Last night on the news and ACA I saw where 'padded' bras were being made for girls as young as 6. Clothes and accessories are styled to be 'sexy' and 'cool' and little girls are being made into objects of desire.
There was a fear voiced that paedophiles would be encouraged to see these little girls as desirable, which to me only goes to show how naive and uninformed these people are. If anything it will target them as sexually desirable to straight men. Paedophiles like their victims more lacking in sexual characteristics. Almost sex-less. Making little girls look older is only going to encourage attention from older boys or young men who see these little girls as more teen aged. Either way these little girls are not encouraged to stay 'little girls' who like to play with Barbie Dolls, dressup like 'princesses' and 'fairies' and just BE 'Little Girls'. Goodness, we are a long long time 'grown up' so let the little kids under say 14 or 15, be little kids... because it is all too fleeting.
What are your thoughts and it doesn't just have to be about little girls.

Yes. Inspiration for all this is drawn from things like the (slutty) Bratz dolls and the 'oh look at me' Barbie dolls. I think even the clothing is making the little girls look skankier (excuse the strong language), and I think it's not right.

Definately....its quite sickening actually...

I think its not so much that they are encouraged but more so with todays enviroment and culture and the need for them to grow up quickly.

But thats just my thought.

I'll say! You see these bratty kids in like year 5, wearing makeup and mini skirts etc with mobile
phones and all. They get really b!tchy and snobby that young! When I was in year 5 we played like tag and stuff at lunch!

My 5 almost 6 year old friend is a beautiful 'little girl'. Before she began school she went to a day care centre for a couple of years. Some of her little girl friends were bratty, stuck up, had to have the latest everything. She no longer has contact with those girls and goes to a different school. Next monday is a dress up day and she is going as a fairy all in pink. She told me last night that ALL the kids were going as fairies and I said 'I bet the boys aren't' and she said 'no... they are going as Princes' and I said 'Just as it should be'! She still goes to bed surrounded by her babies (soft toys, baby dolls and bears) you can hardly tell where she is amongst all of them. They are only little kids for a little while, let them enjoy it.

Do you recommend having kids? I always thought about what it would be like... anyone have any information for me?

Reading the headlines every day, seeing how depraved mankind is, all the war, the fear etc... it can only get worse as the years go by. Who wants to bring kids into a world like that?

Meanwhile, any parent who buys their little girl a padded bra must have rocks for brains! And SHAME on the fashion designers for designing them, and the retailers for selling them! Let kids be kids! Let them dress like kids, not like little prostitutes! And while we're at it, SHAME on the creators of those hiddious Brats dolls! Have you seen the Brats babies? They look like babies, but they're dressed in leather, knee high boots and revolting goth makeup. SICK, SICK SICK!

Simpson, I sadly sell those every weekend

And how about that 1800 Reverse ad, where the girl (who looks to be 13 or 14) got a tatoo. That's just not cool.

I can't stand that BRATZ crap, on one of my daughters birthday she was given a Bratz Game, all I heard for a solid week was the head throbbing sound track  , it was a insult to music, honestly it gave asprin a headache, just for fun my oldest daughter put it on my mobile phone and then called me at work. My fellow workers wondered what the hell was going on when I was mouthing off at the phone  

Quoted from normangerman

And how about that 1800 Reverse ad, where the girl (who looks to be 13 or 14) got a tatoo. That's just not cool.

I know!! When I first saw the ad, I was thinking 'hmmm, wonder where this is going?' I thought maybe it was going to be one of those medical ads that shows what happens when you get a tat from a dirty place and it gets infected.

I wonder if you can invest in the medical removal of tats? Actually, what I want to invest in is the reversal of those nasty earrings that stretch the hole in the lobe. Can't you just see in about 15 years, all the idiots who permanantly stretched their earlobes wanting it reversed so their lobes look normal again?!

But back on topic, do you rekon the girls are being made to grow up faster than the boys? I think so, but then, do boys ever grow up?!

