I have a 5 yr old little girl. I am amazed when I shop for her what the styles are. Mini skirts..ripped tights...low rise bell bottoms...a lots and lots of shoes with heels in them. This is the main stream stuff. As I dont want my 5 yr old looking like a street walker...I really have to be picky and shop til I drop to find actual little girl stuff. What is the deal with these clothing designers? I almost wish I had a boy...sheesh. I miss my childhood with knee highs and goucho pants.

I'm not yet convinced that clothes now are that much more horrible than when I was growing up.

Actually, I graduated from high school in 1980 and I honestly remember our clothes being relatively modest. The Annie Hall look was big. Skirts tended to hit just below the knee and tops were blousy and loose. I remember having some pretty outre platform shoes, but otherwise we dressed pretty conservatively. Slit skirs came in around my junior year, but even they weren't too sleazy. And when I hit college, the Izod-Calvin Klein prep look was in. God knows I fought with my parents over everything else, but clothes seldom came up because there just wasn't much to fight about.

I'm not yet convinced that clothes now are that much more horrible than when I was growing up. Girls now wear skin tight jeans, but we wore "biker shorts" and a wide concoction of lycra/spandex leggings. You don't get much tighter than those. Girls now wear belly shirts, we used to wear those elastic tube tops or 4-strap halters. Girls now wear daisy dukes, and we used to wear the equally short gym ("ball hugger") shorts. I never wore platforms, but I did wear clogs. I had a bikini (cactii, sunsets and cowboys) in elementary school, as did all my friends. It seems like we're just seeing the updated versions of the same old things.

I have tons of pictures from childhood of me in tube tops and halter tops. However, I think the times were so much simpler and innocent than now. I remember a group of friends and I were walking home from school(middle school) I had on a sweater dress and leggings, and an old man came up to me and said" you are going to make some man a nice wife one day," now-a-days they take it a step farther than words...and that was still very creepy for me.

I have God-kids and I but them frilly dresses, tights with cartoon characters on them, and mary jane shoes with the Big buckles on them...

What a little angel

now and then...

Were we more innocent or did we just not talk about "dirty old men" and warn our children like we do now?

I do believe sexy is being marketed to people younger and younger. In high school in the 80's for me it was preppy but the jeans were painted on. However, we are talking about little kids. Not teens.

I couldn't find my kid sandals this past spring that weren't wedged or platformed with out getting her brown from the boys' section. She lived in her hedious crocks, but at least they don't push her ass out for all to adore.

It's a sad commentary to be sure.

Actually, I graduated from high school in 1980 and I honestly remember our clothes being relatively modest. The Annie Hall look was big.

You have to consider generational differences. The differences are a little more obtuse each generation you go. I graduated from highschool in 1993, and I know that some of the stuff we were wearing would have been under scrutiny by people in your generation, just as what people wore in the 80s was by the prior generations, and the 70s, and...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I like it. I'm not saying it doesn't bother me to see child's size thongs. But I'm also just barely young enough to remember telling my mom, "It's just in style! All the girls are wearing them!" and understanding that often a few bad apples really do ruin it for the whole bunch. Maybe we're at unprecedented levels of the "deal" that's made about it, because of how our society is now. Probably we're at (not unprecedented, far from it, but just tabooed for a while) sexual activity among minors, and definitely we're at an unprecedented levels of awareness of our society's sexual deviants. All of that changes the intetions involved... the intentions behind some people's wearing the clothes, dressing their children in a certain way, intentions of the people who give the girls (or boys, whatever) the attention, etc.

"Do I look Sexy?"

Oh god! How did you respond?

Something to the effect of, "You're 10 years old, why do you care?"

You have to consider generational differences. The differences are a little more obtuse each generation you go. I graduated from highschool in 1993, and I know that some of the stuff we were wearing would have been under scrutiny by people in your generation, just as what people wore in the 80s was by the prior generations, and the 70s, and...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I like it. I'm not saying it doesn't bother me to see child's size thongs. But I'm also just barely young enough to remember telling my mom, "It's just in style! All the girls are wearing them!" and understanding that often a few bad apples really do ruin it for the whole bunch. Maybe we're at unprecedented levels of the "deal" that's made about it, because of how our society is now. Probably we're at (not unprecedented, far from it, but just tabooed for a while) sexual activity among minors, and definitely we're at an unprecedented levels of awareness of our society's sexual deviants. All of that changes the intetions involved... the intentions behind some people's wearing the clothes, dressing their children in a certain way, intentions of the people who give the girls (or boys, whatever) the attention, etc.

Yep. I'm sure that even in the Victorian era, people from a generation or two back were completely shocked by the styles that were popular.

Another thing that I don't understand is when 12 year olds are begging for belly button piercings. I feel like a belly button piercing is for the purpose of attracting attention to your belly in a "sexy" manner. So when my 12 year old God-daughter is begging her mom for a belly button piercing I'd like to know who's attention is she trying to get at that age. Same goes with hi-lites in her hair. I just don't understand why a 12 year old is even concerned with appearing "attractive" or "sexy".

I am totally there with you!!!! Even the haloween costumes for kids aretoo far on the sexy side! My daughter is 8 and I could not believe the sexy costumes that pranced by me at the halloween parade at school, sexy witches, diva stars, harem girls. I have to be very careful with the clothes, my daughter sees outfits at school, low rise jeans and belly showing shirts, I can't believe what these parents allow their young children to where, what happened to regular jeans and tee shirts for kids, 3rd grade is too young to be trying to dress like an 18 year old!

I blame Bush

I blame Bush

lol...It's a plan, he blames everyone else anyways....lol.

I agree with everyone. My daughter is 11 and wants high heel boots. She says all her friends have them and I just say well I bet they are glad I'm not their mother. My daughter is very developed and already 5'7 in the 5th grade and people think she is 15 or 16. I refuse to let her look any older than she already does. It is hard to find clothes for her. But she is now playing sports and her clothes are more of an athletic type now. Thank goodness. But for those of you who know mothers who dress their girls in those clothes made for street walkers, there is a book you can buy them and give it to them for Christmas. It is ...Stop dressing your six-year-old like a skank by Celia Rivenbark and you can find it I'm sure at most bookstores, but I saw it at Barnes and Noble. Makes a great stocking stuffer for the mom who gives a crap or thinks that is cute.

OMG! Everytime I go to shop for my daughters it is a nightmare, my budget is Walmart and I spend a long time trying to find something decent. Last time I went to Target and found it not much better than walmart.

Thank goodness my girls 8 and 6 yrs old are not fashion followers and wear what I give to them. I wish schools here had uniforms, may be this way kids will pay more attention to school and less to make school a fashion show.

Very Frustrating!!

:blink:LOL I once heard them referd to as prosti-tots. I was out looking for a cute baby gift int the kids clothes dept at walmart I actualy saw a pair of sequined hot pink string bikini underpants and training bra (for a boobless child)! Holy moly!

I just wanted a little frilly dress or blanket witha duck on the hat. I do remember wanting an off the shoulder shirt or the ocasional mini skirt that was to short (1980's) Thank heavens my mom knew when to say no or put a leaotard on under my " outfits"

we have been buying my 6 yr old daughter used boys jeans...either from ebay or local thrift stores. she is fine with them, and it saves a lot of money.