Old And Square, Right Here

Went with Thing One to a school awards ceremony last night (still can't get over the fact that my laser-focused-on-math-and-science kid received an award for art.)  Anyway, I sat in the school gym for a good hour just people-watching, since there wasn't much else to do.  The middle schoolers in particular are an interesting bunch...some still look like they are nine or ten; others could pass for high schoolers easily.  What really strikes me every time I go to one of these school functions, though, is what some of the girls choose to wear.  And more importantly, the fact that their parents permit it.

The trend for tween girls appears to be really short dresses and skirts.  Like barely-covering-the-butt short.  As my daughter is only six, this is not an issue we've had yet, but I am observing the older girls from an almost anthropological point of view and girding my loins for future battles.  Thankfully, the friend from whom Petunia's hand-me-downs flow also has tall, long-legged girls and similar views on children not dressing hoochie-style, which makes my life easier, but I'll be damned if my kid shows up anywhere in public with her ass flapping in the breeze.  Especially at 12!  There has to be a middle ground that does not involve my daughter looking like she should be on a street corner somewhere, and in four or five years I anticipate many arguments over that middle ground.  I'm sure she will be royally pissed off at me, too, but I'm her mother, not her friend, and that's okay.