Five year-old girls and the bad Hannah Montana influences (us mamas) wish we could avoid....

When I woke up this morning, I read THIS article and instantly ‘got it’.  I have been traveling quite a bit recently for both work and fun – and have also noticed this crazy phenomenon.  You know – the phenomenon of dressing your 8 year old daughter as a hooker?  My daughter is now 5 and yes….I know she is ONLY 5, but something happened this week that made me think that she is growing up way too incredibly fast.  And I agree – all parents play an active role in this challenge and we must be vigilant and not just let them lead their own paths to who knows where.

The twins don’t really watch TV.  They watch the Disney Channel from 6:15 to 7 every morning before they get ready for school.  So….good ole’ Mickey Mouse Club House and Jack and the Neverland Pirates!  Well – sometimes we turn the TV on in the evenings as they are getting ready for bed.  Chris likes The History Channel…and I love Parenthood…so sometimes random shows are on before the programs we watch as they get ready for bed – but not really us putting them in front of the TV to watch the programs.  Unbeknownst to us for quite a while, when the twins would go upstairs to play in their toy room while I was making dinner in the evenings, sometimes they would go into the spare bedroom and turn on the ole’ 1995 easy to use TV (Chris’s going to away to College TV/VCR combo TV) that is always on channel 50 (Disney).  Well – guess what?  At 6:30 pm, Mickey Mouse isn’t on.  HANNAH MONTANA and iCARLY are.  Now, most of you may say ‘so what’… ‘It’s Disney….it’s gotta be good, right?’  Think again.  No 5 year old should ever be exposed to this crap (that is my current opinion based on what happened two days ago in our home).

Sunday we had no plans after we returned home from the March of Dimes walk, and we just planned to nap and hang around the house playing games and doing odds and ends.  Well, we showered after returning from Chicago and I told the kids to put on whatever clothes they wanted (since we weren’t leaving house that day).  So….they opted for the sorely missed/way-too-small clothes from last summer.  Kaiden found some shorts he could still button with his favorite yellow sleeveless tank (aka…his ‘muscle’ shirt – yes, he likes to continually flex when wearing it) and Madyson – something else.  She comes out of her room in her own ‘muscle shirt’ a sleeveless tank with ruffles.  The shirt is cute….no problem.  She then puts on a short pink skirt that came with her one piece swimsuit last year – a cover-up.  (Yes….4 year olds don’t need cover-ups, I agree….and she loves pink so she thinks it works just as good as a standalone skirt).    So she is wearing a slightly small tank top that is showing her mid-drift, and a way too short skirt that is practically see through and barely covers her rump.  She slides out of her room onto the hardwood floor and says:  “Look at me mommy, aren’t I pretty?”  - As she tosses her hair and puts her hands on her hips and actually jets one hip forward as if she is posing - to be Hannah Montana.  No picture was taken - but don’t worry, this is exactly how she looked:

Photo Courtesy of www.babble.com

Well, I started out by addressing how last years clothes are ‘probably’ too small for this year and that we will need to go thru them all and give away most to her cousin that is 2 years younger.  Waiting to see the reaction of her dad, I said ‘Oh, go show Daddy how pretty you are’.  For some reason, I think she already got the ‘hint’ that this may not be appropriate.  She then caved her shoulders downward from her previous ‘Hannah Confidence’ and slowly moped downstairs to Chris – as if she knew she was already in trouble.  I said nothing – just waited for his reaction. 

Wishing I had popcorn and soda for the event, I just sat back and watched.  She didn’t even need to strike her “I’m Hannah Montana ‘pose’ - that I learned from the 2 minutes I watch while I sneak behind my mom’s back while she makes dinner each night”.  Chris looked up ----wait for it ----wait for it----- and out of a textbook that all dads must get when their daughters are born – he said:

“WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?  That skirt is Ridiculous!  I can see your belly and your butt!  You are not wearing that in MY house!”

It was great….and out of the textbook daughter response that Madyson must have also gotten when she was born, she immediately shouted back:  

“Pink is my FAVORITE and I LOVE my clothes and I will wear what I WANT TO WEAR”….

Then….stomping ensued as she marched back up to her room, while lots of huffing was going on and Chris continued to mutter under his breath.  It was great.  But - this argument wasn’t suppose to happen till she was 13…but it did.

I know I should have been more involved in the argument, but I actually stepped back and smiled as I watched it all unfold – almost as if I could see this new stage of life presenting itself before my very eyes.  Chris’s worst nightmare had begun.  She was 5 years old and 9 days.  She had learned from small exposure to TV – and some other random society influences – that girls are suppose to dress sexy to be considered pretty.  But, it was WAY TOO EARLY.  Seriously – 5?  I let her have fake makeup to put on….is that contributing to this?  I told him to calm down and later he went and apologized to her.  But seriously, I felt the same way as him.  And his thoughts of course were:  cover up head to toe until you are 30!

I don’t know what the right answer is.  Kids are growing up way too early these days.  Even when you do nearly everything you can to shield them, they’re going to see something or learn something at school – in which you don’t approve of.  In the end, I know the next 10 to 15 years are going to be quite the rollercoaster.  The only positive in all of this is that well - Kaiden doesn’t know it yet, but one of his core responsibilities is to be our ‘roaming reporter’!  He will be watching out for those evil BOYS as they all get older and will always serve as her protector when we can’t be there.  Lucky him…..I have a feeling he won’t agree J

On a side note, I read on Facebook last night about a family from my hometown that has a daughter with stage 4 Neuroblastoma.  I had no idea what it was and stumbled across this amazing site, http://awishforava.com/1.html.  Wow….I will admit I cried at lunch when I looked at the slideshow of images.  I am thankful my little family gets to have stupid fights about dressing like Hannah Montana.  These are the good times and we really should soak them up J