‘Best Dad Ever’ Explains Why He Wore Short Shorts To Teach His Daughter A Lesson In ‘Modesty’

You guys may have seen the image of Scott Mackintosh wearing a pair of homemade daisy dukes and a T-shirt emblazoned with “Best Dad Ever” on it and wondered how and why it happened. Scott has posted on his wife’s blog, Blog Of Mild Chaos, about why he chose to don the short shorts:

I know the world has varying degrees of what is modest and what is not when it comes to clothing.  In our family we have pretty definite modesty guidelines; No mid-drift or low-cut shirts, no short-shorts, short skirts and we even go as far as saying no sleeveless shirts unless playing sports or on the beach. Having raised four daughters and three sons, I’m a bit protective. Some may call me old fashion, but I call it ”A Dad who loves his daughters” (and sons too) I know some of you may be rolling your eyes and that’s okay, my daughter does it all the time.

I’m a firm believer that the way we dress sends messages about us, and it influences the way we and others act. (okay okay I’m the first to admit I look like a redneck and I may say ”crick” instead of ”creek”) But that’s beside the point. My teenage daughter day after day continues to wear clothing that I, as her father, feel is inappropriate and immodest. Her mother and I feel the same about the importance of dressing modest. With that said, let’s move onto the night of the happening ”¦”¦.

I like the fact that Scott is including his sons in this too, because if he wasn’t I would feel it was sort of creepy that he was singling out his daughters to teach about “modesty.” He didn’t care for a pair of shorts his daughter was wearing because he felt they were too short, so he took a pair of scissors to his jeans, put them on, and his kids took snaps and uploaded them to facebook. The picture quickly went viral and Scott explained that he wore them out to dinner with his kids, to play a round of miniature golf, and then out for ice cream. His daughter refused to enter the ice cream place with him and waited in the car.

There was no ”Dad I get it” or ”Dad you’re the best”¦. thanks for that awesome lesson.” ☺ I don’t think my object lesson of ”modest is hottest” made the statement I had intended. But no matter if social media gets the story mixed up and twisted, my daughter will always know that her dad loves her and cares about her enough to make a fool out of himself.

It’s pretty funny and sweet for a dad to do this, but it does frustrate me that it’s always the daughters who receive these lessons in “modesty” – which always end up being plain old slut shaming. I want Scott to talk more, about whether or not he teaches his sons not to objectify women based on how they are dressed, about how what a girl wears doesn’t determine who she is as a person, and about how dressing a certain way doesn’t give men a free pass in regard to how they treat women. Where are all the viral stories about men teaching their sons not to be creepers?

(Image: Becky Mack’s Blog of Mild Chaos)