Twelve years of back-to-school shopping. Times three kids — boys to boot. That's at least 36 trips of whining, teeth gnashing and belly-aching — on my part. After all that, I've unearthed the shopping secret: Take someone else's kid. That's what we did. And it was fun — for the kids and for me.

        “Can we do this every Wednesday?” asked Claudia Davis, 13, one of our shoppers. That's a compliment — from a teen-ager.

        Granted, there were some strings attached.

        We recruited two kids for two shopping trips and told them they could bring a friend and choose one store each. They had an imaginary budget of $150 and could choose whatever they wanted: an outfit, jewelry, a jacket. The items just had to be “school” clothes.

        We chatted about what they wear to school (two wore uniforms, two could wear “just about anything as long as it's modest”), what time they get up (two at 5 a.m., one at 6 a.m. and one at 7:30 a.m.), what music they liked (Mystikal, Nelly, Eve, Dave Matthews Band, Sugar Ray) and what they did in their spare time (one ballet, one roller hockey and two baton twirling). Then we tuned into Kiss 107 FM (the unanimous choice), cranked it up and headed out.

Claudia and Dorian

        Claudia Davis of Silverton and Dorian Ware of Kennedy Heights “grew up together” and have been friends most of their 13 years.

        They like chili cheese fries, Coke floats and glitter shirts.

        Both wear khaki pants or skirts with blue oxford-cloth shirts as uniforms for A.B. Miree Fundamental Academy in Bond Hill and St. Margaret Cortona in Madisonville.

        “I don't do skirts,” said Dorian. “I gotta have my bell-bottoms,” added Claudia, who seldom wears skirts “except to church.”

        First stop was Lane Bryant at Tri-County Mall.

        No matter their size, “girls want to dress like their peers,” said store manager Tami Horn.

        “If they have a size 4 to 6 friend who they shop with, they want to dress in the same stuff. Lane Bryant has made a concerted effort to target the 16-to-34 age group.”

        Store music was young, and a TV played Lane Bryant fashion videos with plus model Mia Tyler (half-sister of Liv Tyler) — in hipsters draped over a hunk.

        Dorian headed for the T-shirt table glittering with sequined cotton knits and snapped up four to try. Then to stretch bell-bottom jeans.

        Store style expert Jen Wilson suggested a short-sleeve denim shirt for layering.

        After a couple of minutes in the fitting room and some giggles as she paraded around, Dorian settled on a white knit shirt with the word “Angel” and an airbrushed wing design set off with rhinestones, the stretch jeans and the denim overshirt.

        She still had money left. A quick trip to accessories and she added a bracelet and earrings.

        Time: 40 minutes.

        Plato's Closet, a resale chain for teens, stocks brand-name clothes, shoes and accessories. We stopped at the newest location at the Fields-Ertel exit of I-71, next to Wal-Mart (also in West Chester, Anderson Township and Florence). The music was louder, the bass heavier.

        Claudia zeroed in on a display outfit just inside the door.

        “That's the one I want,” she said.

        She was an easy sell on a pair of Old Navy jeans, rhinestone-studded belt and four shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch, Old Navy and the Gap.

        “I can't keep that spot filled,” said Sheila Johnson, Plato's Closet district training manager. “Every new outfit I put there gets snapped up.”

        For a little bit of a challenge we asked for shoes and a purse. Ms. Johnson checked Claudia's sizes and came up with a pair of thick-soled Doc Martens and a mail pouch purse.

        Since Claudia had “money” left, Ms. Johnson put together a second outfit with a heart theme: bell-bottoms with hearts scattered around the hem, blue tint glasses with rhinestone heart trim, a rhinestone belt with hearts, a white American Eagle tee, blue Abercrombie tee and a Tommy Jeans denim jacket.

        Time: 40 minutes.

Lila and Scott

        Our second shopping duo turned into a brother-sister act when Scott Weinard's buddy ran into scheduling problems. The 14-year-old enlisted his sister, Lila, 16, to fill in, and we headed to abercrombie at Tri-County Mall with the two Loveland High students.

        “Whatever we feel like” wearing is that school's clothing directive, according to Scott. “But it has to be modest, no short-shorts,” said Lila.

        Old Navy, Structure and the Gap frequently get Scott's shopping attention, and Lila scans Xpress, Contempo, Banana Republic and Charlotte Russe. Because she is so small — “size 0 or 1 or even 2 sometimes” — shopping takes more time and she often finds herself at stores, such as abercrombie, that stock smaller sizes.

        Scott zipped straight to the rugby shirts and cargo pants, filling me in on what's cool: “navy or dark camel cargo pants (not the light ones), shirts with worn collars, jeans that are stone-washed (but not the dark navy) and denim jackets that look like they were handed down from Levi Strauss himself. Fashion folks call them "distressed.' Moms call them "worn-out.' ”

        He chose caramel-colored cargo pants, a navy-red-white rugby shirt, a royal blue football jersey and “distressed” denim jacket.

        Lila said sparkles were still in “but you have to wash them inside-out.” She returned twice to the display of hooded and belted cable-stitched sweaters before picking a light blue one. She partnered the sweater with a yellow and light blue T-shirt with glitter type (“Twisters, we'll blow you away”), stretch bell-bottoms and a corded belt with rainbows.

        Because they get up at 5 a.m. for a daily preschool Bible study class and often find themselves going non-stop from school to dinner to various practice sessions, these two waste no time.

        We entered the store at 11:07, and Scott had his outfit chosen in 14 minutes. “Girls always take longer. Guys are fast, ” he says as Lila takes another three minutes.

        On these shopping trips, the kids were great. No whining. No sulking. Everybody came away happy.

        And I'd do it again — as long as it's someone else's money and someone else's children. Even boys.

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