The great shirt debate: house rules for boys?

[Anonymous]

Turn the heat down. This problem will sort itself. In the summer, who cares. Shirts in when we have guests and while eating at the table. Otherwise, not a battle I’d pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with your DH on this one. Shirts for everyone in main areas. If you want to be half dressed you can be in your room, you don't get a pass because you were born with a penis which btw OP is what you are teaching your daughters.

This is my issue, but maybe just because I have a boy and a girl.

DS wears a shirt in most house. Can go shirtless to sleep or in his bedroom. Or sometimes while working out.

[Anonymous]

Shirtless is ok if guests aren’t over. Must wear bottoms though and shirts on at meal times at the table. My son went through a shirtless phase around 10-11. Now and 12 he seems to be over it and usually has a shirt on

[Anonymous]

Underwear is required in my house. As my boys got older, I amended that to boxer style underwear.

[Anonymous]

I don’t really care if little kids are bare butt, personally, but I think requiring shorts and shirts is probably reasonable so you should just defer to the spouse who’s bothered on this one. Maybe they can go shirtless when dad’s not home, or in their rooms or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turn the heat down. This problem will sort itself. In the summer, who cares. Shirts in when we have guests and while eating at the table. Otherwise, not a battle I’d pick.

+1. The only way a kid would be comfortable being shirtless in winter would be that parents keep the house irresponsibly hot.

[Anonymous]

I didn't have brothers so it's a little weird to me, but DS does not wear a shirt most of the time. I'd like him to wear one at the dinner table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turn the heat down. This problem will sort itself. In the summer, who cares. Shirts in when we have guests and while eating at the table. Otherwise, not a battle I’d pick.

This. I can't figure out why parents make their lives harder by trying to control things that don't need controlling. Stick to the important matters. Set limits where they matter....not when your kid is shirtless on the couch watching tv with his family.

[Anonymous]

Males going around shirtless is not nearly as common as when I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s.

My brother was shirtless 24/7 in the summer. Mom not only didn't care, but was happy about it as it meant less laundry and less $$$. Many, if not most of the other boys in our neighborhood often went without a shirt in the summer. The men in the neighborhood, my dad included, often did yard work with no shirt.

My DS never went without a shirt unless he was at a pool or the beach.

My 2 DGS even wear a shirt in the pool. However, just recently my oldest DGS (13) has become obsessed with working out and suddenly start going around the house bare chested. So maybe the trend is starting to change again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Turning down the heat doesn't work - we have a wall of south facing windows and even in winter it gets to be in the mid 70s from the sunlight. We have no temperature set above 68 anywhere. Usually 66 max, including in our cold cold basement.

The girls aren't being told to go put on a shirt. They this far haven't seemed to wish to wander shirtless. Also, I'd rather my daughters see the scandalous nakedness of bare chested boys in their own home, realize it is not a big deal, and not be embarrassed when they run across bare chested boys in the "wild" (a/k/a, outside of our home).

They’ve already seen topless boys at beaches and pools. It’s not a big deal in the appropriate place.

Your kids are young but the teens are a different story. Penises are ugly and I’d rather not look at my son’s. Or a sweaty butt sitting in my silk chair. Nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find this thread fascinating. I never thought about a rule in the house about shirts. Both my husband and 14 year old son always wear some sort of shirt at all times, except when they are in the process of looking for a shirt to put on. I think going around shirtless is low class, and we don't have to go through the trouble to enforce it because they don't feel comfortable walking around without a shirt unless they are at the pool or beach.

In movies the Southern hicks always put on a tank top to go out to eat and are shirtless when hanging outside in the holler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Males going around shirtless is not nearly as common as when I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s.

My brother was shirtless 24/7 in the summer. Mom not only didn't care, but was happy about it as it meant less laundry and less $$$. Many, if not most of the other boys in our neighborhood often went without a shirt in the summer. The men in the neighborhood, my dad included, often did yard work with no shirt.

My DS never went without a shirt unless he was at a pool or the beach.

My 2 DGS even wear a shirt in the pool. However, just recently my oldest DGS (13) has become obsessed with working out and suddenly start going around the house bare chested. So maybe the trend is starting to change again.

Same. My DS (14) likes to go shirtless in the summer but gets annoyed when we pester him about sunscreen. Same for me as a mid 40s dad. I would much rather do the yardwork shirtless, but its easier to put on a SPF shirt then sunscreen up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never created a house rule for clothing. Being shirtless -boy or girl - was always fine with us.conce the kids hit puberty, they've worn a shirt if they were girls, and the boy just put on a shirt for meals on his own.

I think if the girl has to wear shirt, so should the boys. Dudes lounging topless, or exercising without shirts, is so . . . . ugly, tacky, unnecessary.

It’s not the same for girls. Boy can't stop staring at breasts, men either. Some would be “accidentally “ touching the girls.

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't want them, or their body oils, on my nice furniture.

So go ahead and be shirtless, but you gotta sit on the floor

[Anonymous]

So trashy. We don't drink from the milk carton or belch out loud either.