"Kick Butt" shirts

[peaceful_mama]

Am I old-fashioned, or would anyone else here consider those Nike shirts that say things like "We came, we saw, we kicked butt" to be inappropriate to wear to school?  (yes, I saw one on a child on my son's school playground and it's not the first time this year)

Just seems to me that part of school should be teaching that there's a time and a place for everything, including certain T-shirts...(remembering the "Beavis and "his friend" controversy from my high school LOL)

[whatsnextmom]

Thosse are against dress code in out schools. Kids are sent to the office and have to wear old P.E. shirts the rest of the day.

[One_Girl]

I don't see a big deal with the shirt, it is questionable maybe but nothing that would worry me.  I am not old fashioned though and I take a very hands off approach to clothing standards. 

[Drummer's Wife]

They wouldn't bother me at all, but they would be against our district's dress code - which doesn't allow text or large graphics. 

I hate any kind of strict rules regarding what anyone wears, but I'm just glad we have moved on from the uniforms that were required in our schools not too long ago.

[eclipse]

What part of it is bothering you? The word "butt" ? Or are you seeing it as a reference to violence? I guess I'm just confused - it wouldn't bother me. In that context, I would see "kicking butt" in a positive way - as in, doing a good job at something (meaning, I see a difference between "I'm going to kick your butt" and "I kicked butt on that test"). And the word butt doesn't bother me in the least, being a shortened form of buttocks.

[philomom]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

Thosse are against dress code in out schools. Kids are sent to the office and have to wear old P.E. shirts the rest of the day.

Ours too! The kicking butt implies violence and we don't allow that here.

[MusicianDad]

I'm gonna go with the "don't see a problem" group. I don't see anything violent about it either. "Kicking butt" doesn't include any actual butt kicking, it just means you did an awesome job of something and came out on top.

[NannyMcPhee]

Yeah kicking butt doesn't literally mean kicking a persons buttocks. Anymore.

[peaceful_mama]

I get that.  Here's what I'm objecting to

#1  I'm pretty sure this is a phrase they would not allow a child to say on the playground.

#2  It's the principle.  I know this is elementary school, but many workplaces would not allow this shirt.  I have not actually looked at the district's website for policy, but I *know* this shirt would've violated dress code at my high school for the word 'butt' and that was the reason why---it's preparation for the "real" world.

#3 yeah some people don't like to hear about butts all the time lol....I probably noticed the shirt in the first place honestly because I'm so sick of that word at my house--also "fart"  and "buttcrack"  gotta love 6 year old bathroom humor and the 4 and 2 year old just love it too....

the old-fashioned part of me?  well I was raised by older parents and my mom now lives with us....they didn't like the word 'butt' and my mom *hates* the kids' potty humor....*I* probably get on them about it BECAUSE she's here objecting to it, otherwise I might dismiss it as normal and ignore it.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama 

#2  It's the principle.  I know this is elementary school, but many workplaces would not allow this shirt. 

The problem I see with this reasoning is that most work places won't allow jeans and/or t-shirts either, and there are plenty that won't allow anything less than a button down shirt, tie and slacks.

[syn_ack89]

That is why I prefer uniforms.

[kathymuggle]

It doesn't bother me at all.

There are only a few things I think should be restricted in the "what to wear" department and this does not even come close to be worrisome in my eyes.

[whatsnextmom]

Whether it bothers you or not, lines have to be drawn and "butt" is as good a line as any considering the whole "what context is it in" thing. Just make it easy and leave anything with higher  offending potentiol for afterschool and the weekend. Schools have enough to deal with, fielding complaints that kids are wearing "butt" shirts or fielding complaints that their child isn't allowed to wear "butt" shirts is just a waste. There are tons of clothes for teens to choose from. I don't think it's a big deal to ask them not to wear it at school.... get them prepped for the real world where you don't always get to wear whatever you want to the office.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 
get them prepped for the real world where you don't always get to wear whatever you want to the office.

You also don't get forced to take a job if you aren't comfortable with the dress code, unlike school where the child has no choice in which school they want to attend.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

... get them prepped for the real world where you don't always get to wear whatever you want to the office.

Where does this kind of thinking come from? I wore whatever I wanted in high school, including studded gauntlets, a denim vest with a horned skull on the back (resting on a bed of pot leaves, and with flames shooting up all around it), a see-through shirt and Elvira: Mistress of the Night style makeup. And, then I got a job in an office, and wore black pumps, black dress pants, and an assortment of tidy, neat blouses and/or sweaters (depending on the time of year). DS1 wears whatever he wants to school, including feather boas and bandanas...and then he quite happily changes into his uniform to go to work. School and work aren't the same thing, in many ways, so the "get them prepped for the real world" thing makes very little sense to me. In almost 43 years of life, I've never run into anything that resembles real life as little as school does.

