Suffer the Little Children
Since I was in my early teens, I have loved fashion. I have never spent a lot of money on clothing — still don’t — but I’ve always gotten a special thrill from flipping through glamour magazines, sketching ideas for an outfit, or playing dress-up at the mall. Fashion is fun, and having an eye for style can be a creative means of self-expression.
Sadly, today’s kids’ fashions are more of a desperate plea for attention, as evidenced by the new children’s line from singer Beyonce’s “House of Dereon”, aimed at grade-school girls whose parents must want them to become pole dancers.
I’m all good with fashion being edgy. Heck, back in the mid-Eighties, I was New Wave all the way, with snakeskin mini-skirts and studded belts. I colored my hair a tinge of purplish-red using bleach and Black Cherry Kool-Aid. Rebellious? Sure. But, I was a straight-A student who always kept curfew, stayed drug-free and was unmarred by piercings or tattoos. For me, fashion was a creative outlet; I was happily non-conformist, and I wanted my clothes to show it.
A decade later, I was a swing kid, feverishly collecting vintage attire and dancing every weekend to live big band music. No longer just a way to play dress-up, fashion had become an expression of my deep-seated beliefs about respect for oneself and others. The Forties were an era of class and character. This was when the Greatest Generation proved its mettle. Dressing in vintage attire was a reflection of my desire to bring back the best of a bygone era, both in terms of personal pride as well as shifting social mores.
Not so for today’s young women, who seemingly are being groomed to become a generation of street walkers. Bad enough that BRATZ has co-opted the feminine ideal from wholesome Barbie in the collective subconscious of America’s pre-teens. Now, pop singer Beyonce has opened a veritable Pandora’s Box of fashion calamities with her new “House of Dereon” children’s line that perfectly preps young girls for a future appearance on Shot of Love with Tila Tequila.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)
Parents, I beg of you, consider the fall-out of your fashion choices when shopping for your kids. There’s a saying in the business world that you should “dress for the job you want.” Is “hoochie-mama hip hop dancer” really at the top of your little girls’ career list?
Whether they are 4 or 14, dressing like a tramp-in-training does nothing to build self-esteem or demonstrate to the world your child’s perfect worth. You needn’t try to raise prissy little prudes, but if you put your second-grader in four-inch heels, footing the bill for her back surgery will be the least of your worries.