SuziH, I meant to say in my other post that I am one of these uninformed ppl who thought padded bras on little girls = target for peadophiles. I found your comments useful. I don't know much about how a peadophile ticks, and I would have a very hard time learning about them because the topic brings up so much anger and disgust in me...

Eww yuck yeah simpson, people at my school have the huge earlobes, it's so gross!
Lol norman I like that ad
Eww brats are ew! Skanky things!
My 9 year old sister is sorta a snob I reckon, she's alright lol but she can be a snob. My 6 yr old sis isn't really but she can be bratty sometimes. But mainly the 5 and 6 yr olds still act like kids (in regards to ur post suzi) it's like 7 or 8 when they turn into snobs.

Quoted from Simpson

But back on topic, do you rekon the girls are being made to grow up faster than the boys? I think so, but then, do boys ever grow up?!

SuziH, I meant to say in my other post that I am one of these uninformed ppl who thought padded bras on little girls = target for peadophiles. I found your comments useful. I don't know much about how a peadophile ticks, and I would have a very hard time learning about them because the topic brings up so much anger and disgust in me...

I read books on criminology like a sponge, I just soak them up. I believe that if we are to live safely and well in this world of ours we cannot go around with our heads in the sand, we must be well informed and well armed (with knowledge). I detest what paedophiles and sex abusers do. Someone very close to me was sexually abused by her Father and it took her 45 years after the long term sexual abuse ended for her to tell her family, including her husband. It answered a lot of questions as to why she had the personality she did.
The safer we can keep our children the better. We must be aware there are weirdos out there who WILL enjoy little girls dressing like tarts and being provocative. As I type this all I can see in my mind is JonBenet Ramsey singing on stage, a 6 year old looking and acting like an adult, having missed out on her childhood.

I watched my 'ex-bestfriend' (long story) dress her 3 and a half year old girl in knee-high boots, mini-skirts and tank-tops (just like she dressed), this was in 2000. The issue of over-sexualisastion of children has been around since Brittany Spears pranced around in a school uniform and pig-tails singing oops i did it again! I feel that the fashion industry - the usual suspect - is to blame here. This industry promotes eating disorders, drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, and an ageless beauty that always seems to be a around the ripe old age of 13. Parents need to make their voices heard, boycott these merchants of sleaze and robbers of innocents!!
The choice is up to the parent at the end of the day!!

I think kids are dressing inapropriately a lot these days. Unfortunately they seem to be getting a lot less grown up when it comes to real adult stuff like accepting responsibility. This is leaving them very vunerable to falling prey to sick pervs and the like!

This is relevant to the poll question.  She's 2 days off being 13.  Is she too young?

Fashion Week defends use of 12yo model

Organisers of Gold Coast Fashion Week have rejected criticism of their decision to promote a 12-year-old girl as the face of the event.

Grade 8 student Maddison Gabriel has been named as ambassador for the event, despite industry moves to ban girls under 16 from modelling on adult catwalks.

Fashion week spokeswoman Kelly Wheiler says young people have a right to pursue their careers.

"We are not here to exploit young people here at all but actually to promote and encourage young people to follow their dreams for their future, and that is what we are trying to do with Maddison and we wish her all of the luck," she said.

"Maddison will be a photographic model and she will not be a ramp model so she will be shown in couture clothes.

"She will not be wearing any bikini lines and we actually don't have a problem with that."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/14/2032656.htm

Good lord, the girl's only 12! Kids should NOT be sexualised at such a young age by the modelling industry. I think it would be appropriate to allow persons aged 16 years and over to model, but no younger than that.

Quoted Text

"We are not here to exploit young people here at all but actually to promote and encourage young people to follow their dreams for their future,

Then she should be honing her modelling abilities in private. Save the "sexy" photo shoots for when she's a little older.

Yes they are.

This girl is made up to look older. Its her 13th birthday today.
She may well want to be a model, most young girls do....its up to her parents and society to protect her, until she is an adult.

