Teens and clothes...Don't judge a book by it's cover...

I have always been an advocate for allowing my kids to go with their own style of dressing...recently Aidan wanted piercings and as he was 16 I could not stop it happening so he got one in his lip and in his eyebrow...He is a skater that wears jeans down his backside with the top of his jocks showing out the top...He wears these big chunky skate shoes and has long hair that he straightens each day to keep the lovely curls out...He looks like a skater boy that are usually tagged with the tag of rough ratbag boys...

Him and his mates are pretty much the same...They all dress like this and usually get looks when they walk around town with their up to $200 skateboards under their arms or riding them....Some of his mates have earings and these spacer things in their ears that stretch the lobes out...They really can look quite a bit on the rough side sometimes...

But with all these people looking at my son and his mates what are they really thinking...What are they thinking in their minds...You know I think there are alot of people out there who can easily make a judgement on him and his mates before even knowing them....

Some of us sometimes look at the big guy with the tattos and the bald head and think don't look over there as he looks scary or look at that young girl over there with that skirt up her backside and the tightest top you have ever seen...How many of you do it...Judge a book by it's cover...

Recently while at the skatepark with my son and his mates while they had a skate there was a little boy there just learning...The boys mum sat over in the gazebo and watched her son try to skate...The little boy picked up his board and just stood there in awe as he watched these big boys skate which I must say looks fantastic too...All of a sudden the young boy jumped on his skateboard and headed over to a place that the boys call the wave..It is like two huge speedbumps next to each other...He got some speed up before he went onto it and then when he hit it the skatboard went in one direction and the little boy went in the other...It looked painul from where I was sitting...All of a sudden 5 big boys rushed to this boys aid to make sure he was okay and to comfort the boy...His mum was running over to him and looked nervous as she approached the area of the skatepark...The boys pretty much had him up and sitting when his mum got to him and told her he was okay...She smiled a forced type of smile and asked her son if he was okay..Then she walked back to the gazebo...

After about another 5 minutes one of the big boys approached the mother and asked her if it was okay that he gave her son a few tips like someone did for him when he was young...He then said he would really like to if that is alright with you...The mum smiled and said okay...They all had a ball for the next hour...

When the mum stood up and said it was time to go she approached the boys and told them she was sorry she had judged them and thanked them so much for the help they had given her son...She then went on to tell them that she had thought they were ruffians and wild and was a little scared when they turned up...The big boys all smiled and said thats okay cya...

See you can not judge a book by its cover...Aidan and his mates can be the nicest boys...Don't get me wrong they can be ratbags too but they are polite and considerate kids just like the well dressed boy who wears clothes that society say are normal...

So next time you are walking down the street and you see a teenager dressed in something you think makes them look rough or tarty or even nasty don't be so quick to judge...The clothes they wear are just a way of expressing themselves and what they want to wear....

Just my thoughts I wanted to share
Have a great day
Cheers
Angie