I has been over a year since Leslie and I had an adults only night out with friends. In fact, it was Christmas of 2006 while we were in Florida and she was pregnant with Bethany.  We went to the Lobster Shanty on the Indian River.

Saturday we ended up having sitters for both kids. We talked to a couple friends and we were all going to meet for dinner and some drinks.  However, we started calling around for reservations at some of the nicer restaurants around town and couldn’t get in. Finally someone told us it was because it was a huge prom night.

We got reservations at P.F. Changs which was just fine with me because I lover their food. As expected it was full of prom kids.

Oh my how times have changed. What ever happened to just looking nice for prom?  How can these parents let their kids leave the house like this? It’s like the girls were all trying to out-slut each other. Apparently you can buy prom dresses from Fredericks of Hollywood.  I swear I have seen some of the same dresses on strippers when they take the stage.

I saw oodles and oodles of cleavage.  I even saw implants trying to fight their way out of some tops. I’m not joking.  Dresses open in the back down to the top of the crack?

Ordinarily I’m the last guy who would complain about this….but this is high school prom! I’m not saying some of them weren’t hot, but there is a time and a place for hooker-wear and I don’t think the prom is the right setting.

The saddest part of it all is that the girls with the less than perfect bodies were trying to keep up with others and refused to admit that their dresses just didn’t fit right. You cannot, repeat, cannot, stuff ten pounds of potatoes into a five pound potato sack.  Muffin tops and rolls everywhere.

And the guys….several of them looked like they were trying out for the part of a sleazy lounge lizard on an episode of Starsky & Hutch. You’re not being cool, you’re being tacky. 

As a parent, is this what I have to look forward to?

That should read "It has been…"

Ick. that's too bad.

Mathew doesn't understand the whole prom thing yet. He was telling me that some guy asked (mathew's) girlfriend to prom and Mathew said, "you should've gone." He's not territorial at all lol He has no clue about prom. Wish it would stay like that! :P

Yeah, and whatever happened to pudgy modesty?

Not just teenagers…hell, there's a girl at work that's a bunch heavier than me and she wears shorter skirts and tighter tops (she has big boobs and thinks she has a nice ass). She's 23 and I'm just like…get a moo moo!

Anyway…you're right on…can't stuff it and still look good. Find your size and make it work for you. blah!

As Mom to a highschooler… and a middleschooler, sadly yes.  This is what you have to look forward to.  Kaeti absolutely HATES shopping for dresses for this very reason… she's an abnormally small girl with abnormally large boobs and it's a big pain finding dresses that don't make her look like a total slut. 

Bathing suits are no better.

Thank God we have boys…just have to remember to teach them about putting the little rubber johnny on their peckers….

JRB

My younger son had prom this past weekend.  They had strict rules as to what the girls could wear, if it was deemed inappropriate, the girl would have to cover-up with a t-shirt provided by the school.  They also had the entire prom dinner/dancing held at a country club over in Powell--with after prom held at a bowling alley which was closed to the students only.

Letters went out to the parents months ago outlining what to expect.

I really liked how the kids in Jordan's group looked.

You can see the pictures over on my myspace.

I'm hoping by the time I have to go through prom, times will have changed again and looking like a slut will be out of fashion.

I think the more important question is why didn't they dress like that when *I* was in high school?

I've seen this from both sides…as a parent and as someone sitting in a restaurant embarrassed by the prom queens at the table next to us showing off more boob than one wants to see at that age. I think my girls were pretty level headed about what they wore.

But I remember one of andrews proms. He went with a really nice girl who very appropriately dressed. However, his buddies date was falling out of her dress. I was so embarrassed taking pictures.

Dean…rotflmao!

http://littlurl.com/bmrnq

This photo is from the Sheboygan Press submitted by students at the Sheboygan South Prom.

I think the girl in the blue is hanging out a wee bit too much.

Dean, we thought the same thing. My buddy Jon was there and we went to school together. Neither of us could remember boobies like that. Then again, it was 1990 when we graduated so my theory is that maybe the boobs seemed smaller because the hair was so big.

Uhhh, not looking forward to this…not with two girls.

My kids know what is acceptable dress and what is not. Period.

