 700 a year on clothes for their child, the figure rises to 850 for girls. This might not be as much as the Cruises spend, but it is still a significant

amount of money, what happened to good old hand-me-downs?

But it isn't just the money, it is the message it is sending to our children. In a world obsessed with image, celebrity and consumerism, surely as parents it is our job to stave off as long as possible this craving for designer labels and for children to be able to enjoy childhood for what it is?

I find it hard to believe that the average four- year-old knows her Manolo Blahnik's from her Peppa Pig and long may that continue.