Petey playing dress ups the other day...apparently, we havent been working on our modesty.In my religion, we focus a lot on modesty, especially with the youth. My whole life, I have been taught to respect and love my body by covering up what I need to. No low cut shirts, no sleeveless, no bare midriff shirts, no extremely short shorts, and nothing too tight fitting. This was a VERY hard concept for me. When I was in the third grade, I had a meeting with my parents (seriously) and I was ready to prove to them why it was ok for me to wear a sleeveless shirt. You see, my best friend had this awesome shirt from Limited Too and I wanted it so badly! My parents actually listened and decided I could buy Said Shirt. My dad made me promise that by me buying this shirt, I wasn't going to want more revealing things as time went on...he must've been a really smart dad by worrying about that because I did. A short time later, I started rolling my shorts up after I left the house to make them shorter (this was 4th grade...you can see where this is going). By high school, I was in short, low cut shirts and mini skirts (still not kidding). I would get dressed at school and dress back into my boring clothes before I got home. But you see, I was in dance and color guard in high school so it wasnt abnormal for me to come home in sleeveless, tight clothes most days.
After ANASAZI, my parents decided that I was allowed to wear whatever I wanted...so long that I wasn't wearing it to "turn on" any guys (Im pretty sure my dad may have said that exact sentence to me...awkward...). I agreed and went back to my mini skirts and sleeveless tops. I'm sure now that I think of it, I was always trying to impress guys. I lied to my dad and told him I wasnt and I regret that.
My modesty never got me in trouble but there is just something about the way I was raised that has made it hard for me to focus on modesty with Petey. Is it because I want her to be able to choose or because who really cares if a 2 year old wears a tank top? Probably both. But I just had a very spiritual feeling the other day that made me want to raise my princess in a way that she will never forget to respect her body. She now wears shirts under her tanktops and we've tried to teach her about modesty. It isn't very hard to change things since she wasnt walking around with revealing clothing on ALL the time before...but I believe that these little changes will help her one day. I dont know why I had those feelings at this certain time in her life but I do know that they will help her. I love that girl way too much to try and steer her wrong. :)
And that's how Suze sees it.
PS: If you arent a member of my church and would like to know more about modesty, go HERE to learn more about it. And if you ever have any questions for me, send me a message.
2 comments:
that's awesome, suze. i'm impressed. ... my thought on the matter is, it's no big deal for a 2 year old right? but that same 2 year old becomes a 3 year old, a 4 year old and keeps getting older and it's all about habit. where do you "make a change" and draw the line? it's tough. there is no double standard to modesty, regardless of the age, in my book and certainly for our family. that's why i think you're awesome. i think it would be hard to make a change like that... especially since there is SO MUCH cute cute cute just slightly immodest little girl clothing. makes it hard!
your rock suzanne! :) she's lucky to have you as a momma. isn't it hard to realize sometimes that our parents WERE right?!
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