While in high school, I was all about fashion. The "in" thing to wear and the best "brands" to wear. Even tho' I allowed society to tell me what to wear, I never gave another person a hard time for not wearing the not so cool clothes. Fortunatly I grew out of that and realized that as long as my clothes make me feel comfortable for who I am-then I'm happy. What that means is, if I see a shirt that isn't a designer label-you better believe I'll buy it if it makes me happy! In college I don't hear the snotty comments made about people's clothes anyway. So that leads me to believe that most of the issue lies in Middle and High school.
I made this vow when I overheard two really mean girls talking about another girls clothing. I knew the girl who was being made frun of. She was from a poor family who had to buy their clothes with clothing vouchers. She did not chose which family that she was born into and I'm sure she did not chose to wear pants that was two sizes to small. That choice was made for her. However, she did chose to be a really sweet and really funny girl. You just had to look past her clothing to see the true person she was.
Saying this, I am going to let you in on my vow. I vow that if I ever have children and I hear that they are making fun of someone's clothing. I will take them to Wal-Mart and buy them jeans that don't cover their ankles, shoes that velcro, and plain t-shirts. I will not let them wear their name brand clothing for a whole week. I think this would be a great way to open their eyes to how their actions and comments can hurt others. I also have a plan if I find out they are skipping school too, but maybe I'll save that for another blog. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is please be respectful of others feelings and get off of your high horse. Just because you have expensive clothes doesn't mean they look good on ya :)
Personally I don't get why some clothes are so expensive. I go to a school that is very wealthy, I would guess that the adverage girl wears above a thousand dollars worth of clothes a day but it seems like I could get something that looked the same for a fifth of the game.
Clothes are clothes to me. They all come from the same place when they are made. People are paying for the name. I think those people are stupid who spend a fortunate on name brand stuff just to be what society thinks is "cool" or "hot". Foolishness.
It seems rediculous.
Actually, your idea is great. My mom never had to do anything like that - I was the one being made fun of. In fact, I got made fun of for wearing a bra in 4th grade.
I think your idea is good. It's never the child's fault- I would have sacrificed all of my parents' useless spending for a new pair of socks, but I didn't get to make that decision.
As for the skipping school, I don't mind if my 7 year old stays home a day or two per semester as long as she has all A s and has not been in trouble at school. In the real world, adults skip work once in a while. We try to teach our kids how to manage adult freedoms and responsibilities at an early age so they will not abuse the freedoms when we can't control them. If it ever becomes an issue (for example, not telling us or lying about it), we will take some type of disciplinary action.
F*** Religion. Read more here:
http://www.progressiveu.org/020528-f-religion
Awesome. I actually had the problem of being the victim of the teasing in elementary school. I wore straight legged pants, and flared pants were in style. And I had a Barbie backpack. All of my wardrobe was WalMart, maybe a little JC Penneys or Sears, or hand me downs from older cousins.
Now, I still wear Walmart, I still wear hand me downs from an older cousin, and I gladly shop at discount stores like Rugged Wearhouse. I also love secondhand stores like Plato's Closet. I have never bought a piece of clothing that cost more than $50, except for my Etnies skateboard shoes. And people think I'm a cool chick. Whaddya know? :)
I've gotten made fun of for the weirdest things clothing-wise. For instance, wearing a bra in 4th grade. Or, in middle school, when I got a pair of flares (they were pretty - black with shimmer threads woven in), I got a "look who thinks she can pull off flares" from some very immature people.
I laughed so loud when I read this! Then I read it to my partner and she is still laughing! That is a great idea.
And I probably would hate you if you were my mom, but don't all teenagers hate their moms for a least a little while? Then I would grow up and look back at the lessons I learned from wearing velcro shoes (OMG, that's the best part! Hahahahaha!), and I would really appreciate the effort you put into making me a good person.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman