Kids Dressing in Middle School - Fashion Bullies

WSJ has another great article about Fashion Bullies in Middle School. Middle School is a very intense peer orientated time with a lot of conformity (even non-conformity if done by the majority becomes a form of conformity) required and one oneupmanship done. The challenge is how to make it so your child blends in with everyone else while they focus on what they should be focusing on. To keep their self esteem in good shape during this period where children go through so many changes. Especially with advertising which is focused on getting children to buy fashion lines that have been especially made for them. Not to mention the problem that kids grow so fast!

When I was in College I worked on the Cal Poly Rose Parade Float, and I remember one child who was wearing designer tennis shoes and got glue over them. The result was a very unhappy child.

What I see is key is having great communication with your child and having them focus on a goal (such as getting good grades), and as a parent to be aware of what is going on. A great source of information if you can is picking up your child after school. Children will tell you all about their day right after school, and then later that day clam up.

Nanny State

Scary Editorial about how some Doctors in MA kids about mom and dad’s “bad” behavior.

One of the things that terrifies me as a parent is what happens if you are accused of Child Endangerment. This goes even into how you discipline your children and what is legal.

A friend of a friend had some type of argument with her older daughter and spanked the younger child. The person then went to the store. When she came back, her kids were gone. The older daughter, 16 I think, had called 911 and the polioce had taken them away. The older daugter regretted what she had done but it was to late. So then the younger daughter had to get placed with other relatives.

It's also scary if you are a male teacher and you need to be paranoid - Great book to read Guilty- Until Proven Innocent: Teachers and Accusations of Abuse. Amazon has 7 reviewers and all 5 starts. One accusation and your career is dead.

How Men Cope With Being Cast as Predators from the Wall Street Journal. One man commented now days he would have nothing to do with the Boy Scouts because of the potential issues and his quote: "Today, I wouldn't do that job for anything," he says. "All it takes is for one kid to get ticked off at you for something and tell his parents you were acting weird on the campout."

My view - there needs to be a balance. There are some crazy people out there that your kid needs to be protected from. But making it so your are automatically guilty if you are male is a bit to far.