You have a point, while at the same time I notice we're sounding like our parents when we were young. Think of the Victorian era or even the 50s and 60s -- the 80s and 90s were 'trashier' in comparison. Which doesn't mean it's okay for 5 year olds to want to be sexy. Welcome to the continent of the Free. Freedom means MORE responsibility, because you are free to act and must own your actions; "With great power comes great responsibility", only in a Deomcracy, where the greatest number of voices wins (supposedly), the most unified choice is NOT inherently the BEST choice but it is typically the most uninformed choice. Our system steered us this way but it is always the choice of the individual to go with the flow. Do what you can, teach your children respect, for their elders, others, and as you can well see with our little 5 year old here: for themselves. I argue if you respect yourself, you won't be steered by the system and eat what they feed you or starve when they tell you to.

It just gets to the point where it's yucky. My thinking is that people should wear what they want and behave how they want, as long as it brings no harm to anyone else. So, beyond the age of say, 12 (I know that's a random and arbitrary age), parents should not tell their kids what they can and can't wear. What they should do is tell their kids: "I'm not driving you anywhere looking like *that*" To a 12 year old, the need for transportation will win out over the need to dress like a skank. Therefore the problem is solved.
But really! Some people should not be allowed to inflict themselves on the public the way they do. I think fashions will just get progressively trashier, as it always has done, until it can get no worse, and then it will head back to the clothes that come to the chin, wrists and ankles and are totally opaque in between.

Except that giving a (pre-)teenager an ultimatum will just force them to use other means. If they're asking to dress like this, don't you think the chances of them associating with older kids (old enough to drive maybe?) is pretty high? There goes your the power derived from the ultimatum.

And as long as the parent is paying for said clothing, it should be perfectly acceptible for them to say "NO!" to any skimpy/skanky/revealing clothing their 12 year old might want. I agree that at 12 years old a child is old enough to dress themselves, but their have to be guidelines.

It's more about teaching them how to be appropriate than it is about denying them the right to choose clothing. As kids approach that magic age of 18 (the arbitrary number for becoming "responsible"), it's probably okay to trust the judgement of a child more and more. But at 12, peer pressure and puberty cloud any rational reasoning that could be made.

I totally agree that if the parents are paying, they are well within their rights to make the kids where paper bags, so long as the children are kept warm and dry. If the kids are paying for their own clothes, however (that's what you get for giving your kid allowence), then I don't think the parents should really get much of a say unless it relates to te child's safety (IE the kid is walking somewhere alone dressed like a ho).

Safety is the largest concern I have for these young women. There are many (male) people who would take advantage (ie rape/kidnapping/muder) of such girls because of revealing clothes and use the age old excuse "she was asking for it!" by bringing up the clothing.

I've heard of people using that in court. I don't care if someone is wearing a shirt that says "Rape Me, Please", a thong and nothing else, and walking through the streets of Downtown Toronto, it is never okay. You really have to wonder about a society that allows that kind of excuse for such a disgusting crime. GAH!

"... dressed like a ho." i love the wording. hahah!

i completely agree, though. i've heard little girls (6 and under) asking their parents for sexy clothes, "like what britney spears wears!"
i had to resist the desire to cry.

This is kinda funny to me cause I think that it can be taken to extremes. My cousin when she was like five used to flirt with boys constantly, to the point of it being super annoying. So I bought her a shirt that sayd " Hey Boys!", her parents went nuts about it. SHE'S five, it's so a joke and if they can't see that they are dumb. However these are the same parents that tell her she's a fat pig, which is totally outta line, so i question their parenting anyhow.