how short is too short?

J

jessica31876

New member
Im curious for those who have daughters especially those with teenage daughters do you allow your daughters to wear mini-skirts? If they do do you have a rule on how long the skirts have to be in order for her to wear them? My daughter buys alot of her own clothes now so she feels since she is buying them that she should be able to decide what she can/cant wear. Today she left the house in a skirt which was not that short but it also wouldnt be considered long in my opinion. I took some pictures of a couple of her skirts and posted them just to see what other people think or if it is just me and Im just an overprotective mom like she claims I am.

These are two examples of ones she has bought herself which I do not like.

skirt2.jpg


skirt3.jpg



These two are ones I bought and/or approve of(she bought the black one and I bought the denim one).

skirt5.jpg


skirt6.jpg


If she is wearing something I feel is totally inappropriate I make her change but because she leaves for school before I get up on most days sometimes I dont actually realize how she was dressed until she gets home from school. WHen I do ask her to change she gets all upset and it usually ends up in an argument.
 
I can't see the photos from here but doesn't the school have a ruling on this? I know our schools do and the kids will get sent home if they don't follow them. They can't even wear tanktops at our schools.
 
I think most schools have the finger tips rule - the skirt or short have to be as long as where their fingertips are when their arms are at their sides.

Personally, I think the first one is fine, but the second is too short. But that's just me and I don't have a teenage daughter to fight with, lol.
 
they do...the skirts fall just inside the ruling and they do not always enforce their rules even when they dont. The rule is they have to be as long as the tip of the longest finger when held at their sides (so basically mid-thigh)

pbumbaca said:
I can't see the photos from here but doesn't the school have a ruling on this? I know our schools do and the kids will get sent home if they don't follow them. They can't even wear tanktops at our schools.
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I don't have teenage daughters. Or daughters period (thank goodness!). But, I am a girl so I will give you my opinion.

IMHO, the first two are way too short for a teenager. If she bought them, I would hand her some cash and take them and cut them up.
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Her school should have rules on what is too short/revealing. Ours did and that was eons ago. I know they've gotten stricter since then...

Or apparently not now that I read your latest post. :( Really, I think at least 1" - 2" past the finger tips is acceptable.
 
depends on the kid too..my oldest dd is ALL LEG and by ALL LEG I mean ALL LEG lol....she's super skinny too (like a 00 @ Delia's) so if it fits her waist chances are it's way too short.
I know when I was in school, skirts/skorts/shorts couldn't be any more than 2 inches above our knees and they woild measure with a ruler if they felt the need to!

I'm soo loving uniforms right now b/c I won't have to put up with this for school lol...

I'm pretty strict/prudish when it comes to clothes though..I want my girl covered up lol

back on point though..I think the first 2 are too short..and depending on her body type I'd think the bottom ones might be short too haha...not as bad but they are short...
 
Kat Stokes said:
Her school should have rules on what is too short/revealing. Ours did and that was eons ago. I know they've gotten stricter since then...
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Actually believe it or not I think they are really lax at her school. There are nearly 4000 students in her school so I guess it is really hard to enforce those rules on every student.
 
Oh she is 5 ft 1 and has really short legs so the bottom ones are about 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches above the knee. The top two though I really only approve of if she was going somewhere like the beach OR if she wears leggings under the skirts which she also does that sometimes.
 
yeah she is a bit shorter than my kiddo (and me haha)

I was going to suggest leggings..i'd be ok with my dd wearing a shorter skirt if she had leggings on underneath.

My DD's school has a uniform check every morning in 1st period...lol I kid you not!
 
I have a teen girl who is all leg - taller than me - and she tries the same stunts - I am also torn - I have caught her doing the classic I'll just change at school routine with her inappropriate clothes..so we have taken another approach that seems to be working - we point out the flaws - like when she sits down we can see her underwear - but I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles - I am now at a loss - I have to say that as a child of the 80's I put on some get ups - remember madonna's vouge video - I think I still have some of the get ups - Now I am a total J Jill ~ Gap Girl - so I hope its just a phase
 
I wish they had uniforms for the high school kids here. That would solve alot of the issues at her school with dress codes.
 
Mine is not quite a teen yet (10.5) but I will tell you that I am STRICT!!! All skirts and shorts can't not be higher then 2 to 3 inches above the knee. And when the time comes that she buys her own clothes the rule will be the same because even though she bought the clothes she still lives in my house and eats my food and uses my furniture, electricity, water ect...so it is my rules or nothing!!! But I'm the worlds meanest mom!!! :D :D

So to answer your question about the skirts...they are all too short except for maybe the last one...but it's hard to tell when they are not on someone since my DD has LONG legs and even that one might not fit my rule!!!!
 
