Rushing kids into adulthood

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Article from The Daily Telegraph

Parents believe childhood ends at 12 and blame pressure from friends, celebrity culture and social media for rushing kids into adulthood.

Health professionals speak out about the increasing sexualisation of children in this article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Includes mention of Collective Shout campaigns and comments from co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist.

From Melinda Tankard Reist's blog.

After writing the multi-million best-selling Raising Boys in 2003, psychologist Steve Biddulph thought his life work was done.

But the parenting guru and father of two kept hearing sad stories of friend’s daughters and coming into contact with parents in despair about how unhappy their girls were. They were plagued by eating disorders, self-harm, and depression.

Collett Smart is both a registered psychologist and a qualified teacher, as well a PhD candidate at Macquarie University. She regularly provides comment on national television and radio, regarding issues on mental health and child advocacy. Collett has worked with families in various countries around the world, for almost 20 years.

As published on Online Opinion

Has Laissez-faire parenting become ‘the new black’? With the help of home grown pot, parent-supervised binge-drinking parties and new self-destructing ‘sexting’ apps, teens can get safely inebriated, safely high, or safely sexually harassed, all in the comfort of the parental nest. The rationale being that teens will do such-and-such anyway, so why say ‘no’ to anything they want to do.

The Ad Standards Board has upheld complaints against Loveables 'Selfies with Besties' ad campaign.

The Facebook ad campaign encouraged participants, including girls aged over 13 years, to upload pictures of themselves 'with their besties' to win a prize. Images that accompanied the campaign included Jennifer Hawkins and other models in their underwear posing for 'selfies.' An accompanying outdoor advertising campaign featured similar imagery on bus shelters and billboards.

‘A safe haven from the commercialisation and sexualisation of girlhood, a place full of gifts that inspire and enable girls to reach for the stars. A venue that will motivate and support artists, independent producers and businesses to innovate and to explore new products that have the potential to change the world’

Melinda Tankard Reist interviews Inês Almeida. Originally published at Melinda's blog. 

Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist was recently a guest on ABC Local radio discussing the sexualisation of childhood.

Melinda Tankard Reist in the Sunday Herald Sun Aug 19 2012

Also published at www.melindatankardreist.com

Last Friday, Ana Amini, a Port Macquarie mother and primary school teacher, posted a few lines on Target’s Facebook page lamenting the lack of age-appropriate, non-sexualised clothing for her daughter,8. She said they had lost her as a customer.

Six days later  the comment had attracted more than  72,000 ‘likes,’ and drawn thousands of responses from others concerned about scaled-down versions of adult fashion for girls.

[UPDATED] Mum who targeted Target part of larger backlash against corporate sexploitation

Target has found itself at the centre of controversy after a Port Macquarie mother posted this comment on its Facebook page:

Dear Target,