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Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice
Tonight I showed my daughter a picture of an outfit simply to ask her thoughts. Coming from a 7 year olds I expected her face to shrivel up and to not really have anything to say out all. I was wrong. Her entire opinion of the outfit was, “That’s a popular outfit.” Oh, help me please!
I asked her to explain what exactly she meant by a “popular outfit” and she proceeded to explain to me that popular outfits are what girls that are popular wear in school. OK, so I knew that is what she meant, I just wanted to hear her, “Duh.” I was amazed that at 7 the outfit I showed her seemed perfectly OK.
I do not allow my daughter to wear outfits like the one in the picture. There is no need for a 7 year old to wear it, but for her to completely accept the look means that children in her elementary school DO wear similar outfits and their parents are obviously OK with the look.
How is it OK for a child to wear fishnets? How is it OK for kids to wear skirts so short that when they bend over you can see their underwear? I was shocked that my daughter truly liked what she saw. Why? Simply because it was an outfit girls wear to gain popularity. What happened to attending school for education? That is out the window. It is a popularity contest even for those as young 7.
I decided to take a look at some of the other clothing in the Abbey Dawn line created by Avril Lavigne, pictured and found that not all of the product in her line is depicted like the picture of her. Thanks goodness. No, I do not approve of either skirt, barely at 12 inches, not much will be covered. I’m not thrilled with the jumper either. The sad point to this, these would be the most sought out items of her line because they are flirty and fun apparently.
The line is of course for older children, tweens to teens, but I am not going to allow my daughter when she turns 12 to wear the skirt you see above. The frustrating part of this is knowing that my 7 year old completely feels that outfits, like the one on Avril, is completely acceptable. What are 7 year olds wearing?
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Dannie,
As back-to-school is fast approaching, I thought you might have interest in the timely news coming out of our latest research study among teens. You can read all about it here:
http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/NewsReleases/School_Pressure
In addition to highlighting a startling disconnect between teens and their parents, we are also offering helpful tips and resources on how parents can better connect with their teens:
http://www.timetotalk.org/Downloads/ttt_time_to_text.pdf
I hope this is of interest. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you.