Ok let me start by saying I am a control freak. Now having said that lol. I have as the years went by made the usual mistakes with my kids. But they are all good kids so apparently I didn't do to bad. My youngest son is a lot younger than the others. I have tried to do some of the things differently than I did with the others. For instance this one has his own room with a lock on the door (because we have grandkids over a lot now) This one has no set bedtime as he gets himself up and around etc. I have not imposed my fashion sense on him. he wears khaki's and tshirts all the time or plaid shorts and tshirts. he is a senior this fall.
Ok now for the stupid tail thing. My son came home from an anime convention with what looks like a blue and white fox tail. it hooks on his belt in the back AND HE WEARS IT TO SCHOOL! I don't get it. It looks stupid. He knows how I feel and just laughs at me and says all the kids are doing it. Does anyone else no anything about this? He had a hat he wore pretty much all winter that looked like the ones they wore in the 40/50's think dean martin. School wouldn't allow hats so he had to take it off every day and leave it in his locker but they allow these stupid tails? I just don't get it........
If it is a tail hooked to his belt, it is wonderful. That means his pants are pulled up and he is not sagging.
I'll take the tail over the sagging fashion (cringe at the thought that was fashion) any day.
My daughter has a pink one from the renaissance festival but she's not allowed to wear it to school. The kids just like them. It's no more dumb than the slap bracelets and multi-colored slouchy socks from when I was a kid.
He paid for it with his own money. (Right?)
It's not offensive in any way (that you know of).
He's got the guts to wear it around his friends (wow, good for him).
He's not going to still be wearing it when he goes to college (believe me).
It's not permanent like a tattoo or painful and expensive to remove like a tattoo.
Let it go.
But be sure to take some photos of him in it to show him when he's 30 and in a great professional job!
This is where you take pictures so you can show your grand kids what weird fads were going around when their parents were their age.
My daughter is almost 17. Her tail is purple and black. She's worn it to school, to the mall, to her girl scout meetings, etc...
It's part of what's called "Cosplay" and it's when kids dress up as their favorite characters. These can be from Anime or a variety of online sites, plus all the things we're familiar with like Star Wars, Star Trek, even My Little Pony has it's followers. I drive a school bus, and you wouldn't believe the things kids wear to school these days. But thats a good thing. The days when kids were ostracized and bullied for their clothing are quickly going away because kids like your son and my daughter refuse to have their fashion dictated to by their peers.
Check out links, and be glad all he's wearing is the tail :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay
https://www.google.com/search?q=cosplay&biw=1680&...
Tails mean different things to different people. Some wear them as followers "Everyone is doing it." Some wear it for "dress-up" or cosplay, those are usually limited to conventions and other similar events. It's rarely an everyday outfit. They also tend to be of specific fictional characters, usually ones that they like or admire. They can also be worn for "shock" value, they're "odd" to the general population, objective achieved.
There is also a group called Furries, once again the reasons for being a Furry and wearing a tail are widely varied. I doubt your son is a fan of this, but obviously a fan of anime. Seems to be a "follower" type of thing. He'll likely get out of it eventually and realize how silly he looks.
Edit: I second taking pictures. You never know when you'll need to blackmail him into something.
Did you google it? I came up with an Anime Character named 'Naturo' and something called 'cosplay', which is a costume play. Apparently, your son isn't the only kid with this affectation: lots of websites sell fox tails and costume accessories.
Y'know, though, so much out there looks stupid, right? I'll take seeing tails as opposed to being blinded by blistering neon, which is making a comeback. (makes me think of those neon Wham! "Choose Life" shirts from my high school days. ugh.)
You've obviously done a good job raising your son to be an individual. He wore the hat to make himself stand out a little from the crowd and now it's this tail thing.
I would look the other way and let his friends tell him how ridiculous wearing a blue fox tail looks. To me, it's better than a tattoo or piercing.
The more you don't get it, the more he will like it. No biggie.
Now if I could just get those stupid earrings off of my 22 yr old...
My younger sister, who will be a senior next year, and her friends wear these stupid things all the time. I think they look ridiculous, but it's the "style" right now...
Never heard of it, but hey, it's better than weird body piercings or tattoos, right?
Every Generation,Tours Through Several.Fads. From Bell Bottom Pants, Spiral Perms, Pants Dragging The Floor, And Tails....So UnleSs It Denotes A Theme Of Drug Use, Sex.conquest, Suicide Pact Or Depression In The Famous Words Of Madonna "Express Yourself" . Because There Will Come A Time When Conformity Is Expected For Success And For CreativE, Free Thinkers Who Never Did Expres Out Of The Norm They Tend To Become.Depressed. Let Him Ride The Wave Of Being Interesting. The Longer You Have Comment, The Longer He Will.Wear it.
Just kids trying to be unique like everyone else. 8-). It's much better than those sex braclets the kids wear, so I would just shake my head and laugh.
Yep when our daughter was in Middle school back in 2001 -2004.. There were kids that wore tails. It was an anime thing.. It was not a big deal..
But when she went to high school, only this one girl continued this look. She was known as "Tail Girl".. One time while volunteering I met a mom and we always introduce ourselves by saying. "Hi, My name is.. My child is,, In whatever grade. " This mom said Hi I am "Tail Girl's mom".. Since I knew the girls name I said oh yeah.. Joanna's mom? She was so happy that we knew her daughters name.
This High School had lots of very creative students in many subjects.. so it really was not a big deal. Kids would wear Pirate outfits. Or Rennfest,, Capes. all sorts of clothing. Of course since we are in Texas the "Kickers" wear Cowboy hats. The baseball players baseball caps. Drill team, drill team outfits. No one batted an eye.
Our daughter admired tail girl,, She could enter a school desk chair and not sit on her tail.. It would hang perfectly behind her.
I would not make it a big deal. If you ignore it, he will probably lose his enthusiasm about it. But this is not a new thing.. It has been around for a at least a decade now.
yes, I've seen them.... kids wear them to restaurants or even church.
If you're near a college or university they also make them to stick out of your trunk or car window, but in the colors of the mascot. bizarre.
Something else you can thank Japan for ... much like the Harijiku trend pushed by Gwen Stephanie, another Japanese started trend. Let it be.
My granddaughter,12, wears mismatched socks. Usually the same colors but not matched. KIDS!! :-) Let them be kids, it lasts only a short time.
I was so hoping you had misspelled tail and this was going to be some crazy animal TALE!!! lol!!
I have never heard or seen kids wearing animal tails - at least not around here. I wouldn't be too thrilled if my kids wanted to wear one. Hopefully that fad will bypass my town!! lol!!
As for the hats, yes, I've seen those. Our school doesn't allow hats in school either, but I've seen a lot of kids at the mall and other places wearing them. They're not too bad.
But I agree that it's a little crazy that they're allowed the animal tails in school but not hats. But then, you can't hide anything in an animal tail!! I guess that's why they ban hats - who knows what kids could be stashing in there.
Good luck!!
Yesh...sounds dumb, but harmless. I would hate it if one of my kids wanted to do that.
I wore a tail once when I was in my early 20's and a waitress in a family restaurant. It was Halloween and this evil place required everyone to wear costumes. I wore simple black pants with a cat kit that had cat ears and a tail. I painted whiskers on my face with eyeliner. I thought that I had done a good job....until grown men started meowing at me all damn day.
Yep...that was the first and last time for that.
I have never heard of this. Seems if any kid would do that it would be elementary school kids. I don't get it either. Sounds ridiculous, especially for kids his age. My 2nd son is going to be a senior in the fall, he's 18 and I wouldn't allow him to leave the house like that.
K. B
mom to 5 including triplets
