Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps

While I now there are some things I would disagree with the writer on other topics, he's spot on here. 

Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps

April 19, 2011

By LZ Granderson, CNN Contributor

I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.

Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie "10" (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her "Xtina" phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.

You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word "Juicy" was written on her backside.

Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. ... I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she's not even in middle school yet.

Abercrombie & Fitch came under fire this spring for introducing the "Ashley," a push-up bra for girls who normally are too young to have anything to push up. Originally it was marketed for girls as young as 7, but after public outcry, it raised its intended audience to the wise old age of 12. I wonder how do people initiate a conversation in the office about the undeveloped chest of elementary school girls without someone nearby thinking they're pedophiles?

What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?

That there was a demand to make little girls hot?

I mean, that is the purpose of a push-up bra, right? To enhance sex appeal by lifting up, pushing together and basically showcasing the wearer's breasts. Now, thanks to AF Kids, girls don't have to wait until high school to feel self-conscious about their, uhm, girls. They can start almost as soon as they're potty trained. Maybe this fall the retailer should consider keeping a plastic surgeon on site for free consultations.

We've been here with Abercrombie before -- if you recall, about 10 years ago they sold thongs for 10-year-olds -- but they're hardly alone in pitching inappropriate clothing to young girls. Four years ago the popular "Bratz" franchise introduced padded bras called "bralettes" for girls as young as six. That was also around the time the good folks at Wal-Mart rolled out a pair of pink panties in its junior department with the phrase "Who Needs Credit Cards" printed on the front.

I guess I've been out-of-the-loop and didn't realize there's been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel.

What's that you say? Ten-year-olds can't drive? They don't have money, either? Well, how else are they getting ahold of these push-up bras and whore-friendly panties?

Their parents?

Noooo, couldn't be.

What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing such items? What parent is looking at their sweet, little girl thinking, "She would be perfect if she just had a little bit more up top."

And then I remember the little girl at the airport. And the girls we've all seen at the mall. And the kiddie beauty pageants.

And then I realize as creepy as it is to think a store like Abercrombie is offering something like the "Ashley", the fact remains that sex only sells because people are buying it. No successful retailer would consider introducing an item like a padded bikini top for kindergarteners if they didn't think people would buy it.

If they didn't think parents would buy it, which begs the question: What in the hell is wrong with us?

It's easy to blast companies for introducing the sexy wear, but our ire really should be directed at the parents who think low rise jeans for a second grader is cute. They are the ones who are spending the money to fuel this budding trend. They are the ones who are suppose to decide what's appropriate for their young children to wear, not executives looking to brew up controversy or turn a profit.

I get it, Rihanna's really popular. But that's a pretty weak reason for someone to dress their little girl like her.
I don't care how popular Lil' Wayne is, my son knows I would break both of his legs long before I would allow him to walk out of the house with his pants falling off his butt. Such a stance doesn't always makes me popular -- and the house does get tense from time to time -- but I'm his father, not his friend.

Friends bow to peer pressure. Parents say, "No, and that's the end of it."

The way I see it, my son can go to therapy later if my strict rules have scarred him. But I have peace knowing he'll be able to afford therapy as an adult because I didn't allow him to wear or do whatever he wanted as a kid.

Maybe I'm a Tiger Dad.

Maybe I should mind my own business.

Or maybe I'm just a concerned parent worried about little girls like the one I saw at the airport.

In 2007, the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls issued a report linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. There's nothing inherently wrong with parents wanting to appease their daughters by buying them the latest fashions. But is getting cool points today worth the harm dressing little girls like prostitutes could cause tomorrow?

A line needs to be drawn, but not by Abercrombie. Not by Britney Spears. And not by these little girls who don't know better and desperately need their parents to be parents and not 40-year-old BFFs.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.

Earn Free Books from Scholastic

Scholastic is offering a program that enables your child to earn up to five free books.  There are math and reading activity sheets.  Once those are completed, you can send them in for the free books.  There are three different age groups starting with age 3 and going up to age 12.

To find out more and download the activity sheets, go to Learn and Earn.

This program will continue until 1,250 sets have been awarded or October 15, 2011 at midnight which ever comes first.

5 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy

Some great thoughts especially since we still have tons of Easter candy around the house!  This came from http://www.currclick.com's/ weekly newsletter dated Monday, April 25, 2011.


5 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy



Getting your kids to eat healthy shouldn't be a daily chore that you avoid or regret. Instead, with these 5 strategies to get your kids to eat healthy, you'll find that you and your family actually enjoy and appreciate healthy food even more!

#1: Keep Vegetables Visible: Don't get confused about this! It is true that in the last article, you learned that one technique to get kids to eat vegetables is to disguise it in the food through blending and mixing techniques. But your kids do need to know what vegetables are and be comfortable with them. Each week when we're at the grocery store, we take our children down the produce aisle and let them choose one new vegetable that they're not familiar with with. We teach them the vegetable name, then buy it, take it home, and prepare it in a yummy recognizable way! From rutabagas to parsnips, your kids will be far more likely to eat healthy if they're familiar with healthy foods.

#2: Let Them Decide. Never set a food on the table and tell your child that "even if they don't like it, they need to eat it." Instead serve the healthy meal and lead by example: dig into it with gusto yourself. Let your children taste, experiment and decide for themselves whether or not they actually like it. Most of the time, through the power of your example, your kids will dig in too.

#3: Teach Them About Their Bodies. From an early age, we've taught our children about mouths, tongues, the stomach, the intestines (tunnels!), poop, germs, rotten vs. fresh food, smelling foods, growing muscles and more! So when we're sitting at the table, we can explain to them that the spinach will help them grow muscles, and as they grow older, they will be positioned to understand why we make the food choices that we do.

#4: Age-Appropriate Help. Our three year old children can remove sticker s from vegetables or fruits that were purchased at the grocery store, help to plant, pick and pull foods created and harvested in a garden, assist with washing and rinsing, stirring and mixing, and become involved in the entire food preparation process. As they grow older, they will be able to chop, blend, cut and cook. By involving your kids in meal preparation in an age-appropriate manner, healthy meals can become a creative, cooperative creation, and not a dish that his shoved in front of their faces.

#5: Start Young. In most popular, name-brand baby foods, the ingredients are over-cooked and adulterated with preservatives or added sweeteners. As a result, a child develops a palate for sweet or salty foods that have been engineered to send a chemical message to their brains that keeps them craving those tastes. So if your kids are still at baby food stage, try to develop their palate by switching to purees and blends that you make at home from carrot, pea, broccoli, fruit and other whole ingredients.
If you want more healthy tips on meal preparation, nutrition, fitness and lifestyle from Ben and Jessa Greenfield, check out Inner Circle