When I was in elementry school, middle school and high school, I was picked on, yes it sucks, but as I grew older I came to realize that being bullied as a kid/teen worked out to my benefit. I contribute the way I am today from when I was bullied. When we are younger we never see past what is happening to us right now, we look to the future, but never more than 5 feet a head, we have no clue what will happen to us after we graduate, turn 21, or have kids. We believe that life revolves around our friends or what the "popular" people believe.
As I logged on to Yahoo this afternoon to check out my email, my eyes were suddenly drawn to an article called, "Fashion Bullies Attack -- In Middle School" the title appealed to me so I sat and read the article with horror and disbelieve. It turns out that bulling as risen to a whole new level. Now children as young as 8, 9 and 10 have to worry about the "fashion police" in the form of little girls who are dressing better than some movie stars I know.
When I was I kid I was forced into wearing hand-me-downs (like a lot of people my age did) My parents didn't have money, but more importantly, me as a kid didn't have access to name brand clothes, shit kids only had a few racks that resembled a clothing section at K-Mart. When my daughter was born I have to admitt I traveled back in time and relive the horror that I went through in school wearing non matching, faded and outdated clothing, being ridiculed by the popular girls. I told myself that my daughter would dress better than I did to at least escape the pressure of bulling because of the way a person dresses. I noticed how large the kids clothing section of the stores had gotten, clothes by Mary Kate and Ashley, Lizzy McQuire, Thats so Raven was enough to make your head spin, but these were semi affordable, then there were the clothes designed exclusivly for Meijer or Walmart, that to me looked good. As my daughter got a little older, I would say into a mini "diva" but not to the point were she was snobby to people who didn't dress as good as she did.
According to the author of this article, "Aryana McPike, a sixth-grader from Springfield, Ill., has a closet full of designer clothes from Dolce & Gabbana, Juicy Couture, True Religion and Seven For All Mankind. But her wardrobe, carefully selected by a fashion-conscious mother, hasn't won her friends at school." Are you kidding me Dolce & Gabbana - I don't even wear clothes like that! And for me to buy this for my daughter! But even with this girl wearing this name brand designer clothes, kids from her school are saying "opps I don't think so, you should be wearing this." Now its not good enough to dress well, you have to dress right, what the hell is right?? When I was in school dressing well ment you didn't were the same pants twice in a week or your clothes still wern't faded from being washed too many times. This girls school has problems; "Kids in her class recently instructed her that she was wearing the wrong brands. She should wear Apple Bottoms jeans by the rapper Nelly, they told her, and designer sneakers, such as Air Force 1 by Nike. She came home complaining to her mother that "all the girls want to know if I will ever come to school without being so dressed up."
What the fuck are these parents doing to these kids. Where in the hell are they getting their information on fashion. This article made me so upset that I am thinking of starting some company that goes and talks with these kids to educate them on what is important to themselves, not what their classmates think. The article contines with a study by University of Illinois, "In the more than 20 states where she has studied teens, she has been surprised by how kids revere those they perceive to have the best clothes. Having access to designer clothing affords some kids "the opportunity to become popular -- and that protects you and gives you social power and leverage over others,"
The article also goes on to point blame at movies star parents such as Madonna, and David Beckmen who dress the children in Dolce & Gabbana or Couture clothing. If I had the money of Madonna your damn right I would be dressing my child in expensive clothing....because I CAN!! I don't believe it is a sin to want our children to dress well, but who is teaching these children to believe that because someone dresses "lower" than they do that they "are a piece of shit"? I know that bulling like this has been going on for centuries, but when as adults will we take our children aside and teach them that this is wrong. Why do we constantly have to subjcate generations of children into being bullied. Over the many years that there have been bullies, the problem gets worse and worse. It starts with problems about clothing, accents, and can evolve into skin color, religon. Where does it end? When my parents went to school the biggest thing they had to worry about was a bully beating them up. With my generation it was the same thing (although the bully usually had 3 or 4 friends to help out) now my childs generation has to worry about guns and knifes being brought to school.
When are parents going to learn that they need to stop being their childs friend a be a fucking parent!!! Teach your children that clothing does not make a person who they are, neither does money, power, skin color, or religion. Most of these parents need to remove their heads from there ass and start waking up to the fact that our children are the future, what do we want our children to become? I pity the thought of a child growing up, with no knowledge except for the fact the "hey they dressed awesome in school"