Yup, we’re back on the “pants below the buttocks” thing again.  I apologize: I ‘m not trying to turn into a grumpy old man (notice I didn’t say I wasn’t turning into one, just that I’m not trying to on purpose), and I really don’t go off my nut every time I see someone slouching around with their underwear showing (imagine how tiring that would be), but I was exposed to this on the high street the other day and it made me realize just how weary I am of this particular fashion statement and I thought you’d appreciate me sharing my frustration with you.
 

Now, I have said before that I have no problem with adolescent fashion fads because we all know that teenagers need to show their individuality by dressing the same way as all their friends do.  I did it, you did it, our parents did it.  No biggie.  But this is not a fad; it’s been around now for about twenty years.  Slinging your pants beneath your butt is no more a fad than Velcro; it’s now simply a part of the social landscape.

I think the problem is that the kids growing up in the 1990s were the first generation to be weaned on cable TV, so they, and all who came after them, lack the imagination necessary to come up with an original idea, so all they can do is ape the generation before.  That, alone, would be bad enough, but they also seem to lack the imagination to begin dressing like an adult when the time arrives.  I’ve seen grown men wearing their pants halfway down their crotch.  There is really no excuse for that.
 

One time at a football match, a man and this two sons were sitting in front of us.  The boys were about 10 and 11 and the man was clearly in his 30s, yet he was dressed with his jeans slung low, just like the 12-year-olds on the high street.  His boys, I noticed, had their jeans cinched tight.

Perhaps this will be our salvation.  Children growing up with one or two droopy drawered parents may suffer enough embarrassment that they will find another way to dress.  Also, the need for individuality is matched only by the need to avoid doing anything your parents do, so this too may help steer future teenagers away from this fashion travesty.

I certainly hope so; I’m not looking forward to turning into a grumpy old man.