LITTLE girls love to dress up. You can bung a little boy in a bin bag and he'll be happy as Larry, but little girls are a different breed.
They enjoy wearing their fanciest pants even if they are only going to dig for worms in the garden. They enjoy trying on everything in their wardrobe before moving on to their mum's (leaving the entire contents of both in a heap of Everest proportions on the floor).
They even enjoy shopping for clothes, an activity that leaves their brothers (and fathers, for that matter) quivering and whimpering for mercy at the mere mention of the words 'Top' and 'Shop'.
They are, in the words of my friend's three-year-old daughter, an altogether more stylish breed of 'Trendy Wendys'.
My own live-in TW is fond of clothes that are pink and fluffy. If they are pink, fluffy and sparkly, she can barely contain herself.
I had to buy her more practical older brother a winter coat the other day.
His old one made him look like a street urchin, which was not helped by the fact that he has recently developed a liking for the musical Oliver! and has a tendency to belt out the odd chorus of Consider Yourself in a cockney accent so bad it would make Dick Van Dyke wince.
The TW decided she would choose something to keep out the autumn chills too. She tried on quite a fetching stripy sweater, but dismissed it as "itchy, scratchy". Then she spotted it.
The 'it' in question was a sleeveless jacket in pink fake fur. Her eyes lit up like Blackpool sea front and a bewitched "ooooh" of appreciation filled the air.
The fact that it made her look like an underfed Barbie-pink yeti, particularly when she pulled up the disproportionately large hood, made no difference. It was pink, it was fluffy and she was in love with it.
The deciding factors for me were that it was cheap and, much as I hate to admit it, cheerful in that twirly, girly, look-at-me-I'm-a-princess way that only the under-fives can get away with.
Unfortunately, not all clothes aimed at little girls fall into this tasteless but harmless category. Some are downright disturbing in their overt sexuality.
High-heel shoes, lacy lingerie, micro-mini skirts and boob tubes are not cute or sweet or in any way appropriate for young girls, no matter how pink and fluffy their packaging.
What sort of message are we giving to children if we buy them a T-shirt with a logo that echoes the Playboy bunny and a slogan saying 'I love boys. They're stupid' (£10 from Tammy Girl at Bhs, in case you were wondering)?
Earlier this year, Asda was criticised for selling black and pink lingerie, including a push-up bra, for girls as young as nine. A similar range of underwear, including a G-string and padded bras, was removed from the Argos catalogue.
Before that, Next was criticised for selling T-shirts for girls under six with the slogan 'So many boys, so little time'.
And even the Mister Men were brought into disrepute when the Little Miss Naughty lingerie range hit the high street.
Our kids grow up too quickly as it is. The last thing they need is for us to push them headlong towards puberty when they are barely out of nappies.
Parents hold the purse-strings and we should pull them pretty tight when it comes to clothes that sexualise young girls.
I know it's very unfashionable - very un-TW - but let's just say no.
Updated: 10:27 Monday, September 26, 2005
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