Modesty isn't something that gets much press, so Everyday Mommy has started a petition for Moms for Modesty to get it out there in the radar. It is aimed at parents of girls, but as the parent of boys I feel that it is just as much my responsibility to teach my boys to respect girls as it is for other parents to teach their girls to be modest. If the boys are uncomfortable with the immodest dress, why would the girls want to do it? I feel like the parents of boys may be able to help head this off at the pass. Women are such beautiful creatures and can wield such power over men, that it can be dangerous for both sides. If there were more and better modest dressing options for girls, it would certainly push the battle in the right direction!
Our pastor spoke on modesty over the summer, and he put it in a light that I had never thought of before. He said the church should be the one safe place that people can go without temptations. Now he wasn't saying that we are responsible for the actions and decisions of other people, but I have a responsibility as a Christian to not dress provacatively, and certainly not at church. I wouldn't bring a beer to church and drink it in front of others; it's the same idea. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't venues where certain drink and dress are appropriate, my personal belief is that there are places and times where those things would be acceptable.
My boys are little, but I think it's important to tell them there are differences between men and women and how they dress and are treated. We talk about how girls are more delicate and you have to be gentle with girls and how God made them beautiful, and about how they'll be dads and their job will be to take care of their wife and kids. What we are trying to teach is for them to revere women as a gift from God. I want them to treat their wives as the absolute loves of their lives, and yet as equal partners. It's a very delicate balance, one in which my husband and I still tweak. I have an "equal but different" mentality; I think God created women equal to men, but with different intentions-hence the different bodies.
2 comments:
Now that doesn't mean that there aren't venues where certain drink and dress are appropriate, my personal belief is that there are places and times where those things would be acceptable.
Great point! I haven't heard that said anywhere else in the modesty discussion, and I appreciated reading it!
Thanks! Personally, I have things that others would wear out but I wouldn't be comfortable doing that, so I just wear them at home. This is namely for my husband's sake, as he likes to see some "skin" on me :-) I think that is also important to teach girls that it's great to do/wear things for your husband that you wouldn't do for anyone else or let anyone else see. You know, the old sancitity of marriage.
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