Teens

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Attitude Tees Are A Sad Fad
by Dan Blankenship

Attitude T-shirts have been a big seller for the past couple of years. This line of clothing uses pessimistic and downright rude messages to entice teenagers to become human billboards for mediocrity, negativity, and sometimes, vulgarity.

The Happy Bunny line of attitude Tees includes some of the following messages (next to a cute, white, smiling bunny): “I hate everything”, “It’s all about me”, and “It’s cute how stupid you are”. These shirts have been making a huge splash in clothing sales across the country, a sad testimony to where the nation’s children, and the parents who allow their children to wear such clothing, are heading concerning respectfulness and politeness towards themselves and their fellow man.

Now I know some people think this is just a fad, and that these are just T-shirts – nothing to get all worked up about. But when more and more young girls are walking around advertising, “Here boys” (a picture of a bone underneath), “I dig your boyfriend”, and “Two boyfriends are better than one”, I think a little tactfulness issue needs to be addressed by some obviously lazy parents.

Jesus said, “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean.” (Matthew 15:11 NIV). I have to believe He was talking about human billboard being unclean too, especially these.

When my daughters asked to buy a few shirts that were borderline-bad, or close to being an attitude Tee, I refused to allow the transaction and explained why I came to my decision. I didn’t just tell them, “Because I said so.” As parents, we need to explain our decisions to our children. If they understand why we came to our conclusion, they can use that knowledge to ward off possible criticism from friends who find attitude Tees a necessity in life.

Tell your children that attitude Tees are foolish, and that Proverbs 13:20 (NIV) warns us that, “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” And if that doesn’t work, tell your children that the real way to stand out in a crowd is to not make the effort in the first place. A plain T-shirt, sporting no message or image, might just cause someone to ask, “What’s up with her?”

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