Puritans, prep your pearls! You are going to want to clutch them to your bosoms after you read this. A high school in Alabama has decided it is finally time to allow boys to wear earrings.
Good golly, what's next? Will those rapscallions start dancing with members of the opposite sex too? Oooh, oooh, pass me the smelling salts, I think I'm gonna ...
What? You're still here? And rolling your eyes?
Of course you are. Because in 2012, a few boys wearing earrings to high school is about as shocking as seeing a little girl wearing pants. Which is to say: not shocking at all.
If anything is shocking, it's that it took the threat of a lawsuit to force the members of Jefferson County Board of Education to realize there were more important things for school administrators to focus on than what is in a boy's ears. The board announced that it amended its dress code to allow boys to wear earrings because the monies they would have had to devote to a legal battle could be better spent on actual education.
There's a pretty universal lesson in there for school staff and parents alike: micromanaging kids' lives isn't worth it.
You can nitpick at every single teeny tiny thing that your teenager decides to do. Or you can pick your battles, devoting your time, your energy, and yes, your money to the important things.
How do you know what's not worth pursuing? Pretty easy: if you're going to have to sacrifice big time on something worthwhile in order to have this fight with your kid ... it probably isn't worth it. This applies not just to earrings on boys but just about anything having to do with their hair and their choice in music.
What have you realized you needed to stop micromanaging in your kid's life and just let ride?
Image via Jay Phillips/Flickr
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Comments 10
I'm actually shocked that some schools wouldn't let boys wear earrings! My son has had his ears (yep - both!) pierced since 2nd grade -- he let one close up and now at 11 he wears one small loop. I've never had any issue with his earrings and he is still in grade school! There really are more important things to worry about that this!
or rather then making a decision based on sound reason they decided to cave to threats. Now the dress code is meaningless. I get that they saved money but suing over a dress code is dumb. You have your whole life to wear earings get some perspective.
wow... there were boys in my school that wore more earrings than this when I was in school... one even had a chain looped from his ear to his nose. and this was 18 years ago...
They can all listen to any music they want, as long as its not INCREDIBLY violent, or sexualy explicit.. rhiana s&m is pushing it. But by the time they're teens? If they don't know what sex is, then I'm doing something wrong lol.
I'll never understand why parents/schools feel the need to dictate every aspect of a child's life.
Schools on Mexico (k, elementary, middle, and some HS), prohibit the use for safety reasons, but don't make a big deal out of it. If your kid gets hurt, they know before hand what school policy is.
Some schools allow tiny earrings not loops or hanging ones.
All three of my boys (15,14,10) have their ear pierced and have had it since the were little. My oldest wears a small hoop, the other two when they choose to wear a small cross or a small stud. All four of my kids have had weird hair dos like mo hawks, highlights, or colored hair. Our daughter has had bright pink hair, purple hair ect. I have always told them to think about it first, make sure you would be willing to walk in Church with it. They are not allowed to do anything that is permanent, we explained that what you think is cool now you might regret later. Never had any of their schools complain.
Actually, I live in southern Mississippi and gratuated a few years ago. There were earrings that girls couldn't wear. No weird colored socks, hair or distracting jewelry.. You can't even have more than a few bracelets. No bright colors anywhere and Boys are not allowed to have earrings.. Some boys get away with it because the teachers like them or they have really good grades, but on the whole it's not allowed. The rules I always thought were dumb. The amount of energy they put into making sure no one had yellow socks could have easily been used to teach us something or help us figure out a tough algebra question. It's quite ridiculous...