GIRLhood

When did little girls grow up so much, so quickly?
I'm sitting here and this girl who must be all of ten is strutting down the street in white knee-high boots, with pointy heels sharp enough to kill a man. She is wearing a black, off the shoulder top, modeled after one meant for women twenty years her senior. She's wearing the miniature version of high fashion skinny jeans and has super ironed, uber-highlighted hair.
And the girl is ten. Did I mention that?
What have we done, as a culture, to little girls?
Smart little girls are seen as geeks, and creative ones are seen as freaks. I was reading, the other day, about a twelve year old blogger who makes her own outfits. Someone from the press found out about her blog and now she's getting to be a pseudo-celebrity. She even got photographed at fashion week in NY!
It must be this girl's dream, but at what cost? What's gonna happen to her childhood, her GIRLhood? GIRLhood is a precious time, when you are just starting to realize things about the world, and no one expects you to be a woman yet.
So many girls see these hyper-sexualized, overly made-up teens and tweens on TV and on the internet. What are they supposed to think? I remember when I was in tweendom and thinking Melissa Joan Hart in "Clarissa Explains It All" was the real deal, the coolest ever. I remember really liking and wanting to emulate that independent spirit and creative energy.
I don't think I've seen a character on TV her age like her, since. I mean, each generation has its icons, i.e. Marcia Brady. I remember wishing I could be smart and popular like Jessie Spano on "Saved by the Bell".
We often project an image that we want to see in the mirror onto ourselves. I am definitely guilty of that. But to tell a little girl that it's normal to wear shoes that make her feet hurt, and to spend hours on her hair, and to wear only designer labels is cruel. Where's the rush to grow up? When do we slow down and actually enjoy the spot we're on, revel in the now,, be content with just this moment? Time goes by so fast. Let a girl enjoy being a girl.