Yeah, I was going to say the first 2 are too short to me... I think a couple inches above the knee is okay.

And I was going to also suggest leggings like Meg. They're cute and stylish right now!
 
I checked and couldnt find any pictures of her in a skirt. The skirt thing with her is really new though. Shes always been kind of a tomboy and never really wanted to wear a skirt before this year so it was never even an issue for us. If anything if I wanted her to wear a skirt/dress before this year Id have to bribe/beg/bargain to get her in one LOL Over the summer she suddenly started spending more time doing her hair, makeup, picking out clothes etc etc.

I do have a picture of her homecoming dress and this is about the length of the bottom two (well the black one is a little shorter but still looks alot better then the other ones IMO)

homecoming1.jpg
 
the second one is kinda short. the others look okay. if they are wearing those tights/leggings that are cool now its not too bad i guess. my daughters are only 5 and 3 so i don't really have this issue yet, but i will. Chloe is built like me; tall, thin and all leg so she'll probably have the same issue i have with skirts; what may be okay on average heighted people are way shorter on me, lol.

i bought myself a skirt similar to the top one, lol. is 30 to old to wear those? lol oh well. i didn't wear it much. i'm not a slutty dresser i swear! my daily uniform is jeans and henleys/tshirts.
 
I'd probably only have an issue with the second one. It looks reeeeeally short to me. If she's set on wearing it, I was going to suggest leggings too.
 
LOL, I don't have daughters, heck, I don't even have any kids yet, just a puppy! lol But, I will tell you, I'm gonna be so strict! :) Elizabeth, I'll probably take your spot as world's meanest mom as soon as I have kiddos! :) I think they're all too short! lol I'm not gonna raise my kids exactly as I was raised, b/c I was raised to not even wear pants. But, I will be sticking w/the length on the skirts/shorts for the most part. I was raised where it couldn't be shorter than the middle of my knee. I'll let my kids go to the top of the knee, but no shorter! For me, it's all a modesty issue! But, that's just me! :) My poor kids are gonna hate me! lol
 
jessica31876 said:
I checked and couldnt find any pictures of her in a skirt. The skirt thing with her is really new though. Shes always been kind of a tomboy and never really wanted to wear a skirt before this year so it was never even an issue for us. If anything if I wanted her to wear a skirt/dress before this year Id have to bribe/beg/bargain to get her in one LOL Over the summer she suddenly started spending more time doing her hair, makeup, picking out clothes etc etc.

I do have a picture of her homecoming dress and this is about the length of the bottom two (well the black one is a little shorter but still looks alot better then the other ones IMO)

homecoming1.jpg
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Thta's perfect...heck you could even take away tthe fringe and it's still a great length....for me and my girls at least!!! :thumbup:
 
and she actually picked out that dress and paid for it herself. I think she thinks that because she is shorter she can get away with more but even being shorter it is hard to be modest in skirts that are as short as some of the ones she wears. I think to solve some of this I might go out and find some cute leggings for her for her birthday or christmas
 
My DGD likes to wear the mini skirts too, but my son and his wife have a rule that she has to wear leggings/tights under them in order to leave the house. She has snuck a few times and they were taken away from her. The skirts were then given to me to hide at my house. Unfortunately it is the fashion and they all want to fit in, BUT modest is modest!
 
Honestly, I'd say have her try it on for you and then get her to bend over and see if anything is exposed (or close to it).
I say that after a year and a half working at a local high school and seeing way too much when girls bent over to pick this and that up off of the floor (and some I think just wanted to show off things that were better left unseen)
 
I have 3 girls and this thread is scaring me! LOL

Mine are still too young but back in school our skirts had to touch the top of our knees.
 
scrappychic said:
I have 3 girls and this thread is scaring me! LOL

Mine are still too young but back in school our skirts had to touch the top of our knees.
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LOL, Sam, I know! Our skirts had to fall at least 2 inches below our fingertips, and dress codes were enforced. Why is it that the girls are wanting their skirts way way up and the boys are wanting their pants practically falling off of their butts.....
 
digideb said:
LOL, I don't have daughters, heck, I don't even have any kids yet, just a puppy! lol But, I will tell you, I'm gonna be so strict! :) Elizabeth, I'll probably take your spot as world's meanest mom as soon as I have kiddos! :) I think they're all too short! lol I'm not gonna raise my kids exactly as I was raised, b/c I was raised to not even wear pants. But, I will be sticking w/the length on the skirts/shorts for the most part. I was raised where it couldn't be shorter than the middle of my knee. I'll let my kids go to the top of the knee, but no shorter! For me, it's all a modesty issue! But, that's just me! :) My poor kids are gonna hate me! lol
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Yeah, I actually plan to do right around knee length. Hopefully if we start young, that will help--but I know trends will get in the way.
 
