Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Last week, while I was at Starbucks Coffee, I saw a mother and her toddler, probably 2 or 3 years old, waiting for their drinks at the counter. The toddler was wearing a bikini, and I was sort of shocked. Starbucks Coffee may not be an upscale place, but it is still a public place. When my parents took me out in public, they made sure I was dressed appropriately. This is in addition to making sure I behaved myself in public. Upon reading various parenting threads, I see that you all make sure your kids behave properly in public and remove them from the scene anytime they misbehave. Do you also make sure your kids are dressed appropriately whenever you take them out in public? If you don't care how your kids are dressed in public, think about others around you who would be annoyed upon seeing your kids dressed inappropriately.
I don't know how it is in Hawaii, but in coastal Florida, people in bathing suits in public isn't really worth commentary. I personally throw a shirt over my suit if I have to stop somewhere on the way home to/from the beach, but there are plenty of people who don't.
I think the toddler in a swimsuit and the hoochie girl thing are two different situations.
While it's overly casual to have your toddler in a bathing suit at a coffeeshop, I feel its more excusable than having hoochie written on the rear of your shorts. Our society has become super-casual, and I can imagine a few situations such as -- your car is hot and toddler is dozing in the swimsuit, so you just run in to try to avoid a caffeine headache and toddler tantrum.
I think to a certain degree it's also regional. Here, as I said, I wouldn't probably even notice. In Charleston SC or Des Moines or a couple of other places, I would be really surprised.
Hoochie, otoh, is trashy no matter where you live.
And the baby clad in just a diaper is tacky, tacky, tacky.
Alright... Let's take this to another level.... What about inapproriate attire in schools? I have stated in prior posts I was a teacher before staying home with my children and have MANY a story to tell in that department... One, being the numerous times a THONG is hanging out the back end of a Middle Schooler... 1. These girls are FAR too young to wear a THONG.... BUT.... 2. It is one thing as a female teacher to pull a young girl aside and say sweetly, "Dear, your underwear is hanging out the back of your pants. I am going to give you a Lav Pass so you can go fix that." HOWEVER A male teacher would be accused of sexual harassment. I don't think the parents are fully concentrating on their childrens attire these days and the Department Stores are doing even LESS of job in HELPING them to act responsibly. My daughter is Five, but VERY tall and already in a size 7 because of her height. It takes me ages to find clothes that are apporpriate for her. I dont' want her dressing like a teenager and i don't think they should sell these clothes in a childrens department. Buyers of these stores are just as much responsible for selling sparkle string binkini's in a CHILDREN'S Department as the parents buying them.... Probably enough of that rant... but there are MANY people to blame in society these days...
Makes me think uniforms in school aren't such a bad idea...
I think it's fine for schools to have strict dress codes. I think they need to be enforced, though, before we all go rushing off to school uniforms. Enforcement of rules is what makes the difference, not just having the rules, and certainly not the magical qualities of baby blue polyester doubleknit.
As both a PARENT, searching for the nonexistent appropriate attire needed to dress my soon to be first grader, and as a TEACHER by trade, forced to put out the Fashion Blunder Fire at school, I would LOVE to see the use of a uniform in EVERY educational setting. It would leave less worry for the parents in the search of clothing and less time spent in class dealing with the nonsense parents avoid dealing with at home...
When my kids were small, we had a teenaged babysitter whom I would occasionally pick up after school so I could run errands. His school had uniforms. I was appalled by the myriad ways teenaged girls could make khaki and blue look slutty, and how unkempt a lot of teenaged boys managed to look. Our local fundamental schools, otoh, don't have a uniform code, but they do have a strictly enforced dress code. I'd rather see something like that in place, even if the idea of "no shorts, period" in a Florida August does seem a bit draconian.
Don't go to Europe. It's not uncommon to see toddlers at the beach totally naked. There are also topless women of all ages and men wearing thongs.
I thought we were talking about Americans. I have been to Europe - I'm totally aware that things are more relaxed or accepted in other parts of the world. But in the states, we're not quite there yet. We're still in the grand scheme of things a young country with very conservative views about a lot of things. And really until we all have grown up a bit, I think it's better to be respectful of others than to flaunt your babies or yourself and be seen as a bad parent or trashy or low-class or whatever people might assume. This is America - not France.
Last week, while I was at Starbucks Coffee, I saw a mother and her toddler, probably 2 or 3 years old, waiting for their drinks at the counter. The toddler was wearing a bikini, and I was sort of shocked. Starbucks Coffee may not be an upscale place, but it is still a public place. When my parents took me out in public, they made sure I was dressed appropriately. This is in addition to making sure I behaved myself in public. Upon reading various parenting threads, I see that you all make sure your kids behave properly in public and remove them from the scene anytime they misbehave. Do you also make sure your kids are dressed appropriately whenever you take them out in public? If you don't care how your kids are dressed in public, think about others around you who would be annoyed upon seeing your kids dressed inappropriately.
Shoot, when I was younger we used to go to Knott's (amusement park) all the time. It has one ride where you can get soaked, so sometimes in the summer we would go just to go on that ride. Did we walk around the park in bathing suits? No. Did other people? No. The people who did wear bathing suits for the ride simply put on clothes over the suits when the ride was over. It still happens like this at the park. Most people here know that I don't find modern bathing suits to be appropriate attire anywhere, but wearing them anywhere other than the beach or pool is absolutely ridiculous in my book.
Good grief! When did everyone become so puritannical? If we are out and about I make my son wear a shirt with his swim suit, and my daughter a cover-up, but as for what everyone else does, I really don't care. The human body is beautiful, not something to be ashamed of. Children should be free to not worry about yet another adult hang-up. There really aren't perves hanging around every corner just waiting to see little girls in grocery stores wearing their swim suits. So what if a baby is only wearing a diaper? If people look at a baby and only see the shame of it all, and not a beautiful little baby, then honestly I feel sorry for them.
Good grief! When did everyone become so puritannical? If we are out and about I make my son wear a shirt with his swim suit, and my daughter a cover-up, but as for what everyone else does, I really don't care. The human body is beautiful, not something to be ashamed of. Children should be free to not worry about yet another adult hang-up. There really aren't perves hanging around every corner just waiting to see little girls in grocery stores wearing their swim suits. So what if a baby is only wearing a diaper? If people look at a baby and only see the shame of it all, and not a beautiful little baby, then honestly I feel sorry for them.
Oh you're so naive. There are pervs everywhere and 3 out of 2 children are in real danger 105% of the time. It didn't used to be like this, the times are different now. There is probably a child abduction on my street at least three times a week. I have a variety of data to back up these assertions, but I am having trouble finding it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
