To Nigel and any other parent with daughters.

[Hoser McRhizzy]

why can't all those fundie conservatives and fox news and shit rage against this?

Same reason they get frothy over proof of child abuse on the internet but have nothing to say about the kids or adults actually involved.  Criticizing what parents do to their kids on a regular basis and not citing 'bad apples' as the cause, at least for the hard-core family values people, would mean an unthinkable overhaul.

Example.  Stolen from Ken's Guide to the Bible:
II Samuel 13: 1-20.  David's son Amnon brutally rapes his 1/2 sister Tamar.  Another of David's sons, Absalom, finds out about the rape and comforts Tamar with these words, "Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you?  Be quiet now, my sister; he is your brother.  Don't take this thing to heart."

^^family values^^

- answering on the slim chance that your question wasn't rhetorical.  tl;dr: what Suu said.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

It's revolting to me how many parents think it's cute when their little girls act like junior prostitutes. It's like the fashions; one of my friends calls it "Junior Slut; Fashion for Tots".

Seen this yet?: http://celebrities.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=585857&showcomments=true&rss=yes

Because they couldn't over-sexualize little girls any more, amirite? 

Dude. Eew. That shit looks terrible.
Suu can sympathize here I'm sure. Fashion is made for age groups based on development and shape. When you start putting skimpy tight fitting low waisted dresses on baby fatted, pot bellied, high waisted little girls, it looks TERRIBLE.
Not only skanky but just wrong and terrible! Like and empire waist on Beyonce. She has great curves, why would you do that?? You wouldn't.
So why the FUCK would you put adult cuts on a child who isn't shaped right??

Not to mention the whole sexualizing thing, that's just a given.

Also, my parents whooped my ass too and I damn well deserved it. And every time I whooped my son's ass he deserved it. And he knew it, so he took it.

[Jenne]

It's the hypocrisy of our great nation that allows this:  an African American woman's tit on TV is to be shamed and degraded, whereas children who are sexualized beyond belief are to be praised as "America's talent." 

...irony is that those little girls are EMULATING another African American woman.

Those girls, if you remove the suggestive moves and the costumes, worked their asses off and probably do dance competitions (that's what this was, I've seen similar videos) all the time, circuit after circuit.  They don't even know or recognize what it is they are up there looking like--they just do the moves, the facial expressions, and try to be precise.

Which is pretty sad in and of itself.  The message they send out to the world at large with such a display is ignored and washed over by the drive to win, and each dancer experiences the oversexualization over a long period of time.  Khara's right:  the routines get sluttier and sluttier all the way to college.  No one stops it--they all want to "win" and look "the best."  Right now, the fact that sex is selling with 7 year olds is not fazing the industry that's perpetuating it.

[Telarus]

The book Outliers that I've recently been reading through claims you need approx 1,000 hours of practice to get _really good_ at something.

Trying to fit that many hours of practice into your child's life can be difficult, but do-able, if you start early (the example used in the book was Hockey, but same goes for music, art, or other sports).

Yeah, the fact that current dance trends require stripperella moves means the parents who want the child to be good enough to compete when they are 18 means they start this shit this early.


Yeah, it's disgusting.  Just take your kid to gymnastics or ballet or martial arts or something classic like that so they can leverage those awesome skills when it comes time to try out for America's Got Talent or whatever BS you're hallucinating for them when they grow up.

[LMNO]

Maybe they're all training to be really, really good strippers when they turn 18.





LMNO
-might have just had a change of heart about all this.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The book Outliers that I've recently been reading through claims you need approx 1,000 hours of practice to get _really good_ at something.

Trying to fit that many hours of practice into your child's life can be difficult, but do-able, if you start early (the example used in the book was Hockey, but same goes for music, art, or other sports).

Yeah, the fact that current dance trends require stripperella moves means the parents who want the child to be good enough to compete when they are 18 means they start this shit this early.


Yeah, it's disgusting.  Just take your kid to gymnastics or ballet or martial arts or something classic like that so they can leverage those awesome skills when it comes time to try out for America's Got Talent or whatever BS you're hallucinating for them when they grow up.

I've told students that 1000 hours thing, and they don't fucking like it. A lot of people want to be good at something NOW. I would applaud parents who encouraged their kids to really stick with something, except that oftentimes they choose to push their kids at things that are physically or emotionally detrimental to them; one of my friends is all KINDS of fucked up, physically, from being in gymnastics for many years as a child.

[Suu]

My dad repeatedly would tell me how much I suck when I would lose at a Taekwondo tournament, especially on the National level. He also would tell me how much better my sister was than me.

In the end, my sister permanently fucked her IT Band when she was 17, and I've destroyed my knees and ankles. Thanks Dad. Sorry you couldn't walk as a child.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My dad repeatedly would tell me how much I suck when I would lose at a Taekwondo tournament, especially on the National level. He also would tell me how much better my sister was than me.

In the end, my sister permanently fucked her IT Band when she was 17, and I've destroyed my knees and ankles. Thanks Dad. Sorry you couldn't walk as a child.

That's fucked. And of course, there are all the skaters whose knees are destroyed by age 15.

It would be one thing if the health risks for child athletes weren't documented, but they're well-known. So parents push their kids to do these things for what?

[Jenne]

...live vicariously through them, of course.

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

some kids like...really like these things you know....
im pretty sure the amount of kids wanting to do activities outweigh pushy stage mothers

[Jenne]

Sometimes.  But you can overstimulate them.  I mean, they're KIDS.  They pretty much are herded from activity to activity.  Most kids LOVE anything that's not school.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Most kids love almost any activity for a little while, and then they want to move on to something new. That's just the way most of 'em are wired... little novelty seekers. That starts to change around 10-12, when their attention spans get longer and they become capable of real dedication.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

tr00f--

my son's "step-mother" or whatever you wanna call her, pushed him into soccer and he got really bored with it really quick. so did the other kids. i think it was more for the parents amusement.
he took an interest in band and nobody pushes him but we encourage him with positive feedback. he LOVES it. LOVEZ.

[Suu]

My dad repeatedly would tell me how much I suck when I would lose at a Taekwondo tournament, especially on the National level. He also would tell me how much better my sister was than me.

In the end, my sister permanently fucked her IT Band when she was 17, and I've destroyed my knees and ankles. Thanks Dad. Sorry you couldn't walk as a child.

That's fucked. And of course, there are all the skaters whose knees are destroyed by age 15.

It would be one thing if the health risks for child athletes weren't documented, but they're well-known. So parents push their kids to do these things for what?

My sister first knew something was up when she was 14. She sat up in bed and all I heard was this POP and watch her sorta fall back into bed pale as all hell. Her hip almost dislocated because of how tight the tendon was. She got her MRI and went to a little PT, but my parents were like, "Oh you're just a kid. You'll be fine. Shake it off..." (They said the same thing to me the first time my ankle went at a 90 degree angle of course.) So she never finished her PT. She's still pretty flexible, but now she's really susceptible to severe cramps down her right leg, the possibility of her hip popping out of place, and a constant popping every time she sits up.