I have no problem with her being a model for childrens clothing etc....

Well yes, they are off to school now at 4 years old. (Queensland)

The Government pays no child care benefits after they turn 13, so obviously the government considers it fine for them to be "home alone" at that age.

There is talk of parents having no rights to see children 15 and overs medical records, so obviously those with this mindset  think 15 year olds can make life changing decisions, or even life and death decisions on their own.

Yes we push responsibility on to them at younger and younger ages.

Quoted from Candy

Yes they are.

This girl is made up to look older. Its her 13th birthday today.
She may well want to be a model, most young girls do....its up to her parents and society to protect her, until she is an adult.

I have no problem with her being a model for childrens clothing etc....

Only question I have is the parents, of these children whom are young models made up to look older, would they have a problem with someone "hitting on" their child?

I thought this news article fitted perfectly here.  This woman is spot on with her comments.

In defence of the humble bunny
By author and educator Maggie Dent

Posted 40 minutes ago
Updated 19 minutes ago

As Easter comes speeding towards us, I invite you to be kinder to the humble Easter Bunny (or Bilby if you are a patriotic Australian.) Yes it's a creation of the commercial world, but heck, childhood is fast disappearing down the rabbit hole of DVDs, customised Bob the Builder and Barbie laptops, and electronic gadgetry.

Our children's imaginations are being starved faster than Victoria Beckham on her daily lettuce leaf. Healthy imagination is essential for flexible thinking, creativity and great gift-buying as adults, and it all starts with babies and toddlers.

When adults buy bright plastic toys to stimulate their wee one's brain, they are starving the imagination that grows from playing in Mum's tupperware cupboard. This is the same imagination that overjoys in tipping out a peg basket while Mum or Dad hangs out washing and playing with discarded wrapping paper.

Traditional fairy stories are being given the flick by many modern parents because mean things happen. Take Hansel and Gretel, for example. It is pretty scary stuff with Hansel being stuck in a cage to be fattened up the wicked witch so she can eat him.

However, even her house made of gingerbread and lollies does not stop these two creative children from working out how to overcome her evil antics. Yes it is awful when they bundle her into the oven and presumably kill her. The deeper message of the story is classic - good can conquer evil and overcome adversity by planning and perseverance. Would today's imagination-starved children be able to overcome the wicked witch, metaphorically?

So Santa and the humble Easter Bunny are excellent ways to allow children to live in a child's world protected and insulated from adult stuff. It is inappropriate that children know about mortgage stress, their parents' lousy sex lives or frigid relationships between emotionally challenged family members - there's plenty of time for all that.

Kids need to think these mystical creatures are real, to allow their delicate minds to wait eagerly for those days of the year when these larger-than-life characters arrive with stuff kids love to have and especially eat.

The Easter egg hunt is still very popular in our family even though my four sons initially look at me as though I have lost the plot. As these six-foot spunks start searching the yard, the four-year-old inner child comes out and before long the race is on with rugby tackles and cries of "it's not fair." My sons remember the many times they have enjoyed the egg hunt - and the eager waiting for weeks before.

Waiting is a key ingredient of the magic of having these important imaginary characters in our children's lives.

Children need to know about anticipation and the use of gratification as a behaviour modification tool because one day they will use it themselves, when they become parents.

They also need to know about excess - that awful pain in the belly when one has eaten all those eggs. All these experiences teach us about life.

Without imaginary legends and characters, we starve vital parts of the brain and create boring thinking patterns based solely on logic and rational thought.

Healthy imaginations build protective factors that build resilience later in life.

The "seeking mechanism" in the brain is developed early in life in close partnership with the imagination. Later in life, this mechanism allows us to change soul-destroying jobs, leave toxic relationships and strive to overcome serious illness or disability. They have the capacity to dream of something better and that possibility acts as an impulse for positive change.

So this year as you wander the aisles in your supermarket don't curse the commercialism of Easter. Know that it's not about the size or number of eggs; what's important to kids is the imaginary character who brings them.

