Keeping the "Little" in Little Girl

There is a rising epidemic in our culture.

Have you noticed it?

The length of childhood, for little girls especially, is rapidly decreasing. It is a sad phenomenon. When I was a child, I can remember playing with my dolls until I was 14 or 15 years old. There was no shame in it, no push for me to grow up. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case today. Everywhere I look I see little girls dressing older, talking older, and acting older. In my opinion this should not be. We are taking something very special from our daughters when we don’t allow them to enjoy a lengthy childhood...

I first saw this post on a blog I follow called, Raising Homemakers. Feel free to click on the link and read the rest of this interesting post.

It articulated many of the same feelings and issues I deal with while raising my own daughters. I agree with most of what this author wrote, with the exception of "make up" for little girls. Only my closest girlfriends probably know how I feel about "make up" when it comes to little ones. It just doesn't happen in our home. Oh, we pretend to paint each other's faces, arms, toes, etc. but the real stuff is left where it belongs-- in mommy's bathroom drawer. And just in case you're wondering, that's also my stance on nail polish and pierced ears. At what age do I think these things will be appropriate for my girls? To be quite honest, I'm not really sure. I just know it's not 4. Every family creates their own set of boundaries and thankfully, Morgan and I have always agreed on this particular subject.

We say Yes Please! to dress up clothes, bows, jewelry, frilly skirts, and anything feminine, modest, and girlie. Bring on the fairy wings, tutus, headbands, purses, kitchen supplies, sewing skills, and jeweled crowns! We say, No Thank You to bikinis, Barbie, Hannah Montana (anything Miley Cyrus for that matter), and anything else that takes the focus away from being a "little" wholesome girl. We even try to limit our Disney Princess exposure to a minimum. Being counter-cultural in a world that is constantly putting negative images and role models in front of our faces is a challenging endeavor. Unfortunately, young girls today are being inundated with the appalling notion of it being okay to be a sexual being at such a young age. Ask yourself this... At what point is enough, enough? Our daughters will have plenty of time to grow up and become young women in the years to come. I believe it's our responsibility as parents to protect our children in all areas-- not just protection from physical harm or safety.

A simple warning to parents as well as children--Guard Your Eyes. It is the desires of the eyes that bring about the downfall of the individual.

"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." ~ Proverbs 4:25

Here they are with their set of twins before bedtime. It warms my heart to see them play mommy and talk to their babies. They practice loving them, caring for them, disciplining them, feeding them, and making plans together as a family. They told me last night that one of their babies was adopted from China and the other was adopted from Korea. :)