One of my favorite things to do is buy my kids clothes.  I enjoy my daughter’s unique sense of style.  And the fact that she can pull off any color of the rainbow, unlike her mother.  It’s always a fun thing that the two of us do together.  Now that she no longer wears toddler sized clothes and is in the “big girl” size 4-7 section I have noticed a new trend.  Hoochy clothes.  You read that right, clothes that I would deem inappropriate for just about anybody, but would expect to see on a college age girl.  Whatever happened to teaching our daughters to value themselves and to be modest?  Why does my four year old need booty shorts?  Or shirts that are fitted to emphasize a chest that she does not have?  It absolutely creeps me the heck out.  It really hit home when I picked up a pair of shorts for my son, size 2T and they were longer than the shorts I picked up for my daughter, size 5.  (Equally annoying was the fact that his shorts were cheaper despite using twice as much fabric.  I digress…)  Is it too much to ask of clothes makers to actually cover our children?  Apparently it is, so just like lots of other things in life this becomes the responsibility of parents.  We now purchase her shirts a size or two bigger than her size, just to ensure that they are long enough in the torso.  No belly shirts here.  To make up for the wider width, I bust out my trusty sewing machine.  If you don’t know how to sew, I encourage you to try.  I am not even close to being good at it, but I can hem things here and there.  Low necked shirts get camisoles.  Sometimes we attach them, others not.  Most importantly we talk to our daughter about respecting her body and hoping the message hits home.

-Stephanie Wright