It seems the world is getting edgier and edgier and in this world, it is very hard being the mother of a teenage girl. The constant struggle of trying to keep her grounded as well as not allowing her to grow up too fast can seem overwhelming to some mothers. This is especially true if you have recently been to a junior high or high school. These days you may be surprised by what you see. Instead of young girls in normal T-shirts and jeans you may in fact be horrified to see that wardrobes of many 14-year-old girls is very similar to that of 22-year-old women.
While many tend to marginalize this shift in our culture, most agree that children are growing up way too fast. Many attribute this to the fact that kids are no longer treated as kids. While we afford them the luxury of credit cards and cell phones, we don’t afford them the luxury of being able to play outside as small children. Instead we put them in front of the TV where they are exposed to the massive amounts of marketing and images that should be targeted towards adults.
There are many things that as a parent you can do to try to combat the influence the outside world has on your child. While we cannot shelter them completely from the media and brand marketing, as a parent it is important to guide our children into the right path of what is appropriate and what is not. For example, it is not appropriate to ask to buy a plunging Victoria Secret’s bra at 13 but it is okay to buy apple bottoms. We must remember that while we want to be friendly with our children, we are not their friends and that is not our role to maintain. Our role is to put structure and limits as to what they can get away with.