We’ve been working our way through the sections in For the Strength of Youth for Family Home Evening. This week we discussed Dress and Appearance. We first took turns reading aloud a paragraph at a time, checking for comprehension along the way and then did an activity at the end.
I cut out pictures of people wearing different types of clothing, sporting various hairstyles, etc. to demonstrate that our dress and appearance make a statement about us, whether we want it to or not. Each of the kids selected a picture, put it up on the whiteboard and then I drew word balloons filled with what the kids thought each person’s appearance said about him or her. Here’s how it turned out.
I love how children pretty much tell it like it is without pretense or subtext. I think people often reduce dress and appearance to a “modesty” issue and some can get all bent out of shape at the mere suggestion that one’s appearance has an influence on what others think of a him/her. It’s silly.
The reality is, though we should never justify passing unrighteous judgment on another person for what he/she wears, it does make a statement, even if that statement’s as simple as “I am a firefighter.” To pretend that we can adorn ourselves with whatever tattoos or piercings or hair color that we want or that what we wear leaves no impression is to be in denial.
Certainly, we are never entitled to blame poor behavior (including passing unfair judgment) on the way someone looks, however, we should dress ourselves with the understanding that we are communicating something. Hopefully that communication bears witness that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.