What To Do With Ten Year Olds
Q: My 10-year-old daughter loves to shop, but she likes clothes I feel are totally inappropriate for her age. She prefers low-rise jeans and sheer blouses and constantly asks if she looks “sexy.” My husband seems to think this is innocent play-acting, but I find it disturbing.
Thank heavens that Britt didn’t put me through this. But if you had a daughter who had the same feelings as this ten year old, what would you do??
Tags: drawing-the-line, fashion, Pre-teensRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Discipline, Weary Parent
1 opinion for What To Do With Ten Year Olds
Mary
May 8, 2008 at 7:16 pm
You are absolutely right to feel disturbed. A ten-year-old is passing out of “pretend” and moving into real. This is not just “play acting”, but rather “trying on for size.” Have you played up the inappropriate-for-your-age-&-for-adult-women-of-substance angle? Have you down-played MTV and watched her music and movies? Probably so, and you’ve no doubt given lots of thought to her choices in friends, books, movies, etc. Your husband seems way to nonchalant about the whole thing–doesn’t he realize that things are happening for our kids two to three years sooner than they happened for us? It’s alarming at best and devastating at worst. Unfortunately, for some (ok, well, a lot) of our children, the only thing that works is horror stories about what can happen to people socially and, possibly, legally when they are not as careful as they could be. Also, your daughter should know that she is beautiful and precious, and part of that is her very mystery. She ought to protect it. God bless you and your family.
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