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You can tell, from very early in the life of a child, how he will be later in life. Of our kids, one does not mind collared shirts and the other one never wants anything touching his neck.

I have met some people in life who hate neckties. I have never minded ties and have often thought that those people who do not like ties are tying them too tight and that’s why they don’t like them. I mean, if you tie them right, they should not constrict or restrict your breathing at all.

But then our second child started talking. And picking out his own clothes. And overruling mom’s clothing choices. And vetoing anything that touched his neck. Anytime we approach him with a collared shirt, he starts insisting that we do not button anything near his neck. He doesn’t need to object, because he is so ticklish around his neck that it is impossible to get him to hold still enough to fasten any buttons anyway.

At our vacation, we had to wear wristbands. The facilities are open to registered guests only, and the wristbands are the means by which they can tell the registered guests from the unregistered guests. I think the term should really be “unregistered people”, since “unregistered guests” would not be guests.

Our child’s objection to restrictive clothing is not limited to his neck, or to clothing for that matter. As soon as we got back from any activities, he took off his wristband. That became something we had to check whenever we left the room: “sunscreen? towels? wristband?”

I expect that, when he gets to be an adult, his career will not be one that requires him to wear either a suit and tie or a wristband.

“thus says the LORD to me–‘Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck,’ ”
– Jeremiah 27:2