The night before shopping day, our home invariably becomes an arena for heated arguments and counterarguments about the best types of clothes for our children. As conservatives, brought up by very strict parents whose dress codes were largely prescribed by the church, my wife and I don't speedily subscribe to most of today's fashion trends. "We don't want to sanction you to move around naked," we always warn the girls.

This is what the girls themselves have to say about it:

Music, film stars major trendsetters

"Nowadays most children's dressing is largely influenced by popular musicians and film stars who they adore on television, on the internet and in magazines from the west. They love the likes of Beyoncé and Madonna and try to imitate them from A to Z. They are crazy about tight, low-cut jeans and trousers, mini-skirts and any dropping gear. They don't even sit down properly among elders and other respectable people at home and at church, as if they want to deliberately display all their private wares. I take it as disrespectful and unAfrican," laments concerned Rejoice Dube, a Harare youth adviser.

Africanness has nothing to do it, is the response of the young ones, who wonder why their parents are so concerned about today's fashion when African forefathers across the continent moved around almost naked as seen in most historical books and movies.

More disappointments for the conservatives and male chauvinists occur when elderly women also seemingly move with the times and go for the latest fashion. As a frequent traveller, each time the plane touches down and grinds to a halt at different airports, I am almost certain to gaze at women's buttocks of all shapes, sizes and colour, especially when the possessors bring down their hand luggage from overhead lockers above them, courtesy of popular low-cut jeans, trousers and tummy tops also displaying the belly button!

Preacher's dress code unpopular

When one preacher recently tried to convince our congregation about an appropriate dress code, he was booed at by most youngsters and was later privately cautioned by some parents to leave their children to wear what they like. He was advocating for a regular church uniform or a complete return to long skirts and big blouses as in the past.

Why should boys braid, plait and pierce?

Regarding boys and young men, the contentious issues revolve around wanting to drop their shorts and trousers as if they have just released some faeces.

"What's so attractive to our young boys about plaiting or braiding their hair and piercing their ears like women. Do they want to attract other men in order to be dated? I also wonder why they like drawing tattoos, having tongue and belly-rings besides deliberately going for torn jeans. I find modern children very confused indeed but at times we parents are to blame because we expose them to these nonsensical things and don't reprimand them when they get very attracted to alien stuff" taxi driver Rangu Nyarambi complains.

We have struck an excellent deal with our daughters. They now understand that we also appreciate some of their trendy clothes but stay away from the extreme ones. They become elated and often remark, 'Mom and Dad you are with it', when they find themselves ahead of their peers after we bring them some fashionable, but decent clothes during our overseas travels.