Last week I ran to the mall on my lunch hour to pick up a white button down for Baby Girl. Monday was the 50th day of school so they allowed the kids to dress up in the 50′s style. I wanted to do something simple since the previous week they had pajama day, 70′s day, camo day and scarecrow day (Red Ribbon week and Halloween).
I bought a shirt from the boys department at JCPenny. I figure I can reuse it for Bud when he gets to be that size (in like 10 years). I decided to walk over to the girls department to see if anything was on sale. A while back I wrote about the style of clothes I prefer for Baby Girl and the places I shop for her so imagine my surprise when I saw this sexy little red number in the GIRL’S department:
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| What party is this appropriate for? |
Or what about this body hugging dress in black and blue:
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| Prom or grade school? |
And imagine my surprise when I saw this silver dress and turned around, literally, and saw its big sister in the junior’s department:
Where exactly is it appropriate for a five year old, or heck even a seven or eight or ten year old, to wear these dresses? I can tell you where. NO where.
It is time for designers to quit tarting up our children, but they aren’t going to do it until we demand it. When we stop buying these types of clothes and let them know that we want age appropriate clothing. When we tell them to stop sexualizing our daughters and let them be children. When we pass over clothes designed for (older) teens and grown women, and pick the ones that are designed for children. That is when this will stop.
For all of our daughter’s sake I hope it is soon.
{ 20 comments }
I completely agree with you! I have three daughters and I want them to wear clothes that are cute and comfortable. I do not want my little girls to be "sexed up". It makes me sad when I see children who are dressed in modern trends which sexualize them.
I know that I am doing a good job because almost every time we are out in public, little old ladies stop to compliment my children on their clothes. What's better for their self-esteem than that?
That's the one thing I am glad I don't have to deal with. I have a lot of nieces and it's been hard to find them clothes at times.
When my oldest niece was 16 (she's now 22), she had a nice body. She was a dancer, so very lean, but also filled out in all the right places. They could NOT find her a bathing suit for anything that year. Everything was sexy. It's such a shame.
What happened to petticoats? (definitely showing my age now) agree with all–
I'm with you! Our girls need to be able to feel like respectable young ladies. Not hoochies. It's even more difficult now that my oldest daughter is almost 13 and filling out. As we walked around the neighborhood trick-or-treating this weekend, I couldn't believe how some parents allowed their girls to leave the house. Even my daughter was saying how awful it was!
I'm definitely glad that I don't have to deal with this! It is crazy- let litle girls be LITTLE!
Ugh.. I am not looking forward to this. Thankfully, Zoe is small for her age and still in the "baby" clothes which are more appropriate. I do remember a friend telling me she was shopping for her 4 year old's school clothes and couldn't find regular rise jeans. They were all low rise. Really? for a 4 year old?
That makes me CRAZY!
I guess I will be making trips to UTAH for clothes since Mormons don't tart up their kids.
This drives me crazy too! And now that I have a new baby girl, I'm even more aware of it!
"tarting" them up is SOOO accurate!
My stepdaughter(age 6) is drawn to that crap. IT IS A NO GO IN OUR HOUSE!
My husband and I are pretty conservative –read traditional–and we found that with Halloween costumes this year, it was a big deal too. Trying to explain about dressing up in a costume –not as a teenager in a short dress. UGH!
Love this post!
Its horrible!! I'm so gald that the students at my school wore uniforms. I can't stand how everything is skimpy and shimmery and revealing. Little kids need to be little kids.
I agree with you. I don't want Claire to be dressy sexy at the age of 5 or 25 for that matter but I don't really see anything wrong with those dresses that you posted especially if you make modifications. Life for the red dress get a little black sweater. The blue dress would be super cute with leggings underneath and the last one would be awesome with a long sleeve white shirt and jeans.
For me, its all about the compromise.
I know what you mean. But, I do like that last dress, if it was worn with a shirt underneath and leggings. The girls version, not juniors. I am so glad leggings are fashionable though, so I can make up for the ridiculously short dresses out there.
SERIOUSLY.
I have the hardest time finding clothes for my girls.
This was a great post! It reminded me of the conversation we had at Pappadeaux's. I think we were talking about a Glee episode or the Glee cast dressing all ho-like. I hope more people will read your blog and get a clue!
I was shocked (and felt like a total prude) when I saw what most of the HOs, I mean young ladies, were wearing to Homecoming this year. They are wearing things way to short, incredibly tight, and sheeeeeeer.
I may send my daughter to the Homecoming dance in an Amish frock by the time she gets to high school.
As the mother of 3 daughters ages 12, 11 and 8 I totally feel your pain. My oldest is as tall as me and both the 11 and 12 are so hard to fit in "normal" clothes. It's so hard to explain why I think something is "too grownup" when they are asking "then why is it in my size?". So frustrating! But encouraging to hear other moms in the dressing rooms say "see, I'm not the only mom who thinks that outfit is too grownup".
I totally agree! Recently, my daughter has transitioned from the toddler section to the girls section, and I am in shock. I HATE so much of the clothing that I see. Why do we want our kids to grow up any faster than necessary?
Could not agree with you more. It makes me glad I have sons, I won't have to deal with it, but honestly some of the things I see parents let their little girls wear are crazy. And it's not because of the little boys, don't they realize that sexualizing little girls draws attention from older boys, men even? Aside from being inappropriate for a little girl to be dressed like a woman.
You know, we had a billboard out here in Katy recently that offended me. It was for Katy Magazine, which is a total family publication, and on the cover was a little girl of maybe 5 or 6? With makeup on, obvious lipstick…what the hell? Why did they need to put makeup on a little girl to put her on the cover of a family magazine? It's our culture, and the only way it will stop is if the parents stop buying that garbage and stop tarting up their daughters for beauty contests and cheerleading, dance class, etc.
Sorry…rant off!
Standing up an applauding!!
I have two girls and I so agree with you! And parents buy them because they think they're "cute". I have another word for it — and it ain't cute.
I seriously wonder if manufacturers take the clothes they make, and then PUT THEM ON CHILDREN to see what they look like. I mean, seriously, how can they think that's right???
Just found this post when looking for something… anyway, this type of style for young girls has been going on for a LOOONG time, IMHO. When my daughter was getting confirmed 12 years ago when she was 13, we were looking for a dress and I had a heck of a time finding something that didn't have spaghetti straps or strapless. FINALLY found something acceptable, but I was major frustrated.
Then when said daughter was in Hight School, the style was was short tops and skin showing. Uggh… now that she's older she can't imagine she ever liked that stuff.
Thanks for a great post!
lee
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