When I unpacked my children’s clothes from vacation recently, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. It’s not because a favorite bathing suit or T-shirt or — God forbid — the blanket was missing. It was that my children’s clothing was so abundant I was ashamed.

As I put away the bathing suits and piles of T-shirts and shorts and pajamas and socks, I recalled my own childhood closets. By comparison, they were relatively sparse. A few bathing suits, a few T-shirts, a few pairs of pants, a few sweaters. What was a few — three or four?

There’s nothing fancy about my children’s clothes. Most are from the Gap or my favorite retailer, Target. But for a family with an enormous washing machine and dryer, there is no justification for the amount of clothing we have.

My children’s closets are not the only ones that are overflowing. According to a 2005 report, the U.S. Market for Infant, Toddler and Preschool Clothing, the number of children in this age group is slowing, but sales of their clothes and footwear are climbing at a roaring pace.

In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006–07 figures, parents spent $6.6 billion on their children’s apparel during the 2005 back-to-school season alone — and a whopping $27 billion on their clothing during the year, a 2% increase from the year before.

“I knew I spent too much money on my children’s clothing last year when I received a bottle of wine from my favorite children’s store on Lexington Avenue,” a mother of four said. Apparently they send this great bottle of French wine to their best customers. “You know you’ve crossed the line when the store is sending you a gift to say thank you,” she said.

It was not hard to find city parents who feel their children have too much — way too much — clothing, and toys and books, for that matter. I spoke to several of the “It was on sale for $3.99 at the Children’s Place, how could I resist” overzealous shoppers, as well as the “It was just so spectacular, I had to have it for my child” shoppers.

“My kids’ closets are packed,” a mother of two told me. “And it’s not just because we have city-sized closets. I work in Midtown, and if I have a second at lunch it’s much more fun to shop for them than for me. If I see something that I love, and it’s not an outrageous amount of money, I buy it. I rarely ask myself, do they need this?”

Thirty years ago there was no Gap Kids or Old Navy, let alone the high-end shops that line our streets: Magic Windows, Greenstones, Lester’s, Sons & Daughters, Z Baby, and Space Kiddets.

Also, what about the number of high-end designers who have realized that parents are willing to spend the big bucks on little Jane and Johnny? Believe it or not, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Diesel, Ralph Lauren, Juicy Couture, Burberry, Sonia Rykiel, True Religion, and Michael Kors all have separate lines for children. Some even have specific lines for infants, toddlers, and teens.

“Thank goodness we have a uniform here,” a headmistress at a private girls’ school on the Upper East Side said. “I have on occasion bumped into my students during the weekends and seen the way they were dressed. I was horrified. Twenty years ago, parents couldn’t dress their child as miniature versions of themselves because the clothing options were limited. But now, it seems that if you can afford it, there’s no reason why not to buy children and parents matching $100 jeans, or Juicy outfits or boots or fancy sneakers. This is materialism run rampant.”

Whoever said that the best way to judge what a person really cares about is to look at how he spends his money was on to something. Our children hardly need to see the American Express statements to absorb our values. They deserve a better message than 10 bathing suits and 15 T-shirts.

sarasberman@aol.com