Pretty or Hot? What do You want your Girls To Be?

 A while ago a friend sent me a link to this blog post at the National Catholic Register.  The Death of Pretty.  In it Pat Archbold of Creative Minority Report  defines pretty as “ a mutually enriching balanced combination of beauty and projected innocence.” He laments the disappearance of pretty. Girls no longer want to be a pretty princess. They want to be HOT.  Just last week I heard two little girls singing the Pussy Cat Dolls Song “Don’t You Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me?”  and they knew the all the words.
One upon a time ago little girls wanted to be a Princess now they are bombarded with media images that are of a different sort.  When I was a girl We had toys that looked like this.

/Now Holly Hobby  and her friends look like this.


Not only is it Holly Hobby but if you have not watched cartoon lately and you have little girls, or even little boys you should at least check them out. Dresses are getting shorter, and bodies are curvier.

So what does this have to do with pretty?

Girls of all ages, yes from 3-33 emulate those images that they see in the media. It is up to us to educate our son’s and daughter’s as to what is appropriate. When my girls were young I used to define appropriate clothes to go to town or church as those that were not stained or torn (We do live on a farm.) Now we discuss hem lengths and how people perceive you when you dress in particular manners
After reading the  post in The my daughters and I had a discussion as to what is popular attire today. We picked the Khardasians vs. Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn.  In Breakfast at Tiffany’s Audrey Hepburn is iconic and considered classy by today’s standards. While she is scheming and trying to find a rich husband she still exudes a certain innocence.

Lets compare that to the Kardashians.  They seem to be dressed a bit more proactively even for daily appearances.  In 50 years we have gone from Audrey Hepburn to Kim Khardasian?








What can We Do?
We can talk to our daughters and our son’s and let them know what is appropriate dress not only for Church but school, running errands and     . Talk to your daughters about how beauty important but more important than beauty is how they act. Dressing nicely does not mean you have to spend a lot of money for clothes, it means dressing in a way that does not embarrass your family,
Do you have standards on how to dress for your children or how to dress for yourself? If you are interested in further reading Here are some great resources.
Clothed Much – a great Fashion Blog by a young lady you shares modest clothing
Pigtail Pals – a blog dedicated to Redefining Girly and Keeping our little girls little girls
 Does It Matter How you Dress for Church
Why I Wear Dresses and Skirts
 

Technorati Tags: pretty vs. hot

Technorati Tags: pretty vs hot,apprearances,role models for Girls,death of Pretty