Mom Responds To Criticism For Buying Her Daughter A 'Revealing' Homecoming Dress – ‘Please Don’t Let Her Wear This’
Should parents control how their kids dress?
@amyjackson9213 / TikTok via Canva If you are a parent of a young one, there’s a good chance that you’ve already imagined the horrors of having challenging conversations with your child as they grow and progressively become exposed to the world. One of the many questions that parents eventually run into is whether or not they should have a say in how their kids dress and present themselves to those around them.
While many parents would argue that they should, one mom on TikTok had a different take on the matter.
A mom responded to online backlash after buying her daughter a ‘revealing’ dress for homecoming.
Posting to TikTok, a mother named Amy Jackson (@amyjackson9213) shared a video of her teenage daughter, Ashlyn, trying on her dream homecoming dress for the first time. Oddly enough, the dress became a point of contention for many viewers who deemed the garment “too revealing” for a high school dance.
Following the seemingly lighthearted video, many users shamed the mom for allowing her 16-year-old daughter to wear the dress in the first place.
Anchoring her attention to a reply that read, “I agree. This is way too revealing. I would not let [my] daughter wear this to a dance. Looks like bedroom attire to me. Pls don’t let her wear this Amy,” the mother decided to share her own thoughts on the situation.
Amy explained why she's supporting her daughter's choice of dress.
Sifting through screenshots of the latest dresses from popular brands such as GirliGirl Boutique and Sherri Hill, Amy says, “The homecoming dresses are all either low cut, or they have big slits in them, or they’re very short. They are totally different. Absolutely, totally different than anything that we wore back in our day.”
Bearing that in mind, she adds, “I am not going to stop her from wearing something that she wants to wear that fits in with the rest of her peer group. They all wear the little short dresses that are cute.”
While she understands other parents may have differing opinions when it boils down to what they might expect from their own daughters, Amy emphasizes that she personally ordered her daughter’s homecoming dress.
“Obviously, I’m okay with it. I’m going to let her wear it. She picked it out,” she explains, “We searched for this dress for months. It was on backorder for months. It finally came. She loves it. She’s happy, I’m happy, and I’m going to support her.”
Should a parent get a say in how their kids should dress?
The question of whether parents should control how their children dress is something that requires careful consideration and hinges on various factors, one of the most prominent being the child’s age.
For the little ones, parents are more inclined to prioritize safety and practicality over style. Somewhere down the line, as kids mature, they’ll likely want to shapeshift their wardrobe according to their interests and latest trends. What is deemed appropriate, however, is entirely relative.
As Amy pointed out, ultimately, the approach to influencing how children dress varies from family to family, so it’s best to be respectful of others in how they choose to parent their children.
In the end, there is no one-size-fits-all answer, but there is something to be said about granting children the freedom to explore how they want to present themselves to the world, especially when it serves as a form of self-identity and creative expression, and it can be a gratifying experience to watch your child reinvent themselves throughout these stages.
It is as they say, “the days are long, but the years are short,” so make the most out of them.
Xiomara Demarchi is a New York-based writer and frequent contributor to YourTango’s news and entertainment team. Keep up with them on Instagram.