As I attended my youngest child's college orientation this past weekend it occurred to me that I had done alright as a parent. When I say alright I am speaking about the way in which both my children have shown great respect for their parents, themselves and the adults that surround them. While they may have strong opinions, neither of them are disrespectful even as young adults themselves.
I write this because as I walked the campus of an institution of higher learning, I witnessed the results of poor parenting. An orientation letter that was sent to all incoming freshmen indicated that 'while there are many articles of clothing that may be fashionable today please refrain from wearing these articles as you would be making your first impressions with members of the faculty and administrators of the university.'
Yet I saw scores of young men with their pants completely off their asses and belted off at the knee. Good parenting would have prevented the rest of us from seeing this underwear display. If one father or mother would have said to their young son, "pull 'em up!" And now!
And the young ladies were not left out. Many wore some of the gaudiest outfits and skimpy articles of clothing on the planet. I asked myself where are these girls' mothers and not to my surprise I often saw the mother dressed just like the child. C'mon can't we stop trying to be our child's friend and be their parent. Cover it up young ladies! You can be sexy and appealing without showing all of your private parts.
It became obvious to me that many of these children have never really been parented once they made it to puberty. The parents decided to become the child's best friend and encouraged them in their manner of dress and actions. Trying to emulate the child to the tune of getting tacky tattoo's and piercings to show how cool they can be as an adult.
There are no schools or licensing for being a parent. But let's show some decorum and respect parents. Start telling your boys that they cannot wear their pants off their waist. Remind your little girls that they should cover up. If your child is under the age of 17 why are you allowing them to mark up their bodies with tattoos and piercing. You are the parent and can demand that they comply.
A belt is for holding your pants around your waist not your knees! I am sad to see that some municipalities have decided to legislate how to wear your pants. This is a waste of time for those cities. Better parenting goes along way. Start being a parent and stop being a friend. Pull 'em up!
These are my words! Please post yours!
