In 2006 I was the mum standing in yet another changing room, watching my little boy's face fall because nothing fitted. The trousers that closed at the waist swamped his legs. The ones that fitted his legs wouldn't fasten. Shop assistants meant well, but every "have you tried the next age up?" chipped away at both of us.

The look on his face broke my heart every single time. Not because of his body. His body was fine. It was a child's body, and it deserved clothes made for it. What broke my heart was watching him learn, far too young, that the world wasn't built with him in mind.

So I stopped waiting for the high street to catch up and started Sturdy Kids from my kitchen table. At first it was just a handful of plus fit school trousers and a hunch that other parents were fighting the same battle. They were. Thousands of them.

Twenty years later, Sturdy Kids is the UK's specialist in plus fit, generous fit and non-standard fit children's clothing for ages 2 to 16. We design our own exclusive ranges, stock trusted schoolwear brands, run an in-house alterations service and offer adaptive clothing for children who need easy-on fastenings and sensory-friendly designs.

But honestly? The clothes are only half of it.

Over the years, parents started telling me things on the phone that they said they couldn't tell anyone else. About the dreaded uniform shop in August. About comments in the playground. About children who tug their jumpers down all day, or refuse PE, or cry on school mornings. And I realised that what many of our families needed wasn't just trousers with a wider waist. It was somewhere to feel understood.

That's what Sturdy Kids is now. A shop, yes. But also a community of parents, carers and grandparents who get it, because they live it too.

If you've found us after a hard day, I want you to know: your child is not the problem. The clothes were. We can fix the clothes, and this community can help with the rest.