Dear Colette,
With Halloween around the corner, my husband and I are once again in a stupid battle over costumes for our children. You see, I have a pre-teen daughter who wants to be Alice in Wonderland for Halloween, but the costume she wants to purchase is a bit revealing. My husband says there is no way she is going out of the house in that outfit, but I understand she wants to have a more modern costume like her friends. What do you suggest?
Trying to Keep the Peace
Dear Trying to Keep the Peace,
This is certainly an issue I can relate to having two teen-age daughters. I tend to side with your hubby. To me, Halloween is a time to be creative, show your style and have fun. I’ve been to costume stores and most of the prepackaged outfits for pre-teens and teens are selling sex. Sure my daughters weren’t excited when the cat costume we created from scratch didn’t look like the Playmate version their friend’s were wearing, but too bad. I’m the parent, and I get to call the shots. As long as parents feel the pressure to cave to a more “modern” look, we are sending a message that this is appropriate. It saddens me that what was once an innocent, fun evening has turned into too many young girls trying too hard to look sexy. My biggest concern as a kid was whether my mother was going to make me wear a coat over my costume on that cold, Chicago night, not whether I looked “hot” enough for my friends.