FlirtatiousBrat said:
back on point though..I think the first 2 are too short..and depending on her body type I'd think the bottom ones might be short too haha...not as bad but they are short...
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DItto. I was going to say the first two definitely are too short. There was a gal walking in front of me a few weeks ago and was wearing a skirt like that pleated one... when she walked up the stairs the wind kinda blew it up and I saw it all. Not cute.

And I'm another to-the-knees girl. ;) But I know most ppl. aren't.
 
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I dont know either. I know my sons do not wear the sagging pants. They both think its gross. I dont think my daughter is looking at the skirts the same way that I do. I do see alot of the her peers wearing skirts just as short as these or shorter so I think she is just trying to fit in. Im glad Im not the only one who thinks they are to short though. She makes it seem like her friends parents are all ok with their kids dressing this way. And the beding over test is one that I do with her and tell her if she cant bend over in something without something hanging out she shouldnt be wearing it out of the house.
 
I think trends go back and forth. They will go up and down a few inches every few years. I remember seeing pictures from the 60's where the micro-mini was in style. Mini for me when I was in high school was maybe 2-3 inches above the knee but that was still pretty long. And when my daughter was younger alot of her skirts were ankle length and that was what alot of her friends wore too.

Sarah8914 said:
Yeah, I actually plan to do right around knee length. Hopefully if we start young, that will help--but I know trends will get in the way.
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My girls aren't old enough to worry about that, but our family rule was always knee length. It may seem prudish, but it kept us covered and there was never any argument!
 
I haven't read ahead, but the style at the local HS seems to be short, really short, with leggings underneath.
 
the style seems to be the short skirts with the leggings underneath...but my feeling is {whether they buy them or not{ if they can bend over and you can see their a$$ then it is TOO SHORT....thank goodness my DD {15, be 16 in Apr} has no interest in wearing skirts or dresses other than a dress to homecoming or some other formal dance...so for now...I will thank my lucky stars she is a tomboy!!!!

and I think the 1st 2 are too short...just my 2 cents...from a mom with a high school sophmore~
 
i say all but the last one look toooo short. my opinion. i would only allow that last one with leggings or something. :)
 
oh and while i am very much a disciplinarian, i am not by any means 'strict'. whether dd bought her own clothes or not, i have the final word (within reason).
 
I didn't read all the posts - but I saw all 3 are too short without leggings under them LOL.

My daughter is 4 (going on 14) and she is not allowed to wear skirts or dresses without bike shorts or leggings.
 
Umm, I am pretty sure I own that first one LMBO (american eagle, right?). I'm pretty lax with skirts, to be perfectly honest. I had uniforms in HS but i still managed to squeak by with mini skirts as long as they were black, khaki, or navy lol. My mom's rule was always that if I bent over and she could see my cheeks, I had to take it back. I have no butt at all (its seriously concave lol) so i never had much of an issue with that. From the practical aspect of it though, I don't know now why I wore minis to school. It was such a pain to be constantly making sure that my undies weren't showing since I was sitting down all day. Going out at night, sure, but looking back, wearing them to school seems like more trouble than it was worth.

Judging from the picture of her in her homecoming dress, she is an attractive girl and i doubt that she looks bad in these skirts. *unpopular opinion alert* If she were heavier I would be more concerned that people would make fun of her (I've seen it happen) but as it stands now i am sure she fits in well with her peers and i doubt anyone is judging her based on her skirts. Only you know her well enough to know if she is wearing these skirts because she wants the 'shock value" (which i really doubt) or if she is wearing them becasue she likes the style and they are what she sees around school (and if this is the case, i don't see a HUGE deal with them). I do believe in the bending over test though, just for yours and her piece of mind, KWIM.

I'm not sure if all, or any, of this made sense, but these were just the thoughts running through my head lol.
 
I go by the school's rules which are...If when the girl is standing up, her fingertips touch her legs instead of her skirt/shorts, the clothing item is too short. Her fingertips must touch her clothing. Thankfully, my DD was pretty commonsense about that.

I also have another rule...If I can see underwear/what passes as underwear these days from the back when she bends over, TOO SHORT.

In your pictures, I would nix the first 2 and go with the second 2...completely agree.
 
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