Can we please stop "pre-bullying" our kids?

Just a rant. I've had this discussion with co-workers and seen it around here occasionally, so I am not immune myself, I just think we have to stop doing this to some degree:"He can't go out wearing eye-liner! Someone will make fun of him!""She can't wear that, her muffin-top is showing and someone will make fun of her!""He's in 10th grade, he can't be seen with a kids' pokémon backpack!"Etc.... Etc... I think a lot of parents think that they're protecting their kids, but really you're just bullying them a little bit yourself. It's creating kids who are less willing to express themselves because they've never been able to try and MAYBE fail, or MAYBE succeed. Usually I've seen this with fashion choices but I'm sure there are other examples.Obviously when it's a safety issue it would make sense to step in. But teaching our kids to be resilient and own their identity and self-expression seems far more important to me than maybe someone saying some off-hand comment about their shoes/whatever.Note: Good book to teach anti-bullying strategies is called Simon's Hook. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2NBelA2