.....about girls' clothes by Rebecca Hagelin can be found HERE.
Excerpt:
Face the facts: Most 12 - 16 year olds don't have access to a lot of cash - unless, of course, their parents give it to them. And, last I heard, if you're below the age of 16 you simply can't hop in a car and drive yourself to the local mall. Nope, it's not the kids' money that is being spent, it's the parents' money. And it's usually the mom that happily drives the little darlings to the mall for a fun day of shopping. Face it: Little girls dress according to what their mommies allow.
I thought mothers were supposed to protect their daughters, to teach them to value themselves and their bodies. What chance does a little girl stand of keeping her childhood or innocence intact when it's mommy that's driving her to the store and paying for the thongs, the itty-bitty skirts, the hipster jeans and the plunging necklines?
And when did fathers start letting their precious little girls dress like "ladies of the night"?
Hello, is anybody out there?
Parents, here's a novel challenge: Be the parents.
it's simply another sign of poor pathetic women who are terrified of growing older living vicariously through their little girls. it's pathetic, sicko and sad.
I absolutely agree with the article. We've got strict clothing rules here - even for the little babies, we don't allow bikinis, bare bellies and the like. Being the parent of a preteen boy, I am especially aware of the current state of undress. I am trying to encourage all my kids to remember that their choice of dress can become an occasion of sin for others.
I agree up to a point but with reservations. Some of the teen girls clothing that my daughter has got herself are modest and attractive from Valley girl and several other teen shops. She is fairly well developed at 10 and the Holly hobby look she could get away with at 8 or so is no long appropriate with the frills and party dresses. She has left the little girl look behind two years ago and wants to be wearing some of the gear her friends sport. I think you can tread a line between modesty and commonsense with the teen clothing available to girls.
What is sillier im my book are the very conservative Christina women who go for a style of what I consider to be real frump. Many want to return to an era of Victorian history and wear little house on the priarie clothes that are fussy and rather hideous. In my very conservative parish, we have one woman who is ultraconservative and has her 11 year old wearing babyish dresses that do not suit her and all her girls wear long sleeves in the summer because short sleeves and bare arms drive men to lust according to her. I asked my husband do the bare arms of a ten year old girl drive you to lust? I think he thought I had gone silly. Another wears a long skirt over jeans because in her view this constitutes womanliness So either extreme of either looking like a street walker or some etching out of a victorian women's magazine is silly. You need to be part of your current time and dress accordigly.
karnak, i understand your point but i think of those people like i think of amish people, they are willing to look so absolutely "queer" (in the old use of the word, trying to reclaim it)to the world in order to live out what they believe. i couldn't wear a skirt over jeans but i sure admire some one willing to do it.