So, B. is no longer a size 5. For those of you to whom(who?) this has no major significance, it means she is no longer in the “T” sizes. “T” as in toddler. “T” as in 0-5T. Most major manufacturers size their girls clothing this way, 0-5, 6-14, and then “juniors”. I have always had a hard time finding a really cute swimsuit for B. For our family, the standard is that her little tummy stays covered and that her little backside stays mostly covered. There are some pretty cute one piece options available at the usual stores, but I love having a two-piece for a little girl, it just makes going to the bathroom so much easier….

I have found EXACTLY what I want for her, but it costs $68… yeah, um not going to spend that on a bathing suit….. I wish I could, cause I love it, but I just can’t……

It is a separate dress and bottoms and it is SO adorable….

SO now I am stalking e-b@y in hopes that somehow this adorable suit(or one of a similar style) will be for sale at a DEEP discount….*sigh*

All of this angst over B’s swimwear has again prompted me to think about a topic that is really important to me; letting our little girls be little girls for as long as they can.

I recently became aware of this study released by the American Psychological Association on the affects of sexualization of girls. The study is lengthy( I haven’t made it the whole way through yet), and while there are bits and pieces I don’t agree with, overall the study confirms my core belief;

Sexualization of young girls is not only dangerous to them as children, but it in fact affects them in the long term and hampers their ability to develop healthy sexuality as adults.

This study is pretty conclusive and broad reaching in scope and is eye-opening and informative reading and I encourage all of my readers to check it out….

For the most part, I personally think that much of the sexualization of young girls in our culture we just accept and don’t think too much about it. There have been many, many factors that have shaped my personal belief about modesty and what that looks like for our family, but basically it boils down to this;

In our culture clothing is an expression of who we are, whether we intend it to be or not. In many other cultures, this is not true. Clothing is simply intended to protect against the elements. In our culture, the reality is that what we wear and by extension, what our children wear, is an expression of personality and many times, values. As one of my favorite Bible teahers says, “You didn’t get dressed on accident, you don’t look in the mirror and say, ‘oh my, I have earrings on, how did they get there?’”

Whether we intend it to or not, what we wear sends a message to those who are looking at us.

And as a mother of little girl, I am responsible for the message she is sending to the world. Do I really want her to wear a pair of short shorts with the words “hottie” written across the butt? I am in NO WAY wanting to offend anyone, but I think it is VERY important that we understand that we can inadvertantly buy into the sexualization of our daughters without realizing it. Of course it is not our intention, of course it sickens us to think of it that way, but as we look at the vast majority of mainstream fashions that are becoming accepted for young girls, it is clear what the message and the point of them is, and we are accepting and fueling this trend with our money.

So, what am I saying? Modesty is a value that we try to live out as a family. All of us, the boys and the girls. As a mom, I try to honestly evaluate what I am wearing and why. As a Christian woman, I also have the added responsibility to realize that I carry the image of God inside of me, and that I have the opportunity at any given time to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people that I interact with, so I try to ask myself, is what I am wearing going to make it harder or easier for someone to see Jesus in me? And this has practical applications in many, many ways, not just as it applies to modesty.

I do think modesty looks different for every family, and each family has to evaluate what the message they are trying to send. But I think we do our daughters a HUGE disservice by not being willing to at least look at the issue of sexualization of young women and how it affects them.