Let our kids be kids. Sure, one day they will be bitterly disappointed when they learn things aren't always as they seem. But that bitter pill also prepares them to manage those other things that will appear in their lives - mortgage stress, lousy sex lives and family dramas.

Maggie Dent (http://www.maggiedent.com) is an author and educator, specialising in parenting and resiliency. Her latest book, Real Kids in an Unreal World: how to build resilience and self esteem in today's children.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/11/2540866.htm

Thanks Paula thats a great article. Instant gratification is such a big part of life in this society nowadays. It's here ...I want it now. Often to be 'over it' the next day or disappointed, or wanting more. No one has time to wait for things and credit cards have helped this thinking/feeling. Instant grafication is half the reason drugs have made such an impact on people. I want to feel great right now.

I have been thinking about changing the Thread Title from Are Children encouraged to be Grown up Earlier?
to "Are there demands put on children to grow up earlier?"

Maggie Dent is a wonderful insightful sensible woman.

The crap my 8 year old surrogate grand daughter has (Bratz Crap, Miley Cyrus, copywritten clothing and accessories)and watches (music videos like Pussycat Dolls) and plays (DS, Wii, Playstation) games including Grand Theft Auto
Living in the same house as her has opened my eyes. Her Aunt, who she used to share a house with told her she was sexy from the age of 4... now what is THAT?

Quoted from SuziH

Her Aunt, who she used to share a house with told her she was sexy from the age of 4... now what is THAT?

What the heck Whose aunt calls them sexy, let alone when they're 4   

I've been noticing alot of 'kids' lately appearing quite a bit older than their years. 15 & 16 year olds who look well over 18 and some I would swear were in their 20's. Many with life experiences and confidence in things none of my peers had at their age. Youth ID cards are definately needed nowadays, there is just no way to know any more.

ONLY in America?
Yesterday while watching one of the shows I love from the USA I was horrified.
There were several stories in the 60 minutes of the program but the one that got to me was a darling little girl who looked like a living doll. The running theme of the program was "Biggest mistakes you don't know you're making"

Her young mother says...

Quoted Text

“When my daughter, Mary, won her first pageant when she was 16 months old, we really got locked in,” says Amber.

Amber’s mother-in-law, Karen, doesn’t feel comfortable with the image her granddaughter projects in the pageants. “The clothes that they wear are very short, glitzy, sexually provocative. It could attract pedophiles,” she says. "If you feel a child can perform like that, put them in acting class, not as a spectacle.”

"[Mary] loves playing dress up and having her hair done,” Amber says. Holding a hairpiece aloft, she says, "This is a mini wiglet. Usually, it’s styled. It’s curly, and you put it up on top."

"Does a 2-year-old really need fake hair? Does she really need a lot of makeup? Why can’t the child just be a child?” Karen asks.


Amber admits that she buys acrylic nails and spray tans for the tot. Rummaging through a bag of makeup, she says, “We have lip liner, and we add sparkles.”

"I love sparkle lips!" Mary says.

“My greatest fears are what values Mary will end up with. Does everything have to be perfect? Let’s say she has a crooked tooth. Does she have to immediately go get it fixed?” Karen asks rhetorically.

“I have considered getting the fake pageant teeth," Amber says. "I love the pageant experience as much as Mary does."

http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/1360

Doctor Phil was horrified also and told her that she was ruining her child.

Coming soon...

America's Next Top Foetus

Hah SG
Tasman, you're right -

17!

OH MY GOD

I'm listening to songs from a CD from when I was like 10 (NOW that's what I call music FIVE)
and this song is OMG
Well I didn't turn into a whore

But woah never noticed this before xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae1WFZek03o

HA! Dara, that is hilarious what you wrote. I watched the video awful but exactly what the little girl I shared a house with last year has been watching those kinds of videos all her life and dancing to them, she is now 8.

Dara!! Wonder what you make of those lyrics back then