FIGHT THE MADNESS: PLAY NOT PRESSURE!

Tags: fighting back, Let kids be kids, sanity in education
Posted March 27th, 2012, in Education | 18 Comments

In CAMD I talk about “age compression” as a culprit in  the Kardashianization of girlhood. Here’s how that works: products are initially pitched to older kids; younger ones who want to be “cool” like their older brothers and sister  latch onto them making them instantly anathema to the original demographic. Since for girls being cool means looking “hot” we’ve seen a downward drift of things like spa birthday parties (now the rage among pre-schoolers) and cosmetic use.   According to NPD group, for instance, nearly half of 6-year-olds say they use lipstick or lip gloss regularly and the percentage of 8-12 year olds who use mascara or eyeliner doubled between 2008 and 2010. 8-12 year olds are among the fastest growing sectors of the cosmetics market, prompting Walmart to launch its popular “anti-aging” Geo Girl line for elementary school girls. This month, Target introduced the Disney Fairies “PixiGlow” line of [...]