Children these days.

[ZennaBug]

I agree with Ashes and Sarah.

I do believe that children should be allowed to make decisions about their clothing and appearances.  Let them wear leopard tights, green stripey skirt, orange and yellow polka dot shirt, and rainbow shoes with pigtails (an example from my work, lol).  But when you have a 6 year old wearing a mini skirt, low-cut top, and high heels (sadly, another work example), that's different.  The first example is a kid expressing herself through her clothes.  The second is a kid whose parent allows her to dress in clothes that are styled after grown-up sexy clothes.  In my personal opinion, that's inappropriate.

Yes, let's teach little girls to grow up into confident women.  Let them choose their outfit for the day, let them take pride in themselves, and and show them how to be empowered.

But let's also teach them to respect themselves.  Teach them that they don't need the skimpy clothes to be pretty or valuable.  What makes them unique is on the inside, not the out.

I am not saying to raise children that are afraid of sex.  It's important to teach them the facts and how to be safe, etc.  Don't tell them that the skimpy clothes make them a "slut," but also encourage them to dress age-appropriately.  I don't see how that's bad at all.  Little girls are NOT grown women and should not be treated as such.

[TwistedWindSox]

I agree with Ashes and Sarah.

I do believe that children should be allowed to make decisions about their clothing and appearances.  Let them wear leopard tights, green stripey skirt, orange and yellow polka dot shirt, and rainbow shoes with pigtails (an example from my work, lol).  But when you have a 6 year old wearing a mini skirt, low-cut top, and high heels (sadly, another work example), that's different.  The first example is a kid expressing herself through her clothes.  The second is a kid whose parent allows her to dress in clothes that are styled after grown-up sexy clothes.  In my personal opinion, that's inappropriate.

Yes, let's teach little girls to grow up into confident women.  Let them choose their outfit for the day, let them take pride in themselves, and and show them how to be empowered.

But let's also teach them to respect themselves.  Teach them that they don't need the skimpy clothes to be pretty or valuable.  What makes them unique is on the inside, not the out.

I am not saying to raise children that are afraid of sex.  It's important to teach them the facts and how to be safe, etc.  Don't tell them that the skimpy clothes make them a "slut," but also encourage them to dress age-appropriately.  I don't see how that's bad at all.  Little girls are NOT grown women and should not be treated as such.

[Spike]

I have a friend who is a nurse and she works in the maternity ward. She said there was a 9 year old girl giving birth Her mother refused to let her have an epidrural (can they have epidurals at that age?) because she said, "you deserve all this pain for having sex". The girl screamed so loud everyone in the hospital heard it

I can't believe 9 year olds are having sex. I was playing with ponies and Barbies at that age! Wasn't thinking about boys and sex and stuff. It's insane

Yes that's what I mean! As the years go by, children are having sex at a younger age and the age just keeps going down.. I was also playing with my Barbies and Ponies at that age! The only thing I had to look after when I was 9 was a toy cat called a Petster that was given to me by my friend that said her older sister wanted to get rid of it. Lol.

I know teens have always had sex in every generation, but kids that aren't teens? Now come on, they ruin their childhood from their stupidity.

[ZennaBug]

I think that kid would be an outlier though.  It happens sometimes, of course, but most kids still think sex is gross at that age.

[xeevee]

I have a friend who is a nurse and she works in the maternity ward. She said there was a 9 year old girl giving birth Her mother refused to let her have an epidrural (can they have epidurals at that age?) because she said, "you deserve all this pain for having sex". The girl screamed so loud everyone in the hospital heard it

I can't believe 9 year olds are having sex. I was playing with ponies and Barbies at that age! Wasn't thinking about boys and sex and stuff. It's insane

Yes that's what I mean! As the years go by, children are having sex at a younger age and the age just keeps going down.. I was also playing with my Barbies and Ponies at that age! The only thing I had to look after when I was 9 was a toy cat called a Petster that was given to me by my friend that said her older sister wanted to get rid of it. Lol.

I know teens have always had sex in every generation, but kids that aren't teens? Now come on, they ruin their childhood from their stupidity.

that isn't true at all.  Like I have already said, back in the middle ages if you didn't have a kid when you were 14 it was considered too late.

Here is a link to a page about the youngest mother ever recorded.  http://youngest_mother.tripod.com/ she was 5, and it was 1940.  Every generation thinks this because 'kids these days' but in reality, the average age to have children is getting older and older.  To the point it's actually risking the health of babies.  At the age of 27 I was the youngest person in my new parents group which took in all new parents in the area.  I was the youngest by 5 years, and most of the people were 35-40 years old.

Yes, kids shouldn't be having kids, but it isn't new, it isn't getting statically worse.  We now literally have millions more people then back in our day.  There are 7 billion people in the world.  If 1% of those have kids that's still 70 million teen parents.  Plenty to make 16 and pregnant and so you all have an example of teens acting sexually.

[DazzleKitty]

That youngest mom story is unreal! Dang. Lots of strange things in the world I never knew about.

[ashes]

that isn't true at all.  Like I have already said, back in the middle ages if you didn't have a kid when you were 14 it was considered too late.

People also didn't have as high of a life expectancy in the Middle Ages, and 1 in 3 people died before the age of 5.  So that *might* have something to do with it.

Also, it was mainly among the nobility that "child" marriages occurred (that is, women in early to late teens getting married).  So for the average Middle Age person, that was just not the case to be married quite that young and having babies.

[saply]

Teenage pregnancy, and indeed the birth rate as a whole, are at an all-time low though.

[melipuffles]

I think the point that is trying to be made is:

Women regardless of age should be allowed to wear whatever they'd like and not be thought of as sex objects just because of it.

It's like people who say "Oh, you deserved to be raped because you dressed like a slut."

 When I was 14 I was wearing a tight but not overly revealing shirt. A boy in my school grabbed my boob and when I told it to the teacher they said "Well, you shouldn't be wearing a tight shirt like that, it provokes people." :/

First of all, I am sorry that happened to you. Second, your teacher was not behaving in a way that would help you, instead she shamed you, which is never okay. Men get away with a lot more than women do in society as a whole when it comes to sexuality, in my opinion, and this slant is perpetuated by similar comments (e.g., "Well you shouldn't dress like that, you'll be thought of as a slut, etc. etc.")

One of my favorite new books on the topic of women and sexuality is "A Good Girl's Guide to Bad Girl Sex." It shows that you don't have to dress in ways most people would deem inappropriate to be sexy and to feel sexy, and it'd be great for the older teen.

Yeah, that teacher was terrible. She was very immature herself and not really cut out to be teaching kids/teenagers.

It could have been worse though, even though it upset me and made me feel bad, I'm glad it wasn't a worse thing.

[rearing_palomino164]

They're growing up to fast. But I guess every generation has to change. Technology and stuff with how it is is a lot different than it was when we were all growing up. I was always outside when I was little every change I got. :/