About the official issue at hand: I was always under the impression that the only tzniyus for men (besides nakedness) was that they should not reveal more than what is normal in that place (minhag hamakom). In that case, in more yeshivish places it would be a problem to wear shorts, while in more modern places it would be OK.
Sacrilege – “My problem with people making things into “strong chumros” so much so that the lay man (or kids) cant defrentiate them between a chumra and halacha is thats where I believe the Kids-At-Risk comes into play. I’m not trying to get off of this very important topic of shorts or anything.”
I honestly don’t think that many people go off the derech due to the abundance of chumrahs that other people have. I believe the primary cause of the rejection of yiddishkeit CH”V is when a youngster feels forced into going through the motions of Judaism without connecting to the meaning behind it. In other words, I don’t think it matters how many chumros you keep, I think the issue is if you force observance down your child’s (or student’s) throat or if you show them the beauty of yiddishkeit.
Sean Ben Noach – Since the commonly accepted practice is for frum women to wear wigs, I do not think it is considered chukas hagoyim since people do not look at it as a goyish thing. Even those who do not allow wigs do so on tzniyus concerns, not chukas hagoyim. Also, in general we say it is more of problem to actively do something (wear shorts) than it is to not do something (look like your not covering your hair). (Not that I’m saying there is a problem of chukas hagoyim wearing shorts, only that there is even less of a chashash of an issur by shaitels.)