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A Utah dad fed up with his daughter's short shorts decided to do something that would make her realize they might not be as cute as she thinks.

A Utah dad fed up with his daughter's short shorts decided to do something that would make her realize they might not be as cute as she thinks.

Scott Mackintosh, a husband and father of seven, recently headed out with his family for some bonding time, he describes on his wife's blog, Becky Mack's Blog of Mild Chaos. The plan was to go to dinner and play miniature golf. Before leaving, he heard his wife asking his teenage daughter to put on some longer shorts. When the girl responded "no," Mackintosh decided to "make a 'small' statement on how her short-shorts maybe aren’t as 'cute' as she thinks!"

So, he grabbed a pair of jeans, cut them into a tiny pair of shorts above the pocket and threw on a T-shirt reading "Best. Dad. Ever." The family got stares at the restaurant and stares at the mini-golf course, but his daughter still didn't seem to mind. Finally, when they ended the night with milkshakes, she decided to stay in the car instead of going through any more embarrassment.

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.

His daughter posted the photo of her dad to her Tumblr, writing, "My mom told me to change my 'slutty' shorts before we went to dinner. I said no. So my dad cut his jeans to fit in. We went to dinner and then mini golf like this." The post has since gotten over 130,000 notes. The photo also made it's way to the social sharing site, Reddit.

After the story got picked up by various news outlets, Mackintosh decided to clarify a few things about his purpose.

"I simply did this in hopes that my daughter would know of my great love for her and that she knows of her great worth," he said in a statement to Desert News. "Now that it has gone viral, I hope that young women everywhere understand their great worth. I will look like an idiot any day if that point gets across."

Mackintosh told Salt Lake City's KSL that he has not seen his daughter' short shorts since then.

"She's dressed a little bit better since then," he said. "Yeah, she has."

Mackintosh's story comes on the heels of a national debate about whether adults should be telling kids what to wear following a "slut shaming" viral blog post written by a Texas mother. While some parents shake their fingers at short shorts, other parents are fine with letting their children wear whatever clothing they desire.

As for the practice of public shaming, which involves potentially embarrassing one's child in a public manner as a means of discipline, some view it negatively.

"It's not just that humiliating people, of any age, is a nasty and disrespectful way of treating them," Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason, previously said. "It's that humiliation, like other forms of punishment, is counterproductive. 'Doing to' strategies -- as opposed to those that might be described as 'working with' -- can never achieve any result beyond temporary compliance, and it does so at a disturbing cost."

Scott Mackintosh, Utah Dad, Wears Short Shorts To Teach His Daughter A Lesson

A Utah dad fed up with his daughter's short shorts decided to do something that would make her realize they might not be as cute as she thinks.

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.

My departure from the adult business was fairly public. Thanks to Dr. Drew and reality television, I participated in a wide array of televised interviews about my decision to quit porn. From Oprah to Extra! and The View to Tyra, some of our best-known talk show hosts wanted answers to complex questions: Why did I get into porn? What made me quit? I did my best to answer honestly and thoughtfully, not just for myself, but also for my compatriots still in the business, and for all of the young women out there who are a lot like I was when I first disrobed in front of a camera as a part-time job in college. These questions are more relevant than ever today, with the ongoing proliferation of porn in our culture and the potential consequences of participating in porn, both physically and possibly emotionally. A recent Daily Beast feature even addressed the lighter version of this issue. The article discussed how difficult it is to prevent your daughter from morphing into the newest, shiniest feminine archetype: a prince-seeking Disney princess.

Of course, there was no way I could have explained my motivation to enter or exit porn in a 15-minute television interview, and I can't get to the bottom of it in an article meant to be read over morning coffee. Aside from the fact that, as humans, motivation is an intricate web of rationalizations tangled up with semi-truths and brain functions that can fill out a whole textbook, there are also a whole slew of cultural pressures that impacted my decision and affect young women today in ways that's difficult to distill and analyze. But here's what I can tell you:

I have put four years, a Bachelor's degree in psychology, and the beginning of a Master's in Social Work between my present self and my past porn career. In this time, and given the fact that I know quite a few girls who have left the biz, I feel like I now understand some of the contributing motivational factors related to getting in and out of the industry. I believe these can easily be applied to the majority of women performing in the adult business. If you are a parent, you might want to take notes, because this has more to do with you than you may wish to admit. In fact, these are the reasons why your daughter wants to be a porn star. (Just in case you're wondering, I fit numbers 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and 10. And I loved Disney movies).

