Does your tween????

[dez1978]

What weird stuff do your tweens do/think?
I have 12 & 9 yr old boys. I was not prepared for the weirdness of middle school boys lol. My 12 yr old will not wear shoes that have white on them bc apparently if your shoes look dirty kids make fun of you. Also, they can't be creased?? What the heck? They are shoes... But while he can't have kids make fun of his shoes being dirty, he is ok with being made fun of for wearing Mickey Mouse shirts/hoodies. For what it's worth, I don't think he probably gets made fun of for it often, or he wouldn't wear them. Meanwhile, my 9 yr old won't wear a Stitch shirt or hoodie because in 2nd grade some kid called him a baby for wearing it. My 12 year old won't go anywhere by himself, but my 9 year old would probably be just fine going to Magic Kingdom all day all by himself ( Id never let him, but have no doubt he'd be fine) Niether of my boys will wear sleeveless shirts or sandals without socks because apparently armpits and toes are weird. 95 degrees in August when school started, hoodies and shorts everyday because his classrooms were cold. November, 30 degrees, still hoodies and shorts because "I don't get cold mom!" I know these are sort of universal middle school things with the showing toes and hoodies, but it's still so weird to me. Especially the thing with not creasing shoes. How does one walk without bending your shoes??? I got him new wrestling shoes a couple weeks ago and he wouldn't let me put them in his backpack bc I might crease them! Dude, please tell me how you plan to tell your coach you can't crease your wrestling shoes. I'd pay to see the look on his face.

 

[tony67]

apparently if your shoes look dirty kids make fun of you. Also, they can't be creased??

This has been a thing for a long time now

sandals without socks

Never where socks with sandals - its just wrong -( I am looking at you England )

sleeveless shirts

Yeah I agree - don't wear these - ever

 

[Karin1984]

Never where socks with sandals - its just wrong -( I am looking at you England )

Yeah, I got stuck on this one as well... sandals with socks... *shudders*

Let's hope it's a phase.

 

[morrik5]

Our 13 yr old GS goes out looking like he never brushes his hair - arghhh. And yes, no socks while wearing shorts with a winter coat.

 

[kyton]

I’ve got a 16yo who wears shorts and tshirts year round. Luckily where we live in Australia we don’t get snow and minimal freezing temperatures but it still cracks me up.
Creasing shoes my two boys haven’t worried about however my now 18yo daughter was obsessed with her first pair of Nike Air Force - again made me laugh like a mad woman the first 5-10 times she wore them.

 

[dez1978]

Yeah I agree - don't wear these - ever

For an adult male, I can see that lol. But a 12 year old sweating his uh, behind off at wrestling practice or on the football field in August? It's hotter than Satan's behind in Missouri in August lol. Why do they want to wear more clothes than needed?

The whole socks and sandals thing kills me. This kid will wear socks with his crocs on the boat. Take them off to swim and put them back on when he's dry.... we were at a hotel this weekend. Took them to swim. He insisted on wearing his socks to the pool and put them back on before he'd put his crocs back on. Why are toes so weird? Even girls apparently don't wear open toed sandals anymore? Feet are cringe?? I don't get it. Kids are weird lol

I still get stuck on the shoe crease thing. Out of all the stupid things kids do, why is this a thing? I know its a thing for some adults too. but why???

 

[dez1978]

Our 13 yr old GS goes out looking like he never brushes his hair - arghhh. And yes, no socks while wearing shorts with a winter coat.

Mine is rocking a mullet, and it's pretty awesome I must admit. But it's a curly Blake shelton mullet, not a stringy Joe Dirt mullet.

 

[nw6675]

DD12 would wear a tie dye shirt every single day if I let her.

 

[pindecisive]

When I was a tween it was your backpack. You had to have a Jansport backpack and god help you if you didn't.

It was also popular to wrap your gym clothes in a wet seal bag (the plastic bag you got at wet seal for buying something) and fold your gym shorts down.

Most of middle school is doing things so people won't tease or pick on you.

 

[sam_gordon]

Athletes that wear cleats (male and female) will wear sandals (slides) to/from practices and games. The socks stay on, you just take the slides off, put on your cleats, practice/play, take cleats off, and put slides on to go home.

I'll wear socks with my slides, but just around the house. If I go out, the slides come off and the shoes go on.

 

[dez1978]

Athletes that wear cleats (male and female) will wear sandals (slides) to/from practices and games. The socks stay on, you just take the slides off, put on your cleats, practice/play, take cleats off, and put slides on to go home.

I'll wear socks with my slides, but just around the house. If I go out, the slides come off and the shoes go on.

