Dress for Success

Erik makes a great point in commenting on the last blog. To riff on that, there should be a law against dressing kids and animals as props. We are not talking about dressing a child responsibly, as wearing a coat when it's cold or not wearing underwear as outerwear for school. We are talking about the whimsical and capricious practices of dressing children for essentially entertainment purposes. It's one thing if your kid asks to play, but to compel your child to participate in your game is selfish and disrespectful. Unfortunately there is not a license required to be a parent, and that's good for you "creative" kid dressers, as you would have never gotten past the written.

Maybe it's an assumption that the child will of course share your interest in the Battle of Chickamauga and of course enjoy the reenactment experience. More likely, your child loves to be with you, so why not do something s/he likes? I'm not sure that Civil War reenactment and learning the finer points of weaponry qualify as "quality time."

Or maybe it's a generous act of sharing, as who wouldn't want to engage in a rousing game of Dungeons and Dragons? No criticism for the motive, but don't be too disappointed if the little one doesn't want to be the Half-Elf Druid Vadania (of course I just looked that up; have no idea what it means, but who would admit to knowing?).

Or maybe it's educational in expanding their horizons, as action role playing is a good learning experience. But while you might enjoy and learn from being a jester in a medieval faire or one of the undead in the Kings of Chaos, odds are your child would prefer to play in Toontown or on Webkinz and will probably learn as much or more there. And what prompts someone to want to cultivate another generation of vampire slayers? Just stick to your Second Life and leave the kids alone.

And one last thing on this. It's not cute to dress up your kid as a little version of you. Simply stated, it's somewhere between creepy and mean. Don't saddle your children with your own insecurities. Let them develop their own identities. (Do you hear that those of you that name your kids "juniors?" George Foreman- five kids named George?)

As for dressing pets, that an easy one. Don't do it; it's stupid. I guarantee kitty is not going to enjoy her adorable Halloween costume, and it's selfish and insensitive of you to dress up a pet. I believe that many animals have feelings of some sort. I'm not sure if embarrassment is one, but put the pup in a Yoda costume and you'll find out. And stop with the sweaters; they're dogs, they can take a 10 minute walk in 30 degree weather. Yes, there are exceptions, as some dogs are old, arthritic, short-haired, etc. If it is truly functional, fine, but the pooch doesn't need to make a fashion statement. It's silly.

Pretty dogmatic on this one, but it's just a blog.