The Problem I Have with My Teenage Daughter’s Volleyball Shorts
As a Mom I'm Aware That Daughter’s Volleyball Shorts Are Really Short.
I love that my daughter is active. I think that too many kids are sitting around on their technology. Without having anything that gets them active and socializing in group settings. Sports like volleyball are awesome activities for all kids to learn teamwork and stay healthy. Sports can also make children more confident, especially girls who tend to struggle with confidence during their teen years. While I appreciate all of this. I do have a major concern about the daughter's volleyball shorts.
Are Daughter's Volleyball Shorts too Short?
The shorts that they wear are too short, in my opinion. When she’s being particularly active while playing they ride up a little. And I worry that they may ride up too much. I don’t like it when people take photographs of her wearing them. I fear that she is being sexualized while she is just trying to play a sport that she loves to compete in and I know that it’s the photographer’s job to take pictures, but they make me feel uncomfortable. These shorts just show too much for a girl of her age. I was shocked and appalled when she first brought them home and I Wondered where the rest of the shorts were.
I looked at the male volleyball players and wondered, “how come they get to wear baggy clothing and longer shorts while my daughter had to wear tight fitting clothing and short shorts?”
Unfortunately, that’s just the way things are, and the parents have to worry about it. My daughter didn’t seem very concerned about them when she first saw them. Was I projecting my fears on my daughter? There are a lot of things to be afraid of as parents and these shorts were one of those fears I had.
Why does this matter?
I realized that when I Googled “volleyball shorts too short” and saw there were pictures all over showing off girls in their short volleyball shorts. There are social media pages full of these images that may have originally been innocent now being objectified by the masses. It sickened me. Fortunately, now there seems to be stricter rules on posting specific types of images with teenage girls in their volleyball shorts.
That's not all...
This is a serious problem that I have with the shorts. But I do realize that I have to get over my concerns for the benefit of my daughter. Even if I wanted to fight my daughter about wearing these shorts, ultimately my teenage daughter was going to lose out on so much more. She’d lose out on a sport that she loved playing with her friends and she’d lose out on the confidence that you get from winning. She’d miss out on an opportunity to make friends that will carry on a friendship with her at least until she leaves high school (though these strong friendships could last through college or adulthood). There is also the risk that she would lose out on such things as college scholarships. All because I was worried about her shorts being way too short.
