Just today I watched this video about a young lady who is making a line of modest swimsuits. You should give it a watch and then come back and read the rest.
In our conversation, my wife brought up something I didn't even know: in her elementary school there are two dress codes. Younger students, and girls more than boys, have different dress rules than older students. She indicated that there is often difficulty getting the girls to comply after they have had a few years with more relaxed standards.
So that is it, in a nutshell: why say yes now to something I know for a fact I will say no to later? I understand that it is different for a 4-year old to wear a bikini than a 14-year old. If I don't want my 14-year old wearing one, it's easier to tell her a decade ahead of time than trying to reverse a decade of opposite standards.
Here's an example. My wife gets really frustrated that our 2-year old daughter pulls everything out of her hair if it is put up. Barrettes, hairbands, bobby pins, bows- she pulls them all out. Allison sees the hair in Gwen's eyes and thinks it must be bothersome. Gwen doesn't know any other way. Her hair has always (at least in her memory I would guess) been that way. If they only know one-piece swimsuits, we won't have to change it.
This isn't just about swimsuits, either. Let's talk about shorts for a minute. A while back I used to play a game when I was shopping with Allison where I would see if I could find shorts smaller than the distance from the tip of my thumb to the tip of my pinky. At the time, it was rare to find one, although many were close. These days I don't even play that game because most of the shorts are smaller than that distance, and these are for adults! (Which, FYI is about 9") Shopping for shorts for the girls has proven difficult, but we found some that are really cute and the girls feel comfortable wearing.
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| Pretty much everything looks cute on little kids! |
I want my daughters to be modest. I want them to only know modesty. It starts right now.
