If My Daughter’s Bra Strap Is Distracting You, It’s Your Problem

As the start of the school year quickly approaches, so will the ongoing debate about ‘dress codes.’ Sometimes I feel like the only mother of a teenage daughter who doesn’t give a sh*t about what my daughter wears to school or, for that matter, when she’s not in school.

In fact, sometimes I even find myself encouraging my daughter to shorten her skirt and show off her fabulous figure.

Yes, my 13-year-old daughter goes to a private school where she is required to wear a uniform. And, yes, just like public schools, there are dress code rules. Her skirt can’t be more than two inches above her knees, for example. Bra straps can’t show.

While uniform shopping last year, my daughter insisted she would only wear a baggy uniform shirt and that her skirt length should be way below her knees, practically down to the middle of her calves (which saved me a few dollars in alterations, on the plus side.)

Unlike almost every other girl at her school, she refused to have her skirt shortened and refused to roll up the waist band to make her skirt look shorter, as almost all the girls do at her 1000-student private school. In her very conservative school uniform, my daughter looked like a pioneer who should be churning butter and making a quilt—that’s how adverse she was to showing any skin.