boy earringsPuritans, prep your pearls! You are going to want to clutch them to your bosoms after you read this. A high school in Alabama has decided it is finally time to allow boys to wear earrings.
Good golly, what's next? Will those rapscallions start dancing with members of the opposite sex too? Oooh, oooh, pass me the smelling salts, I think I'm gonna ...
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What? You're still here? And rolling your eyes?
Of course you are. Because in 2012, a few boys wearing earrings to high school is about as shocking as seeing a little girl wearing pants. Which is to say: not shocking at all.
If anything is shocking, it's that it took the threat of a lawsuit to force the members of Jefferson County Board of Education to realize there were more important things for school administrators to focus on than what is in a boy's ears. The board announced that it amended its dress code to allow boys to wear earrings because the monies they would have had to devote to a legal battle could be better spent on actual education.
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There's a pretty universal lesson in there for school staff and parents alike: micromanaging kids' lives isn't worth it.
You can nitpick at every single teeny tiny thing that your teenager decides to do. Or you can pick your battles, devoting your time, your energy, and yes, your money to the important things.
How do you know what's not worth pursuing? Pretty easy: if you're going to have to sacrifice big time on something worthwhile in order to have this fight with your kid ... it probably isn't worth it. This applies not just to earrings on boys but just about anything having to do with their hair and their choice in music.
What have you realized you needed to stop micromanaging in your kid's life and just let ride?
Image via Jay Phillips/Flickr
Written by Jeanne Sager on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
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