I understand what it is like to be a teenager, and I also understand what it is like to experience peer pressure. However, I also understand that there are certain aspects of life that many teens just aren't prepared emotionally and mentally to handle no matter what is perceived by others saying that teens of today are so much more mature then we were yesterday.

I do not allow my daughter to dress a certain way because she will be perceived as a certain type of person by others (no matter if she is NOT). We, as adults, understand that no matter how we believe that people should accept us as we are, that just doesn't happen most of the time. I do this because I KNOW that she isn't at a level of maturity to handle the comments and/or behaviors that a certain type of dress will cause in others. She isn't emotionally ready to understand why men/boys (and some women) would stare at her and make comments. She isn't emotionally ready to understand why certain women would call her a slut and stick their noses up in the air as she walked by. She isn't grounded enough in her "self" to be able to handle the reactions that would come her way.

My daughter and I talk. I prepare her the best I can for the world. I believe that if she has the correct information (without glossing it over), she will be better prepared to face what she will come across in her life.

This isn't JUST about dressing a certain way, or behaving a certain way, this is learning about life and having the ability to HANDLE what is thrown at you.

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A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.