[34me]

My ds violated the dress code by wearing red shoelaces in his sneakers - the ones that they came with. Yeah. The shirt doesn't bother me at all.

[whatsnextmom]

Did you wear shirts with the word "butt" on them to work lol. I think all this is just silly. Everyone is SO freaked out about feeling controlled on any front. You'd think that WE were the teenagers lol. So what if you have some guidelines on what to wear at work or school? I was a stage manager and theatre tech. I had to wear black every freaking day and clothing that I could climb around on a grid 20 feet in the air with. When I gave that up to have kids and went into teaching, I wore comfortable but put-together outfits that didn't offend anyone. My "real world" has never been suits and ties but my "real world" has always required me to make concessions for dressing appropriately for my surroundings. I'm amazed that so many would be outraged to put ANY limitations on what a kid wears to school. Maybe this is why we are faced with such an entitlement society where everyone thinks they should have what they want without having to GIVE on any point what-so-ever.

I guess it's going to come down to how you view school. In our family, school is work. School is our children's job and we expect them to behave and work appropriately while there. If they can have fun in school while accomplishing those objectives GREAT! However, first and formost, it is their job. Our local schools have very reasonable dress codes in my opinion. The only kids who seem to have issues with it are kids who are purposely trying to make others uncomfortable in the first place. They wouldn't have any issue with your daughter in a feather boa as long as she wasn't wearing a picture of a whiskey bottle along with it.

Goodness, a little common sense is all it takes. I am not personally offended by the word "butt." I'm just not sending my kid to elementary school wearing it knowing how juvenile children reacte to any word they see as "naughty." Too much of a distraction when my kids have like, 30 other shirts to choose from in their closet as it is!

Originally Posted by Storm Bride 

Where does this kind of thinking come from? I wore whatever I wanted in high school, including studded gauntlets, a denim vest with a horned skull on the back (resting on a bed of pot leaves, and with flames shooting up all around it), a see-through shirt and Elvira: Mistress of the Night style makeup. And, then I got a job in an office, and wore black pumps, black dress pants, and an assortment of tidy, neat blouses and/or sweaters (depending on the time of year). DS1 wears whatever he wants to school, including feather boas and bandanas...and then he quite happily changes into his uniform to go to work. School and work aren't the same thing, in many ways, so the "get them prepped for the real world" thing makes very little sense to me. In almost 43 years of life, I've never run into anything that resembles real life as little as school does.

[kathymuggle]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

Whether it bothers you or not, lines have to be drawn and "butt" is as good a line as any considering the whole "what context is it in" thing. Just make it easy and leave anything with higher  offending potentiol for afterschool and the weekend. Schools have enough to deal with, fielding complaints that kids are wearing "butt" shirts or fielding complaints that their child isn't allowed to wear "butt" shirts is just a waste. There are tons of clothes for teens to choose from. I don't think it's a big deal to ask them not to wear it at school.... get them prepped for the real world where you don't always get to wear whatever you want to the office.

I think it is nice for kids of all ages to have self expression - as long as it is not offensive to most moderate people.  "Kick butt" is not offensive.

I like to flip this point around - kids have enough rules to deal with particularly at school (many of them necessary but some arbitrary) without micromanaging what they wear.

I do not think the school/office comparison holds up.  Where to work is optional for many people (indeed I know people IRL who won't work in certain places due to having to wear a suit or uniform).  School is not optional for many youth.  If school is optional, or if there is an option of a school with less stringent dress rules, then maybe, maybe, it is OK to say "this is the expectation here."  (although I still do not think it is the best idea)

[blessedwithboys]

The one in the OP doesn't bother me, but the one that says "The Man" with an arrow pointing up and "The Legend" with an arrow pointing down really strikes me as inappropriate for school, and yet a kid at our school wears it.

And ds1's dad wears a shirt (Nike, I think) that says "Skilled at multiple positions" and I truly don't like that one.  Ok, I lied, I think it's super funny, I just don't think it's as funny when it's on the chest of a bald 36yo guy walking with his teenaged son.

[Youngfrankenstein]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad 

I'm gonna go with the "don't see a problem" group. I don't see anything violent about it either. "Kicking butt" doesn't include any actual butt kicking, it just means you did an awesome job of something and came out on top.

I really have to agree with MD here.  When my boys, 10 & 11 years now, were very young, I would have been "offended" by this shirt.  Now that they're in 4th and 5th grade, it wouldn't really be on my radar.  I doubt I'd run out and buy them one but I'd probably not buy them a Nike shirt unless they asked, which would be unusual.  They certainly know lots of words they don't repeat.  They also wouldn't probably say they "kicked butt" at the dinner table but if they said it to their friends, I don't see the big deal.

I would love to have school uniforms just for simplicities sake but I really don't buy the whole "how will they learn" stuff.  They will learn, we all did.