Proms proms and more proms

[Krumplenump]

I was reading the paper today and lo and behold, they've introduced primary school proms for 7 year old girls. I was initially shocked but I don't know why. Every passing hour seems to bring yet another fad that takes another step in removing childhood innocence and their right to simple honest fun playing in the mud and whatnot. Social pressures are enough as they are let alone having it piled onto 7 year old kids in this way.

What are your views on the deterioration of children being able to simply be children and not be expected or brainwashed into thinking looks mean everything in general and proms in particular?

I personally abhor the parents for getting so stupidly obsessed with these sort of things and whilst it may seem innocent 'oh but she loves dressing up in a lovely dress and it's all so fun', in reality I believe it is stoking the flames of what I see as a bleak, brainless and unsustainable future for British society. I see it as part of a wider rotting of social fibre that includes things like unchecked hysteria at soldiers funerals which seems insincere that would not have been seen a couple of decades ago, things like 'rain tax' being proposed as well as people reaching 65 having to pay a

 

[Shai Gar]

Wha? Education starts when you leave University.

Oh wow. The British Empire is Annihilating itself.

 

[slant]

Only the girls? That's unfair.

 

[acd]

I was thoroughly disturbed when I went to the market the other day and saw a little miniature shopping cart made for children with a plastic flag on it that said, "Customer in Training."

If I had a seven year old and she wanted to go to a mini-prom I'd let her go, but I wouldn't indulge her with lots of bullshit to make sure she's the most glamourous glitter-lipgloss faced child at the thing. I imagine the whole ordeal as very 'Desperate Housewives in training.'

Then again, our grandparents would have sworn just looking at Elvis' dancing hips on the black and white tv would have made their daughters pregnant.
Times they are a changin'..

Hopefully if I have kids I'll be successful enough to pique their interest in things like, say, the natural world and books and artistic endeavors so that functions such as the one you speak of are null.

 

[Faye]

This reminds me of the stores (here in the U.S.) where little girls dress up in revealing clothing. I don't remember what they are called though.

I do think it is terrible they put these unnecessary pressures on people at such a young age. Obviously, many people are going to embrace it, and few are going to realize the damage that is being done.

The main reason though for little kid dances and prom, I think, is that it is another stupid excuse for corporations to milk money though the schools.

 

[Quinlan]

We used to have "discos" in primary school.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I don't really see a problem with it. So long as it is low key and is just like a "big dance" where all the kids go and have fun, the kids would have fun and enjoy it. The problem would arise if all of the kids and parents saw it as a "I'm the prettiest/handsomest of them all" contest.

I was thoroughly disturbed when I went to the market the other day and saw a little miniature shopping cart made for children with a plastic flag on it that said, "Customer in Training."

What's wrong with that? They used to have things like that when I was little at a few stores and I LOVED it. It made me feel special and important. I think it's a nice thing for kids to use. It's a chance for them to have fun out in public in an otherwise boring place. People really overreact to consumerism and think it is the huge evil, when it really is not (that isn't to say I don't have problems with it though).

 

[Shai Gar]

This reminds me of the stores (here in the U.S.) where little girls dress up in revealing clothing. I don't remember what they are called though.

Why is that legal, but paedophile web-rings are not?

 

[slant]

I loved those shopping carts dude.

 

[Krumplenump]

I don't really see a problem with it. So long as it is low key and is just like a "big dance" where all the kids go and have fun, the kids would have fun and enjoy it. The problem would arise if all of the kids and parents saw it as a "I'm the prettiest/handsomest of them all" contest.



What's wrong with that? They used to have things like that when I was little at a few stores and I LOVED it. It made me feel special and important. I think it's a nice thing for kids to use. It's a chance for them to have fun out in public in an otherwise boring place. People really overreact to consumerism and think it is the huge evil, when it really is not (that isn't to say I don't have problems with it though).

I think Dragon summed it up well. Most people simply wouldn't be aware of the damage it would be causing, further materialising kids and putting emphasis on image and whatnot. Sure, little girls like dressing up, but creating an occasion where if you do not participate in dressing up (and have to go through the ordeal of finding a 'date' that is bad enough in your teens) you're not going to fit in, is utterly terrible in my opinion. All it does is encourage competitiveness based on looks rather than wit, intelligence and skill and creates yet ANOTHER hellish occasion many of that age (and all ages in fact) would dread due to the social pressures involved.

How you can see 'nothing wrong' with it is somewhat shocking to me and I have to say I feel it's somewhat naiive to assume it would stay low key and simply be for 'fun'.

edit: I don't see anything wrong with mini supermarket trollys at all though, I used to like wheeling one with a flag on too.

 

[Shai Gar]

Shopping trolleys were good for bumper karts.

