As a primary school teacher I see offensive t-shirts on a regular basis. Our school insists that the child turn the shirt inside out. and a phone call is made to the parent. The companies who make these shirts stay in business because people buy them. It is a matter of economics. Stop buying them

Kim Righetti, Upland, Calif. USA

Most people who buy these can't actually read anyway, other than to order from a McDonald's menu (or do those have pictures?) or a Humvee dealership. As incomes and standards of living rise, why do the beneficiaries rejoice by giving two fingers to civility, manners and common decency?

George Haig Brewster, New York, USA

"Younger hipper parents are looking for something that's not the same, that has a little more attitude."

Attitude, oh yes, that'd be what we have to endure from the foul-mouthed, socially aggressive youths who infest our streets and public transport.
The parents who put this stuff on their kids are no better than these yobs. They should be discouraged from breeding, not given more opportunities to express themselves.
Yet another indication of where society is taking itself.

Paul, Nottingham, UK

Just more proof that people should have to pass an exam before being allowed the privilage of having children.

Where do these imbeciles come from? Any parent buying their five-year-old a t-shirt reading 'I enjoy a good spanking' should be locked up for child sexual abuse.

Ian, London, England

my daughter is a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome. While everyone puts these shirts on their children, my child, lay *dead* in a deep dark hole on this earth because someone shook her. It is sickening that people actually find these shirts humorous. It makes me ill. A life is LOST, but I guess that goes for most.. we will convict a man of beating his dog, on the spot, but have to "investigate" the beating of a defenseless child...

I guess when tragedy strikes these families, then they will understand.

Grieving Mother, Sarasota, FL

This is another example of our societies increasing inability to keep ourselves to ourselves. Whether its politics, music, emotional state, or the fact we are "..on the bus.." we feel a need to roll down our mental window and blast our taste to the world.
If you want my opinion I will give it. If you want to know my sense of humour say something funny. I won't tell you if I give to charity or like old skool hip hop unless it come up in conversation or invite you out for a dance. Your children are not your billboard and you haven't really got 1500 friends on myspace.

Stephen, London,

"You feed them trash------ they grow up trash"

jerym eedy, caerphilly, uk

Hideous to use your children as billboards for your own purposes, agreed. It just seems a little sinister to me, children are not accessories.

That said, people use their children as spokespersons for all kinds of things, most worryingly religious convictions. Very rarely do you read articles on this breach of a child´s innocence and objectivity.

Mat Dryhurst, Berlin,

Vile and disgusting, these parents should grow up and 'parent'. This reeks of desperation in the quest for cool.. The idea that it's okay to print an offensive or suggestive slogan on a child's t-shirt because the child can't read it is quite depraved. Children have rights.

Carrie, Manchester, England

"But if you're confronted with a child in an offensive T-shirt, you should above all remember your own manners. "It would be rude to negatively comment"

I disagree. Putting a comment on a t-shirt is the same as making it vocally; it forces others to see/hear it and therefore makes it fair game for comment. In fact it's rude in that it makes others feel uncomfortable. I'd say something like "oh dear, that's not very pleasant to look at".

S Burns, Cardiff, Wares

jail humor tees do indicate the callousnes and made-light-of-illegality so common today. i would prefer this bunk off the racks and out of kids' lives.

oliver, bern, switzerland

What kind of parent buys a young child a T-shirt with suggestive slogans printed on it?

Alan, London,

disappointing. Our most vulnerable used as objects for humor. what next t-shirts for mentally handicapped or alzhimers patients.
As an anthropologist, I offer the following. You can learn a lot from a society by how it treats its most vulnerable members. the "cool" irony and sardonic humour of our era combined with our need to show it is an interesting shift in the society. It is most likely not for the better.

Nick Gogerty, forest hills new york, united states

It's a bit too far. I can't even go into a Sears or JC Penney's and shop for clothes for my 11 year old daughter without seeing this offensive clothing. Thongs or pre-pubescent Girls, Short Skirts, Jeans with no waist lines, and of course over the top tee shirts. When I dress my daughter up to go to school or just out I don't want her to look like a whore or a biker, but the beutiful and polite young lady that she is.

Paul Bahre, Granby, USA, CT