How to negotiate the dangerous terrain of teen fashion with your teen

If you’re the parent of a teenager, you’re already painfully aware of your need to keep up with the latest fads and fads. It’s like a competition with them who has the latest fashion in clothes and who doesn’t. At the same time, it’s our job as parents to make sure this doesn’t go too far, especially in light of today’s fads. We’ve all seen boys’ fashions that make them wear pants that are too big and show off their boxers and with girls we see tight, low-cut tops that are so short they show their belly buttons. In my opinion these are totally inappropriate for young teenagers and I see girls as young as 12 dressed in this way.

If you’re like me, your first thought will probably be to get angry and say something like: “The only way you wear that is over my dead body”, of course you have every right to, but it may end up causing a rift between you. and her teenager. If you take a moment to think about what it was like as a teenager, you’ll probably remember hating being told what to wear by your own parents and swore you’d never be the same, but here you are. . Maybe we should be a little more subtle about it.

With girls in particular, wearing these new style fads could end up exposing them to harm, which is one way to approach them about it. Let them know that there are many sexual predators who may get the wrong idea of ​​them when they wear low-cut tops and jeans that leave them exposed. For many girls this should be enough to tone it down a bit, the idea of ​​an old man wanting them will completely gross them out. If you take the time to explain it this way, it may be more successful than just saying, “You can’t use that because I say you can’t.”

It’s helpful to remind your teen that these fashion trends change all the time, so it’s not unusual to see these trends last only a few months at a time. One thing you can do to encourage change if you don’t like what your teens are wearing is do some fashion research of your own. If you can find a new style that’s just emerging, maybe you can get them to wear it instead and be a trendsetter instead of a follower. You may want to keep up with fashion magazines and online sites.

Another issue with kids in middle and high school is school dress codes, since most schools have dress codes that prohibit revealing clothing, it may be wise to put your foot down before they the school does it and you end up having a teenager get suspended. for breaking the school dress code. It is much better to end problems before they start.