Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Spring Ain't the Only Thing in the Air!

So it's prom time. And banquet time. And formal time. And springdance/endofschoolyear/whatever time.

What I'm saying is, a lot of people are posting pictures on Facebook of young ladies dressed up for these events. Lovely, beautiful young ladies all fancied up.

I have yet to see a dress that I would let my children wear.

They are ALL too short. All of them. I feel like such an old person when I say that. I understand that is what is being sold in the stores right now. I really do. I've been shopping.

I also know what the Bible says about modesty.

You know...side note here...I've thought about this a lot lately. The real definition of modesty is not "covering one's skin" but "not seeking to draw attention to one's self." Some folks dress SO completely different than the rest of the world that they truly are drawing more attention to themselves by their dress. I know that isn't really their intention, but I think their plan is not working. Of course, that doesnt' mean you should wear what everyone else is wearing so you will blend in. No. It doesn't mean that. But neither should we seek to look NOTHING like the rest of the people we are around.

There is a middle ground. Not a compromise....but a middle ground.

There has to be a way to be modest (cover what needs to be covered) while not making yourself look like you came from some other time period. I like this website because they show how you can alter dresses you buy at the store...sometimes very easily. I saw a poor girl at a restaurant this weekend who could have used some of these tricks. I was embarrassed just looking at her.

Of course, this website doesn't have solutions for the current hemlines. I certainly hope they start going back down soon. Are you kidding me? I haven't seen stuff this bad at least! Here's one a little more mainstream. Still not working for me. Have you seen this stuff where you live? These dresses are way too short!

Man, I'm old.

But thanks to the Internet, I believe we can dress for different occasions and still maintain our modesty. It may take more effort and more money...but I think it's worth it. We got our swimsuits in the mail today and I couldn't be more pleased with them. I prayed about finding swimsuits, y'all. I really did. I wanted to honor God and I wanted to swim and have fun this summer. And I wanted my girls to not feel like freaks on the beach. We got these. Mine is SO comfortable.

I wish modesty didn't take so much effort, but it seems that it does. Have you taught your daughters what modesty means AND why we should be modest AND how to go about that? It's a lesson they must learn while they are in our homes. I just might have to interview mine and see what their answers are. I may still have some work to do myself.

6 comments:

  1. Totally agree with your definition of modesty. And agree that most teenagers/young women at these formal events, if dropped in the right neighborhood would look like they were *ahem* selling something.

    I love your new swim suits. They look so nice!! Glad they're comfy too. :0)

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  2. Read the Public Undressing of America not long ago - amazing how far we've fallen. But yes, those dresses, the poses, the 'big s@xy hair'. Prom is all about the same thing today that it was in my 'prom days', and I can attest - it wasn't good!

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  3. Where are all the comments? I agree in general with your standard of modesty. Too short dresses, cleavage, skin tight stuff? Uh-uh. Not in our house.

    However, we have found acceptable swim wear in some of the mainstream stores for our teenagers. We simply buy a tankini top (yes, shoulders and upper back are visible), pair it with a matching pair of board shorts, and voila! A swimsuit!

    I used to be really nit picky about exposed shoulders with respect to tops but I've relaxed mainly because not every tank top is the equivalent of a scooped neck spaghetti top shirt that exposes too much and covers too little.

    Maybe I've been down here in the Sunshine State surrounded by scantily clad women too long, but I've relaxed a little. Still, no shorts shorter than knee-length are allowed, and my personal preference, as I've expressed before, is a lenghthy flowing skirt.

    Even with the tankinis, my girls still wear way more clothes than almost any other woman on the beach, regardless of age, except for me.

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  4. Terry, I would be just fine with that. I was set on finding a modest one piece suit and board shorts to go over it but never found the board shorts in stores. Got tired of looking. Found a few that were long enough, but the waist wasn't adjustable so they would have just slid right off of my girls. No go.

    Were you expecting more comments? :)

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  5. Actually, yes. I was expecting more comments. This is a topic near and dear to the hearts of most Christian women raising daughters, no?

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  6. Unfortunately, I think many modern Christian women are not training their daughters to be modest. Just looking around at how some of the teen girls in my church were dressed last Sunday...skinny jeans, low cut tank tops, short skirts...and I have to wonder what is going on that their parents are letting them leave the house to go to church (or any place for that matter) like that. It's not just the daughters either...the older women are just as bad sometimes. It's very unsettling!

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)