I have a little girl. She's only seven. We have been fortunate to get most of her clothes by way of hand-me-downs from friends. We have nice friends with nice, little girl clothes. It works out well. What we need to supplement, we usually get from Target. They have simple, cute play clothes that last for the 6 months that she usually wears them. While I want her to look cute, I have never felt the need to dress her in designer clothes. After reading Missy's blog the other day, I was shocked and appalled at what is out there for us to put on our little angels.
If you haven't seen "the ad", I suggest you go read this. Not only is it not cute, it is very disturbing. If you have a little girl or know a little girl, you should read this and be incensed. We spend our days and nights wringing our hands over the state of our youth and then we dress them up like this and wonder what is wrong.
Grrr.
4 comments:
That is just sick, sad, and wrong. Fortunately at that age we still have a lot of say over what our little girls wear. Sure, she may insist on wearing the green dress every single day (LOL), but if I don't buy it, it's not in the closet, and it's not an option -- or a problem -- for my daughter. I just hope we don't end up with toddler clothes in the same situation as preteen girls' clothes -- trashy is just about all there is. Sigh.
I suppose I'm pretty lucky to still have a lot of influence over what Anna wears, because we do encounter the occasional inappropriate outfit passed down by a friend or cousin. But also because Anna has a knack for putting together colors that should NEVER, EVER go together, LOL!!
BTW, we finally got over to Granny's and got those clothes. Anna had a lot of fun dressing Sissy up in the little dresses. They're mostly too big, but cute enough to hold on to! ;) Thanks!
The House of Dereon Girls' Collection? The House of the Rising Sun more like it.
I was chatting with one of the guys who used to work under my husband and he told me that he was in a coffee shop/bookstore one night and made eye contact with an attractive girl with a low-cut tube top and hipster jeans. He, being 24, thought she looked very nice and proceeded to go over and try to start up a conversation with her in hopes of getting her phone number. He said that they chatted for a while and so he asked for her phone number. As they traded cell phones to program the numbers, she giggled. Something was odd about her giggle so he asked her how old she was. "Thirteen," she said as she punched her number into his phone. "You're what? Do you realize how old I am? Why didn't you say something? Why are you dressed like that? Why are you here by yourself?" He was very upset and called her parents from her phone (which he had just started to put his number into). She started crying. Apparently she was supposed to be at a friend's house. He told her parents where she was and exactly what had happened. The girl's father came to pick her up and thanked our friend.
He was shaken by the experience. What if she hadn't giggled? She was dressed like a college girl -- not a 13 year old girl. She wore make-up, had developed, and was more than willing to date a 24 year old man. How long before he would have found out?
Clothing makes a statement -- whether people are willing to admit it or not. I worry about these children getting dressed up in suggestive clothing. Not only could it result in embarrassing situations like the one that happened to our friend but what if he'd been a bad guy?
Excellent post!
Lacy
My girls are grown up now but I have worked with preschoolers for over 20 years. Most parents do well but over the past 10 years I have seen far to many that dress their little girls or allow them to dress in a very provacative way. I use to drive past several elementary schools on my way to and from work and question how parents can allow their little girls to dress the way they do(pre uniform days). What has happened to parent control? Stand strong moms and dads. Your little girls need you. Call or email Macy's, it does make a difference.
Sally
Nowadays a lot of parents just don't care anymore. Some would even say "oh it's trendy" or "oh it's the style". WHAT??? My husband and I do not have any kids but if we do, I sure WILL NOT dress them that way. I have a co-worker(who has 2 teenage girls) who would let her daughters wear trampy clothing. She showed me pictures of one of their prom pictures and my jaw dropped. It was one of those V neckline but the front drop way down to almost the belly button(I hope you know what I meant). I had commented on why on earth would she let them wear clothes like that, her answers were "they look beautiful, it's the trend right now"....so now I just keep my mouth shut.
Like Lacy said about her friend, it was a good thing that he asked about her age, if not he would have been labeled as a sexual predator.
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