I have to preface this post with the fact that we are VERY DIY. Tiny Bangs is a mom/daughters team, but we're also just a trio of weird art kids. We get our hands dirty in every aspect of the company. For our most recent shoot, we decided to revisit one of our most favorite backdrops: a nostalgic bedroom. It quickly snowballed and suddenly, we were moving everything out of my own room and painting.

The first step was picking out paint. We ultimately agreed on a lurid yellow color. It physically made me cringe when I picked up the paint sample and let me tell you: that's a home-run in our books. Thankfully, both the girls are huge fans of painting bedrooms and Anni immediately stripped down and informed me of her absolutely genius hack: "You can't get paint on your clothes if you aren't wearing any!". After painting, we started pulling EVERY relevant poster, stuffed animal, and decoration from around the house and amassed a pile of epic porportions! Just a few hours later and we had the tweenage room of our dreams.

Our friend Nas Nixx (@nasnixx) came to shoot the girls modeling the new handmade/vintage collection in this room and Roger Lopez (@rogerdidit) helped the girls execute their makeup to perfection. Their hair color was done by me a few days prior using Manic Panic products. I hope you enjoy this photo set! You can join us later this month at the Daydream Party at Laser Kitten on Melrose to experience our new bedroom installation IRL. Just check the events section of our site for the full details.

I want to start off by saying I'm not an expert. I remember buying Crystal Light because when I was younger I would watch their commercials featuring adult women who really had their shit together. They were laughing and drinking it and I thought, "Wow, that's how it's done.". The same day, I picked up a few copies of generic parenting books from the library because it's not like I could purchase them after I blew all my money on fancy lady drink mixes. I quickly realized that A) I basically bought sugar packets for water and B) those books weren't meant for me. Maybe they were for me because in that moment I was so desperate and anxious to be good. A good adult, a good mother. Almost 10 years into being a mom and I am no less anxious and I've traded Crystal Light for coffee, but I at least have some experience to share since then. In this case, it's about raising an independent, self-aware child.

Is she drinking pee?

Once you've snapped out of the survival mode that is the new parent stage, you start thinking about their mental and emotional well-being which of course, includes the development of their individual identity. It sounds contradictory to both parent and teach autonomy. How do you encourage independence when they are still dependent on you? You have this gelatinous blob of a human slowly growing into themselves. As their caretaker, you make sure the blob doesn't get hurt, but they still need their own time to harden into the shape that they will be. I think the key is boundaries. You recognize them as their own sentinent being while also making sure their immediate safety isn't threatened. You're basically just trying to get them into adulthood in one piece and hopefully, just hopefully, they are prepared and confident.

Way before Tiny Bangs and way before we were ever recognized on the street, we used to live in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was smack-dab between downtown and Hollywood and there was even a train stop down the street. It was PERFECT. We rode the train a lot and I started noticing how adults were with my children. There is almost this unspoken understanding that kids are communal. Not in the cute "it takes a village to raise a child" kind of way, but in a public property kind of way. People would pat them on the head, hug, grab their cheeks, and sometimes even try to kiss them.

As a woman, I'm borderline numb to this entitled behaviour, but it wasn't until I was a parent did I realize that children also go through this. It wasn't exclusive to strangers either, family and friends would unintentionally demand the kids' attention, time, physical affection, and even try to dictate what they could wear or say. I started to think about the impact it has on them and even the impact it had on me when I was younger. I was essentially taught that what I wanted or who I was didn't matter. It only mattered what everyone else wanted from me and I wasn't allowed to say no to them. Consent is very much entwined in this conversation. I hate to break it to you, but by taking away your kids' agency you're putting them on a very scary path. Advocate for them and better yet, teach them how to advocate for themselves.

I had mentioned in my first blog post that my daughter was pulled out of school when she was being bullied. It's important to note that I had asked her permission to write about that because again, autonomy (I'm not messing around). What had happened was that kids would pick on her for the crazy colors of hair she chose or the hobbies they deemed too strange for a girl, even the staff would join in on the ridicule. After spending the time she was homeschooled reassuring her that she's a boss, I was still scared when she started her new school. Weeks passed and I got a call from the counselor's office. The guidance counselor told me there was a physical altercation. Boys had stolen a ball from her and she had spoken up and was hit by one of them in the stomach. She told me that Naomi yelled for her friend to get an adult while she stood there facing them down. The counselor had asked Naomi why she had done that and she replied, "This happened before and I'm not letting them get away with it. I am not a princess that needs to be saved.". Listen, I don't get every thing right as a parent, but you better believe that moment went down in the books for me. She knows who she is and may God have mercy on your soul if you try to take that from her.

