One Reason Bra Shopping SUCKS!

This is probably my 90th bra’ish post. Perhaps I am a bit obsessed. But this one is not just a post, it’s a rant from a concerned mother of teenage girls.

I am a mother of 4 girls. As expected, my girls are growing up – and braziers are quickly being added to my laundry pile. (And subsequently eaten by my dryer)

My daughters, apparently taking after their mama have an utter disdain for bras. They too, have their bras off before their shoes as soon as they get home.
Luckily, my daughters are also small chested like their mama. (For now at least)

The problem I encounter is not a new one, but a rather an extremely frustrating one now that my bra shopping includes trying to find great bras for ‘barely budding’ pubescent girls.
Let’s be real, young girls have nipples at first. The actual boobs either come later or not at all. In the meantime, what is a mother to do to help her daughter graduate from flat chestedness toward womanhood?

Seriously, does anyone else find it nearly impossible to find a bra that fits a young girl, without making her look like she is stuffing toilet paper in her undergarments?

My GOD! I would think that Hanes, or stores like Wal-mart and Target would sell bras that were functional, and at the very least were padded just enough to cover the nipples, WITHOUT making these youngsters look like they have C cups.

And really, do 11 – 15-year-old girls really need to wear neon lace? How trashy does that look under a t-shirt or sweater?

I realize that Madonna made the ‘see your bra through your clothes’ fad popular, but wasn’t that back in the 1980′s? I know because I was there at her Like a Virgin tour.

Today, schools (and hopefully parents) have dress codes and exposed sexy and risqué bras aren’t part of the protocol.

I don’t shop for bras for my daughters at Victoria’s Secret for a reason.

They don’t need to feel pressured into having larger boobs than they naturally have. They shouldn’t be faced with wearing underwire push up (uncomfortable)contraptions that make their barely existent ‘girls’ look as though they are a candidate for the next Sports Illustrated swim suit model? The pubescent years are tough enough without Barbie pressure to be perfectly boobed.

I have decided over the years, that bras are perhaps one of the most likely tools of deception used by women? The equivalent lie would be Fruit of the Loom coming out with tighty-whities that have extra padding in the crotch area marketed to men?
Whatever happened to a lightly padded (meaning enough to cover the nipples), softly shaped, comfortable white or nude bra that would work under a white t-shirt without making young girls look like big bossomed bimbos?

There really is no happy medium. None. Nada.

Sports bras only smoosh down boobs. But when you only have niblets (as my 5-year-old calls them), the sports bra doesn’t offer enough coverage to avoid the pointy nipple embarrassment in public. The bras in the ‘girls department’ do nothing to support girls that are actually maturing. And the bras in the woman’s department either look like stripper wear, or are more quilted than a quarterbacks shoulder pads.

The whole thing is just stupid. I walk through my children’s middle school and high school and think that maybe we really are putting too many hormones in our meat, because breast size of the young has certainly increased TENFOLD. Then, I remind myself that more than likely many of those girls are just wearing heavily padded bras.

Don’t kids have enough to worry about these days? And shouldn’t we, as mothers, be a little more choosy (and have more choices) when it comes to walking our daughters through the threshold of womanhood?

So suggestions? Any mothers out there know a brand of bras that actually address this problem? Or should I just revert to duct taping their nipples down and letting them wear tank tops until they (A) either have enough boobage to actually fit in a bra or (B) are old enough to buy their own?

I don’t know. As far as I am concerned, the perfect bra is a sweatshirt!