Little Girls and Their Pretty Dresses: Teaching Modesty

Little girls want to wear dresses, even though most of them see their mothers in pants most of the time. What does that tell us?

From an Ann Arbor, MI newspaper “Dear Abby” type column:

Parents can connect privacy with the good feeling of owning one’s body by modeling comfortable modesty, and gently suggesting “Your body is just for you.” owning your own body gets connected with owning your own self, another pretty important step.

Kids also want to be like grownups, especially in the realm of being in charge of themselves. Most little kids’ play involves imitating adult roles. Just as most moms nowadays often wear pants, most modern parents dress their little girls in pants and shorts, as much or more than in dresses. And yet most 3- and 4-year-old girls want to wear dresses! I think this impulse is connected to establishing good feelings about their femininity, demonstrating that they are happy to be a girl. This is when the strands of ownership of the body and gender identity come together in the minds of most kids.