Those of you who have read my blog over the past few years know that I am a Vintage Mama. Not quite antique yet, but totally vintage! Some of our daughters' friends have parents that are actually younger than our oldest kids ;o) but that's not hard to accomplish, I guess, since I was a "child bride" and was a first time mama at the age of 19. So for you younger moms, the song reference in my title will not connect with you like it does with this Vintage Mama who was a young teen during the waning days of the Viet Nam War. During that time, lots of the music we heard back then was about the horror and tragedy of war, in every generation and through all time. The song started out by asking "Where have all the young men gone?" and concluded that many of them had "Gone to graveyards, every one." And then the eternal question: "When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?"
In reality, wars have been waged throughout history, and you and I will probably never sort out all of the political and historical implications of that reality. But as a Vintage Mama, I am suddenly confronted with my own reality of how different it is raising young girls in 2011 than it was back at the end of the last century. Now that our daughters are ages 8 and 10, I'm looking around at the way some of the girls in this age group are dressing, talking, and acting, and it is apparent in so many ways that I am from a different century! As I observe what's going on in the world around us, I was struck by the words of that old hippie song that asks not only "where have all the flowers gone?," and "where have all the young men gone?," but now I want to know, "Where have all the young girls gone?"
It appears that our "little girls" emerge one day into the harsh daylight of edgy womanhood, with no transition time in between. So what's a mother to do, if she is convinced that it is not particularly healthy for a ten year old to dress, act, and talk like a 19-year-old (and a rather rowdy one at that!)? Is there a way to find / create cute, stylish, feminine clothing for tween girls that allows them to transition gracefully into womanhood? All of the images I have reposted here are from websites that are geared specifically to girls designated as "tweens," which I believe is the technical term for girls ages 9 - 12 or 13. Even early teens should have some options!
I know I'm an "old fashioned" mom, and not just and "old mom," but I also have talked to many younger moms who are very uncomfortable with this level of indiscriminate flaunting of a young lady's sexuality. Let's teach our young ladies to be modest, and help them develop a healthy sense of self-worth and self-respect that honors not only their own heart, body, and soul, but also honors the God Who made them. They are "little treasures," and I am determined to figure out how to keep them that way while teaching them how to grow up to be women of God. What do you think?
~~ Nina
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