I don't get how everyone with younger kids ponders what will happen when their kids get older.  You are the parent.  If it is unacceptable, you tell them no.  Simple as that.

I don't know…that blue dress doesn't really look inappropriate to me.  I'm going to need some more pictures to study.

Darlene, the kids in your pics all looked very nice! Dublin seems to have the right idea with how to handle the prom. That doesn't mean that bad and innapropriate stuff wont' happen but I think the school did its part so really what it comes down to is the kids either making good decisions or bad ones and a lot of that will fall right back on what the parents taught them for the last 17 or 18 years.

The thing I have going for me, other than the fact that Leslie and I try very hard to be the best parents we can be, is that Noah is four and a half years older than Bethany and already overprotective. So by the time she's ready for prom she's going to have both myself and big brother Noah as enforcers/spies/hitmen.

"You are the parent.  If it is unacceptable, you tell them no.  Simple as that."

As a kid that was a little on the rebellious side…I wish that it was that simple.

Got my first tattoo at 16 and usually when my Mom said no…well…

I've seen friends with teenage girls that have clothes hidden at friends houses…and when they leave they change into what they want to wear…

While we try to do the best that we can…and feel that we've got very polite kids…as we're told all the time…

There's going to be a point when they are going to do what they want.  And while there will be concenqueses…I know enough that kids will be kids and will do things that parents tell them not to do just because they can.

WTF?  Some of these girls are wearing sundresses???  I wore a ballgown to my prom.  Everyone did.

"I know enough that kids will be kids and will do things that parents tell them not to do just because they can."

I disagree C-pher.  If kids know what is unacceptable and not tolerated under ANY circumstance, they will follow. Not a wishy washy "no" that most people fold and give the kid their way after the kid continues to hound, but NO.  Not an, "oh kids will be kids." That's an excuse. I see parents say "no, no, no," and then just give in, because they don't want to be bothered anymore.  It drives me nuts, because they just taught their kid that they will give in.

Kids are smart, they'll get away with as much as they can.  Around here, it's not, "Oh my mom said no, sure she'll get upset, but she'll get over it."  If I say it, I mean it.

And they know it.

I'll do anything for my kids, but I can also be their worst fucking nightmare.  They know their dad will yell the loudest, stomp around and pitch a fit, but he will break down because he gets tired of being bothered.  They know that I am the one that is calm and will listen, but they also know if they cross the line with me, they are Grade A fucked.

I had a kid smoke pot in his bedroom.  He lost his door for a year, and he was subjected to random drug testing.  Same kid once tried sitting up all night in protest of having his computer/TV/game system/stereo removed from his room,  I took away his lamp.  His ass sat in the dark for a few weeks. Same kid also knows just how fast I can run and my vertical leap distance of the staircase. ;)

My oldest screwed around his first year of college, so he had to move out.  He found out that wasn't nearly as liberating/fun as he thought it would be.  He is back home and in school, he's also paying his own tuition now. 

Punishing your kid sucks, because you know who really ends up punished?  The parent.  You are stuck listening to them piss and moan for however long you set the punishment.

The easy route would be to give in to shut them the hell up, but there's no lesson in that.

Right Glory? ;)  She is an excellent mom, holds Mathew accountable and then FOLLOWS through.

My kids and I have very open communication, and they are FAR from perfect.  But they also know EXACTLY what things will not fly.

I was rebellious too, but I also knew the limits.  And I never crossed them.

I tell my kid they can't go to prom looking like a hooker or a pimp, they'll listen.  Actually, I didn't have to tell them, because they already knew it's not acceptable.

Simple as that.

Awww…I'm tryin', that's for sure.

He's on day 60 of restrictions. He's just now starting to go outside again (1 hour Sat/Sun, 30 min M-F). He's doing everything in his power to win back my good graces. We'll see how long it'll stick.

Dar….AMEN!!!  With all the ongoing issues with the son (we are talking again tonight), it would be so easy to give in.  But that doens't teach the lesson.

I am not here to be my kids friend…that will come when they are adults.  As my 2 have heard for years….they live in a dictatorship.  It is my job to get them to adulthood alive and productive.  Easier said than done, but, as Dar said…if they know, from an early age, just what the limits are…

And I second the kudos to glory….you are a great mom!