Discussion Starter: Padded bras for preschool girls

While visiting pbsparents the other day, my wife saw an article talking about protecting your little girls from growing up too fast and avoiding a sexualized childhood. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Helen recently wrote asking me for help dealing with the aftermath of the "High School Musical" birthday party her 5-year-old daughter had recently attended. At the party, the girls dressed up in fancy clothes and were taught how to do a special [i.e., sexy] dance by the high school-aged cousin of the birthday girl. After the HS Musical cake, the girls broke the HS Musical piñata to get their party favors -- temporary tattoos of the film's characters. The children did a special performance of the HS Musical dance when parents arrived to pick them up.

Helen's daughter loved the party and quickly started pleading to see the HS Musical movies. On a recent trip to a mass market store, her daughter kept pointing to the movie's products and got especially excited about the padded bra and bikini underpants set "in her size!" And she continued to practice her HS Musical dance both at home and in public places like the mall.

Here is another discussion I found on the topic.

My little girl is not even 6 months old yet, so I haven't had to deal with any of this stuff up to this point in my parenting. But I know that day will come sooner than I expect (and even sooner if this is an actual trend taking place around the country).

What are your thoughts on this trend? Have you noticed it with any of your children? And is it anything new or has it been this way for a while?

How does this type of sexualized childhood affect a church's children's ministry? Should it?

You can use this article to start discussion with your students about sex, beauty, self-image, how culture affects how we see ourselves, pressure, marketing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.