Because you loved her enough, but you didn't love her right. You weren't attuned to your daughter's emotional state as a child, and now, she has difficulty connecting intimately with other human beings. It's not that you meant to handicap her. You may even have a bit of a problem with authentic intimacy too, and it's probably an intergenerational issue, so look to your mom and dad for answers as to how the cycle started in the first place.
Because you were her friend, and not her parent (Hello Baby Boomers!). You never set solid parental boundaries, and you failed to teach her about her right to have her personal boundaries respected. Your permissive parenting led to her low self-esteem and crappy social skills. There are four major parenting styles, and I hate to tell you, this one is not the best.
Because you got divorced, and it was ugly. I don't even need to discuss the damaging effects of a nasty divorce because these statistics are known. However, if you still think it's cool to get divorced and drag your kids through the mud because children are resilient, or won't notice how poorly you two treat one another, think again. A study by Paul Armato shows that children of divorce continue to score lower academically, and in the areas of "psychological adjustment, self-concept and social competence." Furthering this concern, a 2002 study in The Journal of Pediatric Psychology found that adolescents from mother-alone or mother-absent homes are more likely to become sexually active at a young age, risk taking behavior that is compounded by substance abuse and lack of social support. Yes, there are situations in which divorce is best for all, but the process by which divorce happens is delicate and negative consequences can have lasting effects.
Because you raped, beat, or neglected her. Or someone close to you did. Though plenty of women who were abused as children do not go into porn, many women who have been abused (physically, emotionally or sexually) do participate in sexual risk taking behaviors. Even though a recent study found no link between pornography and child abuse, ample research on prostitution and child abuse provide insight to correlates of selling sex. A 2012 study on juvenile entry into prostitution explores the far-reaching consequences of abuse incurred in childhood, and the suggested pathways associated with entering prostitution (i.e. the selling of sex). Of course, this statement shifts the focus from the real argument, and can turn this point into a new argument about whether prostitution is equivalent to participating in pornography. I would suggest looking up the legal definition of prostitution, which states very simply that prostitution is "the act of offering one's self for hire to engage in sexual relations."
Because you are a prude -- or a total slut -- and you didn't have a good handle on your own sexuality. Your lack of self-knowledge may have led you to inadequately educate your daughter about sex, either teaching an abstinence only or laissez-faire approach. Statistics on abstinence-only programs show this approach to be ineffective. And if you divorced, letting the men (or women) you subsequently dated run in and out of your life (and your daughter's life) taught her that significant others, and people in general, are exchangeable. Kids need the truth about sex, and reliable sources of adult support and attachment. This article addresses the issues in both point four and five.
Because you let her watch insane amounts of television. There is a cost to letting the media raise your children. Even an hour over the average 72 minutes most children watch per day can cause great damage.
Because you gave her a smartphone when she was 10, and now she takes awesome #selfies all day. With every picture she takes to post to her social media sites, she becomes less sensitive to the idea of her images floating around on the web. Studies show that higher social media use is correlated with narcissism. Sexting is a booming practice, and a gateway technology usage that might lead to appearances on Internet porn sites. You can be fairly certain that your daughter has either thought about sexting, or has friends who do it.
Because her friends want to be porn stars, Playboy models, the Bachelorette or any other exaggerated and hyper-sexualized version of a real woman, and you aren't close to her friends. When a child has excessive contact with her peers and loses touch with safe adult attachments, the likelihood increases that she will become an addict, as mentioned in addiction specialist Dr. Gabor Maté's recent book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. I think it's possible that the problems arising from being raised by her peers can also lead to other harmful and immediately gratifying behaviors, like participating in porn.
Because you never showed her a healthy way to fill the spiritual void that is quintessentially human. Isn't it interesting that girls leave porn because they've found religion? It happens every day, even to girls who were considered to be "the world's hottest porn star." Money, sexual exploration, and false adoration didn't provide personal fulfillment like spirituality did.
Because you did the best you could to raise her right... but it wasn't enough.

