Vanessa Kroll Bennett is working through a tricky subject today: Super-short shorts on her teen. She writes, with her usual thoughtful nature: “I’m a firm believer in the body positive movement. I am fully on board with the idea that we should be thoughtful about how we talk about our bodies and other people’s bodies, and how we should often, instead, just keep our mouths shut. That said: wow, the shorts on kids these days are short. Like, crescent-moon-of-butt-cheek-visible short. I mean, I didn’t even wear lingerie that short on my honeymoon.”

So what’s a mom to do when you want to respect your kid’s autonomy and send positive messages about their body — but you just can’t bring yourself to greenlight THAT pair of shorts? Read what she says and see if it changes how you think about the topic.

Kelly Faircloth, Executive Editor