Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Toddlers, tiaras and total digust!

Sometimes I am so glad I don't have a daughter. I was reading Good Housekeeping this morning and they had a very long piece on young girls and beauty pageants, alla Toddlers and Tiaras. And may I just say, I am now ill.

$3,000 for a custom dress? Hours in hair and make up and hair extensions? Thousands spent to win a stupid tiara and a few hundred bucks? What is wrong with these mothers?

And I am talking about the little girls, like 10 and under, as young as a few months old! These girls are winking and blowing kisses at the judges. Like the article says, while these little cuties have no idea what their really doing, it is teaching them that flirty behavior gets them what they want. Another point they made that I had never thought of was that it is teaching them a sexual action without any emotional connection. Causing a disconnect between flirting and any real feelings. It's just a tool.

And it's not just pageants. Have you seen the clothes marketed to kids? Push up padded bikini tops for 8 year olds? "Teacher's Pet" on KIDS UNDERWEAR? Seriously? And that video awhile back with the 4 or so year olds doing a Coyote Ugly-Esque dance routine at a mall? Everyone thought it was "So cute" and harmless, but what do you tell those kids when they dance like that at 14 at a dance with boys drooling after them? Used to fine, why not now?

And while I am glad I don't have a daughter with friends going through all this, I am worried because I have 2 boys who are going to be exposed to this stuff at a younger age as well. And if this is how the kids Vin's age are acting now, how bad will it be in 10 years?

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