This feels like a good time to bring up that HOLY BANANAS, literally everything surrounding a child is telling them how they should be. From the moment their parents opens a cute, wrapped box and pink or blue balloons pop out and even continuing throughout adulthood, they are told to be soft and magical or tough and smart. My kids and I are super into fashion (who would've guessed, right?) and you better believe we noticed what the mainstream retailers tell children. They've even gendered animals, y'all. Just try to find a kitten on a shirt in the boys' section, I'll wait. We get asked constantly when we will start offering "boys' clothes" which makes my eye twitch every time. I understand the question and I try to reach into my empathy bag to realize, okay, there are people who still see clothes as one way or another and want a traditionally masculine thing for their child. It still bugs me though. Especially as a mom with a son that is just as comfortable in basketball shorts as a sundress, I wonder what people like that will say to him and if they will try to force his beautiful gelatinous self into a jello mold that doesn't fit him.

If I were to conclude this behemouth of a topic, it would be with this: let your kids be whoever the eff they are unless they are assholes. Practice your own autonomy since kids really do learn from example, respect their autonomy, and in turn, they will respect others'. The world is kind of a dumpster fire right now, but I have faith in this generation of caretakers and the generation we are raising. Empower your children and watch amazing things happen!

You may have seen us on the Internet before. Maybe it was a not-so-flattering article titled, “WOULD YOU DYE YOUR KIDS' HAIR LIKE THIS MOM DOES?” or perhaps your friend tagged you in one of our Instagram posts. Either way, I'm glad you're here and reading this.

My name is Kirsten Bosio. I’m a mom of three living in Los Angeles, and I started this company with my two young daughters, Naomi and Anni. I grew up as the weird kid in school listening to loud music and idolizing all the colorful, off-beat figures in pop-culture. I dyed my hair, drew all over myself in class, and had a hard time fitting in. Not surprisingly, I also had a hard time finding clothes that I liked - so I did a lot of thrifting and DIY-ing: upcycling all my vintage finds, painting denim vests, and constantly finding new ways to show the world who I am.

to connect with them and share my passions - So we dove right in. We watched some cult classics from the 80s & 90s (which, by the way, you're totally going to encounter that not all of these have aged well, and this is a great time to discuss all the awkward/not okay things - but I digress).  We EXCLUSIVELY listened to CDs for a 2-year period, much to the confusion of a lot of friends and family members. We read novels like Francesa Lia Block's Weetzie Bat. They of course still meddled with current culture, like Steven Universe and Top 40 hits, but wow, did they REALLY love all the things from my childhood. I wasn't exactly upset.

We went to work fashioning our own clothing, accessories, and playing around with hair colors. I found out quickly that my daughters were anything but my carbon copies. They both had completely unique styles and tastes. Naomi wasn't very feminine; although she would dabble in dramatic makeup from time to time, she liked being comfortable but still wanted to be intimidating. Suddenly there were spikes on everything and lots of SLIME. Slime-colored hair, slime face decals, and slime accents on her clothes.

 Anni was HYPER glam. Big dresses, glitter by the pound, and pink until your eyes bleed. She randomly would have goth days when she just wanted to listen to sad music, put on a black cape, and once even made me find her fishnets in her size to complete her mood.

Just 3 years ago, we attended the first birthday of our friends' son. Not knowing what to get him, I remembered that he was named after Joe Strummer of The Clash, and that his mom was obviously a huge fan, so I did something I never did before: I made a piece of clothing for someone other than myself or my kids. It was a hand-dyed vest. I made a The Clash back patch for, even Mod Podge-ing custom buttons, and sewn-on leopard fur accents. They were IN LOVE. It still actually hangs in their house as art well after their son outgrew it. It hit me: all kids should have access to clothes as crazy as they are.

In early 2017, Tiny Bangs was born. We've since tirelessly made hundreds of handmade pieces, had a failed Kickstarter, and experienced harsh comments from the public about the girls' appearance and countless days when all the hard work doesn't feel enough. When I was at my peronal lowest with the company a few months ago, I turned to the girls and asked, "What if we just didn't do this anymore?" and they both burst into TEARS. This whole journey has been OUR journey. I hugged them and although I immediately felt awful for even asking, it was honestly all I needed to push through and keep going. Around the same time our business began, I had pulled one of my daughters out of school for bullying. It felt like then more than ever, it was important to see weird kids celebrated for being themselves. She's started at a different school, but now when she's confronted with bullies, she handles it with more grace than even I, at almost 30 years old, am not sure I could. I think that's partially due to her being a part of this company. Kids need to be told that what's different about them is actually their greatest asset. They are powerful and creative and shouldn't be talked down; least of which, by their clothes.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about us and how Tiny Bangs came about. There's so many exciting things coming soon and we're grateful to have you along with us on this journey. Feel free to hit the contact button if you have any questions! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook and even sign up for our mailing list to make sure you stay on top of all the new happenings.