Oh dear, it is starting. That lovely, I would rather walk through fire than go through that stage again, time when young girls are very concerned with what their friends have on.
The utter gal of someone to have the wrong outfit! Why, it is a sin just short of murder!
Now The Artist doesn't really care all that much about what someone else is wearing, though she is getting interested in what she puts on, it hasn't reached the "What will I do stage! I can't wear this with that! Are you crazy!!!" turning her nose up at what seems to me as a perfectly acceptable pairing because the blues aren't right. So I tried to explain to her; you don't care, and you don't make your friends based on dress style that is fine. BUT it is a good idea to become more fashionably inclined. NOT because that is what is important, but because it does make it easier to live. That she can make friends with those who dress "right" and those who dress "wrong" by taking an interest in what she puts on, but not worrying about what someone else wears.
No, this is not the talk I want to have with her. I'd like to tell her clothes don't matter, as long as one is being respectable in terms of how one is dress (jeans aren't appropriate to formal weddings etc.) But reality strikes; and I've decided I don't want her going through this period unprepared. I'm teaching her, or hopefully teaching her, how to walk that fine line between living up one's ideals and living in reality.
I hope I'm doing it right. But that is the pain of parenting; one never really can know how well one is doing, if one is doing it right.
Posted by Rachel Ann at September 26, 2005 08:59 PM | TrackBackYou care. That's most of the battle, isn't it? The Artist is very lucky to have you. :)
Posted by: esther at September 26, 2005 10:22 PMOh my! I raised 2 daughters...it can sure be a minefield (my son was SO MUCH easier!)....I guess I can tell someone more what not to do, rather than what to do. It is hard to teach them to take some pains in how they dress and at the same time, not care a fig how anyone else does!! But yours are ahead with a mom who is interested in their being modest...all young women should be so protected.
Blessings...Elizabeth
Some people are just born with it. When we were on shlichut my eldest had to wear a uniform to school at the age of 5. "What? I'm supposed to wear the same thing everyday!?!" For the fist week or so, she alternated the summer and winter uniforms.
Posted by: muse at September 28, 2005 05:03 AM