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The Struggles of the Youth

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Northeastern chapter.

This one is for all of you “cuties” out there, or that’s what we’ve been called, anyway. Being short doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always be called cute — there are plenty of incredibly gorgeous girls out there who are under 5 foot. I, however, have a slight issue. How do you dress if you’re an 18 year old who will forever look like a 12 year old?

                                                                                                                     Courtesy of Tenor

Last weekend I went out for dinner with my parents at Legal Sea Foods. As the hostess led us to the booth, she turned to me with a comforting smile and said “And would you like a kid’s menu?” Maybe I actually didn’t hear her or maybe I was experiencing some selective hearing, ignoring the hostess’s comment. She repeated the question and I had to politely decline. Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I was asked if I wanted a kids menu, and I will admit the kids menu did look great… until you read the fine print. “We know, you’re a kid at heart, but the children’s menu is not offered to adults.” So am I a kid at heart? Or a kid? Do you see my struggle now?

                                                                                                           Courtesy of Legal Seafoods

I’ll give the hostess the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the fact that I was wearing a huge baggy sweater and some leggings. You may be wondering why that matters. When you’re 4’ 11” with a baby face and rarely wear makeup, you need to dress up more often than not. With this new generation of “13 year olds don’t need glow ups anymore,” I could easily pass as 11, which is why I constantly feel the need to prove myself. Without the help of my trusty crop tops, skinny jeans, and boots, I’m stuck in the ripe middle school age of horrible fashion faux pas.

                                                                                                                   Courtesy of Pinterest

The Gods of Fashion have blessed me enough to know that neon colors paired with camo-patterns are not a good combination, but I definitely missed the phase when everyone became tall and stopped looking like a baby. Because of this, I’ve had to adjust the way that I dress to try to at least look like a 13 year old girl today. The other issue at hand is when I wear clothes that are supposedly “age appropriate” for an 18 year old, other people can be a little uncomfortable to see such a small child wearing such “revealing” clothes. It’s hard not to feel the judgment from parents’ glaring eyes.

At the end of the day, none of this should matter. I’m going to wear my crop tops and ripped jeans. Us cuties can wear whatever we want — whether we embrace our youthful looks, or we decide to dress like the inner B.A.M.F. we are — that should be our decision, not anyone else’s. The world just has to realize that little people are not JUST cute.

                                                                                                                       Courtesy of PopKey