Yeah, mine will wear crocs to/from practice. They've never liked slides. I totally get it for sports. It's the absolute refusal to be without socks ANYWHERE that is weird to me. I don't get wearing socks down to the pool... Or on a boat.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Athletes that wear cleats (male and female) will wear sandals (slides) to/from practices and games. The socks stay on, you just take the slides off, put on your cleats, practice/play, take cleats off, and put slides on to go home.

Yeah, mine will wear crocs to/from practice. They've never liked slides. I totally get it for sports.

My kiddo also opts for Crocs. She wanted a pair of Puma slides for the whole socks and slides trend, as well as shark slides. She tried to justify that she could wear them to school and for practice. The Puma slides sit in her closet... occasionally coming out more like house slippers to wear into the garage. The shark slides felt strange to her so her big sis took them to wear around the house. So, it's still Crocs and Socks in between games, unless they're playing on turf.

 

[mmbrad02]

I have a 7th grade girl and it's been quiet interesting. As her mom, I guess I am more of a girly girl, although at her age I was simply plain and clean. So we don't necessarily see eye to eye on what she thinks is okay these days....

My DD insists on white crocs every.single.day (to school. I put a limit to what I will deal with on the weekends ) She wears them with socks. And they are filthy and gross and I told her she needed a new pair but she insisted she didn't want new ones, hers were fine. She will not wear royal blue leggings and a white hoodie (specifically) "because the preppy girls do. Do you just want me to be preppy?". She refuses to wear jeans, period. I took her shopping before school started and insisted he find two pair that fit - then I've quit fighting her on it and they've each been worn once, I think. She also no longer wants anything pink, but purples and turquoises and such a fine.

We also went through the crease issue with her Nike Air Force One's but she hates wearing anything but her crocs now so that's kind of a non issue at the moment.

My husband and I are both professionals and so many times he has shook his head at what she thinks is perfectly acceptable. I tend to feel the same but try to be the peacekeeper

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I’ve got a 16yo who wears shorts and tshirts year round. Luckily where we live in Australia we don’t get snow and minimal freezing temperatures but it still cracks me up.
Creasing shoes my two boys haven’t worried about however my now 18yo daughter was obsessed with her first pair of Nike Air Force - again made me laugh like a mad woman the first 5-10 times she wore them.

I have a friend who is 60 and we have been friends for close to 20 years and I can count on 1 hand the number of times that I have seen him wear long pants. We live in the Florida panhandle so no super freezing days but we always get a few weeks where the high is only in the 30's and there he is wearing a light jacket and shorts. I will admit that I also do not like wearing long pants but when it gets that cold I sure will!

 

[Lumpy1106]

When people complain about their toddlers and the "terrible twos" I just laugh hysterically. You think 2 is bad? You are in no way prepared for 14! DS is 21 and does now appear to have some appreciation for our efforts. DD is 18 and has a way to go (but WAY better than she was at 14!). Not out of the woods yet; DD #2 is 10 and just starting to get snotty. Not so fast! We've seen this act before!

No wonder bears chase their young up a tree and walk away without turning back when they come of age.

 

[NotUrsula]

I have a 7th grade girl and it's been quiet interesting. As her mom, I guess I am more of a girly girl, although at her age I was simply plain and clean. So we don't necessarily see eye to eye on what she thinks is okay these days....

My DD insists on white crocs every.single.day (to school. I put a limit to what I will deal with on the weekends ) She wears them with socks. And they are filthy and gross and I told her she needed a new pair but she insisted she didn't want new ones, hers were fine. She will not wear royal blue leggings and a white hoodie (specifically) "because the preppy girls do. Do you just want me to be preppy?". She refuses to wear jeans, period. I took her shopping before school started and insisted he find two pair that fit - then I've quit fighting her on it and they've each been worn once, I think. She also no longer wants anything pink, but purples and turquoises and such a fine.

We also went through the crease issue with her Nike Air Force One's but she hates wearing anything but her crocs now so that's kind of a non issue at the moment.

My husband and I are both professionals and so many times he has shook his head at what she thinks is perfectly acceptable. I tend to feel the same but try to be the peacekeeper

You can easily wash Crocs; just take a scrub brush and dish soap to them when she's sleeping in. They clean up nicely, and tend to last a very long time if you're not using them to walk on rocks. (It's interesting that she can wear them to school; they are pretty universally banned by K-12 schools here.)

The jeans thing isn't all that unusual these days; jeans are not as popular as leggings, which most younger girls find more comfortable. (Jeans are one of those things that get appreciated more as you get a bit older and want your tush to look good, which leggings generally don't do unless you have buns of steel.)