The truth about pornography is that the motivations that cause a young woman to enter or exit the business are as complex as is the brain that makes the decision. Whittling cause and effect down to a single reason -- number eight! No! Four! Wait, nine sounds good -- is tantamount to trying to explain why someone decided to become a neuroscientist. An 18-year-old girl's career choice to go into porn isn't entirely attributable to her parents just like an 18-year-old boy's career choice to become a neuroscientist isn't entirely attributable to his. Yet in both scenarios, the parents played a large role by creating the environment in which such career choices were viable, regardless of the Grand Canyon-sized gap between a neuroscientist's professional role and an upcoming young starlet's. So next time you see your daughter, remember you are a few choices away from creating an environment in which she believes a career in pornography is the best path for her. Or she could believe a different path is possible. In many ways, it really is up to you.

Follow Jennifer Ketcham on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/becomingjennie

Check for more of these good reads http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-ketcham/why-your-daughter-wants-t_b_3813727.html

Why Your Daughter Wants to Be a Porn Star

Because you loved her enough, but you didn't love her right. You weren't attuned to your daughter's emotional state as a child, and now, she has difficulty connecting intimately with other human beings. It's not that you meant to handicap her. You may even have a bit of a problem with authentic intimacy too, and it's probably an intergenerational issue, so look to your mom and dad for answers as to how the cycle started in the first place.
Because you were her friend, and not her parent (Hello Baby Boomers!). You never set solid parental boundaries, and you failed to teach her about her right to have her personal boundaries respected. Your permissive parenting led to her low self-esteem and crappy social skills. There are four major parenting styles, and I hate to tell you, this one is not the best.
Because you got divorced, and it was ugly. I don't even need to discuss the damaging effects of a nasty divorce because these statistics are known. However, if you still think it's cool to get divorced and drag your kids through the mud because children are resilient, or won't notice how poorly you two treat one another, think again. A study by Paul Armato shows that children of divorce continue to score lower academically, and in the areas of "psychological adjustment, self-concept and social competence." Furthering this concern, a 2002 study in The Journal of Pediatric Psychology found that adolescents from mother-alone or mother-absent homes are more likely to become sexually active at a young age, risk taking behavior that is compounded by substance abuse and lack of social support. Yes, there are situations in which divorce is best for all, but the process by which divorce happens is delicate and negative consequences can have lasting effects.
Because you raped, beat, or neglected her. Or someone close to you did. Though plenty of women who were abused as children do not go into porn, many women who have been abused (physically, emotionally or sexually) do participate in sexual risk taking behaviors. Even though a recent study found no link between pornography and child abuse, ample research on prostitution and child abuse provide insight to correlates of selling sex. A 2012 study on juvenile entry into prostitution explores the far-reaching consequences of abuse incurred in childhood, and the suggested pathways associated with entering prostitution (i.e. the selling of sex). Of course, this statement shifts the focus from the real argument, and can turn this point into a new argument about whether prostitution is equivalent to participating in pornography. I would suggest looking up the legal definition of prostitution, which states very simply that prostitution is "the act of offering one's self for hire to engage in sexual relations."
Because you are a prude -- or a total slut -- and you didn't have a good handle on your own sexuality. Your lack of self-knowledge may have led you to inadequately educate your daughter about sex, either teaching an abstinence only or laissez-faire approach. Statistics on abstinence-only programs show this approach to be ineffective. And if you divorced, letting the men (or women) you subsequently dated run in and out of your life (and your daughter's life) taught her that significant others, and people in general, are exchangeable. Kids need the truth about sex, and reliable sources of adult support and attachment. This article addresses the issues in both point four and five.
Because you let her watch insane amounts of television. There is a cost to letting the media raise your children. Even an hour over the average 72 minutes most children watch per day can cause great damage.
Because you gave her a smartphone when she was 10, and now she takes awesome #selfies all day. With every picture she takes to post to her social media sites, she becomes less sensitive to the idea of her images floating around on the web. Studies show that higher social media use is correlated with narcissism. Sexting is a booming practice, and a gateway technology usage that might lead to appearances on Internet porn sites. You can be fairly certain that your daughter has either thought about sexting, or has friends who do it.
Because her friends want to be porn stars, Playboy models, the Bachelorette or any other exaggerated and hyper-sexualized version of a real woman, and you aren't close to her friends. When a child has excessive contact with her peers and loses touch with safe adult attachments, the likelihood increases that she will become an addict, as mentioned in addiction specialist Dr. Gabor Maté's recent book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. I think it's possible that the problems arising from being raised by her peers can also lead to other harmful and immediately gratifying behaviors, like participating in porn.
Because you never showed her a healthy way to fill the spiritual void that is quintessentially human. Isn't it interesting that girls leave porn because they've found religion? It happens every day, even to girls who were considered to be "the world's hottest porn star." Money, sexual exploration, and false adoration didn't provide personal fulfillment like spirituality did.
Because you did the best you could to raise her right... but it wasn't enough.