 

[J. Cardigan]

It's an untapped market! /s

Fuck this society.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I think Dragon summed it up well. Most people simply wouldn't be aware of the damage it would be causing, further materialising kids and putting emphasis on image and whatnot. Sure, little girls like dressing up, but creating an occasion where if you do not participate in dressing up (and have to go through the ordeal of finding a 'date' that is bad enough in your teens) you're not going to fit in, is utterly terrible in my opinion. All it does is encourage competitiveness based on looks rather than wit, intelligence and skill and creates yet ANOTHER hellish occasion many of that age (and all ages in fact) would dread due to the social pressures involved.

How you can see 'nothing wrong' with it is somewhat shocking to me and I have to say I feel it's somewhat naiive to assume it would stay low key and simply be for 'fun'.

edit: I don't see anything wrong with mini supermarket trollys at all though, I used to like wheeling one with a flag on too.

I'm not being naiive about this. I see nothing wrong with it because it is such a young age that kids won't have the capacity to see this as anything of superior social importance. They will treat it like a normal fun thing. Besides, not everyone is going to grow up thinking that all of these materialistic things are at the forefront of life. People that already have the inate capcity to grow up like that are going to be that way. It also isn't like the kids are forced to do this.

 

[Krumplenump]

I'm not being naiive about this. I see nothing wrong with it because it is such a young age that kids won't have the capacity to see this as anything of superior social importance. They will treat it like a normal fun thing. Besides, not everyone is going to grow up thinking that all of these materialistic things are at the forefront of life. People that already have the inate capcity to grow up like that are going to be that way. It also isn't like the kids are forced to do this.

At such a young age kids will do anything and think anything if they're not guided in a particular direction. Introducing these proms and similar things direct them down a path of image and competitiveness. Besides, particularly girls of that age are more than capable of seeing this as something of social importance. Dunno if you've ever met one but they can be pretty bitchy at that age even not to mention the fact that bullying goes on then too.

And sure not ALL kids are gonna grow up thinking these materialistic things are at the forefront of life, but enough to affect the future of society will.

It isn't like they are forced to do this.. some might, you know, the kind of mums that are obsessed with it, but yes, whilst most won't be forced, given the choice over such matters kids will take the one they want at the time and that certainly isn't always the best one.

 

[slant]

I just don't understand why the boys were excluded. That's the most disturbing part.

 

[Quest]

The whole idea is absurd.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ar-olds-800-dresses-limos-make-fake-tans.html

 

[Faye]

The whole idea is absurd.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ar-olds-800-dresses-limos-make-fake-tans.html

....I need to vomit. What is this? You really are damning your children to hell by forcing them to start focusing on their physical appearance at such a young age. What do barbies and prom queens have in common? They are viewed more as sex objects than as people.

"'It did worry me, that these little 11-year-old girls were turning up in high heels and make-up, looking more like they were 15 or 16. They were so glamorous I couldn't believe it. I don't begrudge the parents - this was the moment for their child to shine, and they threw themselves into it, dressing up their daughters like Barbie dolls.'"

​

I'm happy with what my elementary school did when it was time for my class to graduate. They put up a volleyball net, gave the kids sponges and buckets of water, and had people throw the sponges over the nets and explode on people on the other side. My only complaint is that they didn't let us use water balloons like the kids the year before us (though I don't think they threw them over a net- that'd be dangerous). There were other activities too, but that was my favorite (and the only one I really remember).

 

[Faye]

I just don't understand why the boys were excluded. That's the most disturbing part.

Because slant, in our society, women are objectified sexually to a much greater degree than men. Men are "supposed" to find their efficacy in other areas, like sports, driving cars, killing things, and doing women. Women, on the other hand, are "supposed" to look pretty and be sex toys (as well as being emotional and girly).

Why is that legal, but paedophile web-rings are not?

Because its not pedophilia when the schools, parents, and corporations do it. It is "making our daughters feel special".

 

[acd]

What's wrong with that? They used to have things like that when I was little at a few stores and I LOVED it. It made me feel special and important. I think it's a nice thing for kids to use. It's a chance for them to have fun out in public in an otherwise boring place. People really overreact to consumerism and think it is the huge evil, when it really is not (that isn't to say I don't have problems with it though).

Nothin is wrong with it if you like the idea of being a consumer first and foremost. By all means.. Have at it. I, however, am creeped out at the idea of breeding consumers.

 

[Azure_Knight]

I think people should be allowed to grow up before having a prom, or anything else that typically does not happen during a particular age. I laugh when I see children being put into a limo for a birthday party; what exactly are you trying to teach them? I wish society and its members would stop setting youth up with unrealistic expectations and perceptions of the world and how it works. These youth turn into priviledged adults, who expect similar treatment... it's not what I would expect from a mature adult population!