*****The people on the street were well dressed, trim and looked successful*****
I am a 41 YO homemaker. My youngest just turned 18. I am, just now, learning how to dress, style hair and move.
Back in the day, it was part of a young woman’s upbringing to learn these things. Wearing makeup and styling hair is a skill, like any other. Girls now days are left to their own devices and there are thousands of terrible examples for them to chose from.
When they turn to the ‘professionals’ and try to ape what they see in magazines, they’re left overwhelmed with unrealistic expectations. The photos are all Photoshopped and they may as well be drawings.
Over the last month, I’ve been learning how to cross my legs, walk in heels (it’s a heck of a lot more complicated than people realize), and sit and stand properly. I’m learning how to pose properly (naturally) for a photo. I’ve actually had to take tai chi to learn how to walk and balance. I spend an hour a day ‘heel training’ and have to do stretching exercises for my arches twice a day. Even leg crossing has become an issue and I’ve had to do special stretching exercises to gain enough flexibility in my hips to pull it off right. (I’m up to 20 minutes at a time, with right over left. I can only manage 5 minutes with left over right.)
Learning how to dress in a way that’s appropriate for my age and body type has been *very* hard. I have an appointment to learn how to do makeup and skin care.
Women who do these things well make it look easy and natural. A girl who doesn’t get it, will feel like she just can’t do it and give up. ‘It’s just not me. I’m not pretty enough. I don’t have natural beauty and grace.’
Well, honey, nobody is born with it.
When she does put forth effort, she feels let down because she’s never going to be that pretty. Girls need to learn how to be *their* personal best and how to work with what G-d gave them.
I firmly believe that there should be a class for young people in high school to teach them these basic things. I wish we’d bring back ‘finishing schools’ for girls. Heck, I’d have paid for it. I’d pay for it now.
The sad thing is that, as I didn’t know these things, I couldn’t teach my daughter. Now the two of us are breaking through this together. At least she’s learning at 20 instead of 40.
So don’t judge young people who move and look wrong too harshly. If a person isn’t taught, they can’t know.
Thanks for the comment. I didn’t mean to get off on a tangent with this but the point I was trying to make was there is very visible evidence of the societal change that has transpired over several generations in the USA. Part of it food based.
I didn’t mean to blame it on young people but the change is a direct result of external events and influences, with the most important being the mass exodus of good paying manufacturing jobs that were replaced with crappy service jobs, and much of money and economy went to wealthier CEOs and Wall St bankers and politics. We had a Congress that didn’t work for the USA.
The most visible difference is that US towns are poorer and have an abundance of obesity that didn’t exist even 20 years ago. Fat was almost non-existent in the 50s and 60s. So was diabetes. Something has changed to make society fat and I blame it on cheap factory processed food that represents an experiment in progress on the human race.
I agree what you said about young people needing some basic training on manners and behavior, and too many get none of it from parents, who themselves didn’t get it. A part of success is based on manners, actions and appearance.
The media has been a bad influence on youth.