Follow Jennifer Ketcham on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/becomingjennie

Check for more of these good reads http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-ketcham/why-your-daughter-wants-t_b_3813727.html

Temporary tattoos are not traditionally considered must-have back-to-school shopping items — but that could change. This year, some students with severe allergies are returning to class with their medical issues stamped on their skin for their own protection.

More on Shine: Ladylike Tattoos: Are They a Thing?

“Right now there's a huge awareness, whether because of going back to school or because of the recent incident in California,” SafetyTat founder and mother of three Michele Welsh told Yahoo! Shine. Welsh was referring to the recent tragic death of a 13-year-old girl with a peanut allergy at a Sacramento summer camp. “Unfortunately it sometimes takes something like that for people to say, 'Wow, it really can happen.'"

More on Yahoo!: Girl Dies After Allergic Reaction to Camp Treat

Welsh created her 5-year-old company—offering products that include temporary tattoos and long-lasting, write-on skin stickers—after using a ballpoint pen to nervously scrawl her cell phone number on her kids’ arms at a crowded amusement park, in case they got separated, and realizing it was maybe not the best way to go about it.

The moment made her think of other dangers lurking for kids, and how having an actual warning label on the body could be useful to other parents, too—like her sister-in-law, who is mom to a boy with a fatal peanut allergy. "He had spent so much time in the hospital as a toddler, that his mom had begun limiting his time outside the home because she was so fearful," Welsh said. When she created the tattoos and he wore one to a school trip, the response was immediate, alerting a food server who double checked the ingredient of his salad dressing only to discover it contained peanut oil. "His mom told me, 'It's almost like I'm there with him, reminding people,'" she added.

Peanut Free Zone is another company making temporary allergy-alert tattoos. Also, AllerMates makes wristbands, stickers and dog tags that alert caregivers to allergies.

On SafetyTat's Facebook page, a Florida mom noted, “Made sure my daughter had her safety tat on as she is with 110 camp kids headed to Sea World today!!”

Another wrote, “We recently used them for the first time during our trip to New York. Our son is a toddler and has a severe peanut allergy, so having my number on him and an alert for his allergy on him is important to me."

But not everyone is a fan of the tattoo. A recent Slate article on the phenomenon of children wearing warning labels raised the issue of bullying, questioning whether the added attention would make them targets of childhood cruelty. It was a concern echoed by American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology spokesperson, allergist Kevin McGrath. "A lot of kids do get bullied at school about their food allergies, so there is some concern about whether this might give more ammunition to kids," McGrath told Yahoo! Shine. Still, he said the tattoos "may just be another thing to make parents feel more confident when sending their children off to a party or picnic or class trip." He also recommends medical-alert bracelets and having a "game plan," such as an EpiPen, in case something does happen.

The Slate article also mused that, for the tattoos to be truly successful, the current designs would need a cooler makeover.
“The solution, we think, is to make allergy tattoos look more like real tattoos,” wrote L.V. Anderson. “The SafetyTat design…is easy-to-read and pragmatic, sure, but I don’t know any 7-year-olds who would clamor to plaster their bodies with it. If kids are going to voluntarily wear them, allergy tattoos should be bigger and far less tasteful than SafetyTat’s offerings. How about … a very arty strawberry dripping with blood for your neck? Or a cartoon of Mr. Peanut throttling somebody? The vulgar possibilities are endless.”

Welsh had heard that criticism. Joking aside, she told Yahoo! Shine, "These are mainly for younger children who can't communicate for themselves. But we do need to build some aesthetic back in there, and, for the older kids, something hipper would be great." As for the bullying concern, she noted, "If I had to choose fatal exposure over being harassed by kids, I would choose safety as my No. 1 concern."