Middle school is the absolute worst for odd clothing choices and hygiene battles; you just have to let peer pressure take its course to solve that. (Sometimes they get hurt a bit in the process, but they learn that choices have consequences, which is a good thing.) I've found with mine that the whole fashion peer pressure thing eases up considerably by junior year of high school, though it doesn't fully fade away until after high school.

 

[holden]

DD16 and her friends mostly wear what I think of as PJ bottoms with t-shirts. DD16 will wear "nicer things" if she's going to a place where she might want to impress someone. "Nicer things" are baggy cargo pants and a shirt (usually a hoodie gets thrown over the shirt).

Now that it's cold, there is a permanent Carhartt beanie on her head at all times - inside, outside and probably in the shower.

 

[NotUrsula]

DD16 and her friends mostly wear what I think of as PJ bottoms with t-shirts. DD16 will wear "nicer things" if she's going to a place where she might want to impress someone. "Nicer things" are baggy cargo pants and a shirt (usually a hoodie gets thrown over the shirt).

Now that it's cold, there is a permanent Carhartt beanie on her head at all times - inside, outside and probably in the shower.

The PJ-bottoms fashion is really entrenched here in wintertime, because we have so many Catholic schools, and for some reason no Catholic school girl here would be caught dead in the allowed chino uniform pants, no matter hiow cold it is outside. So, they all wear the PJ bottoms under their plaid skirts to and from school, but strip them off in the vestibule entrance to the buildings when they arrive. Dropoff is hilarious, with a gaggle of girls just inside the door all dropping their pants.

 

[holden]

The PJ-bottoms fashion is really entrenched here in wintertime, because we have so many Catholic schools, and for some reason no Catholic school girl here would be caught dead in the allowed chino uniform pants, no matter hiow cold it is outside. So, they all wear the PJ bottoms under their plaid skirts to and from school, but strip them off in the vestibule entrance to the buildings when they arrive. Dropoff is hilarious, with a gaggle of girls just inside the door all dropping their pants.

Too funny! I went to Catholic school too and could totally see myself doing that.

Back in my day we wore sweater tights in the winter to keep out legs warm.

 

[dez1978]

I have a 7th grade girl and it's been quiet interesting. As her mom, I guess I am more of a girly girl, although at her age I was simply plain and clean. So we don't necessarily see eye to eye on what she thinks is okay these days....

My DD insists on white crocs every.single.day (to school. I put a limit to what I will deal with on the weekends ) She wears them with socks. And they are filthy and gross and I told her she needed a new pair but she insisted she didn't want new ones, hers were fine. She will not wear royal blue leggings and a white hoodie (specifically) "because the preppy girls do. Do you just want me to be preppy?". She refuses to wear jeans, period. I took her shopping before school started and insisted he find two pair that fit - then I've quit fighting her on it and they've each been worn once, I think. She also no longer wants anything pink, but purples and turquoises and such a fine.

We also went through the crease issue with her Nike Air Force One's but she hates wearing anything but her crocs now so that's kind of a non issue at the moment.

My husband and I are both professionals and so many times he has shook his head at what she thinks is perfectly acceptable. I tend to feel the same but try to be the peacekeeper

I quit fighting the jeans thing. Heck, I quit fighting pants altogether for my 7th grader lol. My 4th grader still has recess so if it's under 50 he has to wear pants.

When people complain about their toddlers and the "terrible twos" I just laugh hysterically. You think 2 is bad? You are in no way prepared for 14! DS is 21 and does now appear to have some appreciation for our efforts. DD is 18 and has a way to go (but WAY better than she was at 14!). Not out of the woods yet; DD #2 is 10 and just starting to get snotty. Not so fast! We've seen this act before!

No wonder bears chase their young up a tree and walk away without turning back when they come of age.

This!!! I have quite often said that the reasons babies come out so cute and snuggly and helpless is so we fall in love with them fast. If they came out acting like 2 year olds, I could see why animals in the wild eat their young lol. I remember foolishly thinking when my oldest was a baby "oh it will get easier as he gets older" Lets all just take a sec to laugh at that now lol.

(It's interesting that she can wear them to school; they are pretty universally banned by K-12 schools here.)

Thats odd. Here crocs are part of the universal middle school "uniform" it seems. The only reason mine doesn't wear them to school is he has PE every day and doesn't want to change his shoes.

Nicer things" are baggy cargo pants and a shirt (usually a hoodie gets thrown over the shirt).

Man, that brings me back to like early 2000's and the Old Navy cargo pants trend.