I have said before, and I’ll say it till I’m under ground, that I’m not the perfect parent. Never will be. Just try to do the best job that you can do and try to be consistently good everyday.
But I know one thing for sure. While my wife and daughters (and some of my friends) will contend that they’re not sure what’s going on in my brain sometimes (all right, a lot of the time) I know I would never be stupid or insane enough to make a 10-year-old girl into a fashion model. Which is why I think that the parents, especially the father, of 10-year-old Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau, should have their brains cut open and dissected to determine how much of the stupid gene is clogging their thought process.
Thylane is a fourth-grader who’s been dressed in provocative clothes, powdered heavily with makeup and strapped with high heels that most adult women would find difficult to walk in. She’s been featured in many of Europe’s high fashion magazines and in some prominent fashion shows. Can you imagine your fourth-grader waltzing down a runway in front of adults, with a dress slit to her waist, front and back, with makeup better suited for a 42nd Avenue prostitute and heels that lift her six inches higher than her 10-year-old frame is designed? I can’t.
Amazingly, the British press and others are taking to task Thylane’s parents, and the fashion world, in general, that they would subject a 10-year-old to this type of lifestyle. Of course the standard response from a child psychologist talks about how this lifestyle deprives the girl of the required development, in all areas of her childhood, that could damage her ability to mature into an adult who will be appropriately adjusted and able to thrive and survive.
Frankly, I don’t need a child psychologist to tell me that permitting a 10-year-old girl to be photographed, gawked at, blogged about, and objectified by adults in an adult industry is wrong. Wrong doesn’t seem like a strong enough word. Stupid. Ignorant. You select the adjective that you think best fits this scenario. One thing’s sure, though. Regardless of what my family and friends think of my brain function, it’s pretty clear on this one.
P.S. Don’t forget to tell your daughter that you love her.
