Are we really all that concerned about teenage pregnancy and the fact that at least 1 out of four teen girls in the U.S. has a sexually transmitted disease?  Perhaps it's time to examine the root causes of this epidemic and make a commitment to actually DO something about it instead of sitting back and saying, "Oh my, that is terrible" while we hope it doesn't happen to our kids - because it will.  It's time for parents to take charge and start acting like parents for a change.

It is absolutely sickening to see little girls dressed like sluts.  With their middles exposed, high heels on their feet and more eye makeup than any adult should wear, we constantly see them and wonder why their parents would allow them out in public in such wildly inappropriate attire. 

The thing is that the parents of these girls are simply choosing not to fight this battle.  It is a lot easier on the eardrums and door hinges to spoil a child than to make and enforce unpopular rules.  When clothing manufacturers deliberately market garments that look like clubwear in sizes to fit tweens and these clothing choices are allowed by some parents, an epic battle begins.  Many parents find it hard to say no to their little snowflakes, and there it starts.  When the "cool kids" are wearing inappropriate clothing, it doesn't take long for all the kids to want to also wear trashy clothes.  No one wants their kid to be an outcast, so the pressure is definitely on.

Kids grow up too fast all on their own.  Now with the clothing, underwear, shoes and makeup options available to tweens, the process is accelerated to almost comical proportions.  It would be funny, except that it's so troubling.

In England, the Tesco stores now carry a padded plunge push-up bra for girls who are about 7 years old.  The cost of this highly offensive rag?  Only about 8 bucks.  A child who desperately wants cleavage at 7 is troubling, but if there were not a market for this type of thing it would not have been manufactured.  Tesco has marketed some equally offensive products in the past.  In 2006 the stores carried a pole dancing kit in the toy section of its website.  The pole dancing kit was removed after public outrage.  So where's the outrage about other "sexy" products marketed to children?

It's up to parents to take a stand.  Stores are going to carry products that sell.  If the slutty clothes for tween girls were not selling like hotcakes, they would no longer be manufactured.  It's purely and simply the principle of supply and demand economics.  Young girls don't have a paycheck, parents do.  Therefore parents must dig in their heels and stop this exploitation of their children.  Cool clothes don't have to expose skin and those little feet will develop much better in good, supportive shoes.  Style doesn't have to be sacrificed, but a message has got to be sent that it's not okay for little girls to look like tramps.

While we try to protect our children from predators in society, it hardly makes much sense to package them up and send them out dressed as a pedophile's wet dream.  Yet that's precisely what is happening.