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Would You Buy This?

And if you would, can you please explain why?

If you have sons, don’t think that that things like this won’t affect your child. We’re training them to be seductresses at four, which is cruel to everyone.

27 thoughts on “Would You Buy This?”

  1. Lets play devils advocate for a moment; I have a ‘friend’ who is itty bitty. How she remains that small, who knows. Either way, she has mistakingly wore her 12 year olds bra before. Perhaps the label isn’t the only problem, but A)younger girls that are obese and have breast and B)the older girls who are too small.

    1. I am SO glad you brought this up. I totally “get it” with my daughter’s size (she’s 5’2″ and almost 80 pounds) but if you’re four and obese you are not wearing a size four, you’re wearing a size 10 or 12 right?

      I have seen some tiny girls develop, but what happens during puberty is that the bones thicken up as well (which is why this is a critical time to NOT drink sodas) and I have never seen a single child anywhere NEAR a children’s size 4-6 entering puberty.

  2. For curiosity sake, what was hanging on the rack beneath the “bras”? My brain needs a little more context to figure out why in the world these even exist. Don’t even get me started on the “Little Princess” aspect of the packaging.

  3. Ay-yi-yi! My almost 5 yr old is small yes, but I wasn’t expecting to see bra tops in her size. And they are contiured for the breasts they apparently expect the Little Princesses to have. I am regularly disgusted by the skanky clothes I see available to her and her 9 yr old sister, who is a 10-12. I guess it goes with everything else I see as inappropriate in movies music etc. My girls know the word inappropriate well.

  4. Ugh, the black really killed me. Is that so your preschooler can rock the white t-shirt over a black bra look? I do not understand this at all, especially the way it’s made with little cups. It’s like this garment was designed for someone’s sick fantasy of child anatomy.

  5. Well, I can say that I’ve seen small girls (maybe not as young as 6, but certainly by 8) where their nipples were developing and were beginning to be noticeable, although they weren’t in need of a real bra per se. That sort of contraption seems like an option for girls like that. And just a side note – some girls DO develop very young. My best friend was thin but could fill a B cup at age 9! Now… if that is meant to be worn as a top… well, then I am at a loss.

  6. I will echo the weight issues above — I am guessing this is for heavy kids whose parents don’t want them to appear to have breasts at such a young age.

    Or else it’s for the skank factor. Could go either way.

  7. I bought my 2 yo a 2 piece bathing suit (even though I swore I never would).

    So. Am I the mom of a skank child? It was just so. cute. But to me it was an appropriate cut, unlike the triangle bikini tops I’ve seen for toddlers. ( if you are curious http://www.onenerveleft.com/2010/06/did-you-really-think-youd-escape-this.html )

    Anyway, I think I would be MUCH MORE concerned if this was a garment that was used to enhance rather than control. It looks like something that would be bought to de-emphasize (made up word) something that might be perceived as sexual maturity rather than to bring attention to it. It doesn’t even look like a bra. It looks like an ace bandage. What concerns me are the little tiny training bras for tweens that are padded to the seams that makes the issue of nipples starting to protrude a little into a full A or B cup.

  8. *sigh*

    This falls right up there with different underwear cuts being offered for toddlers and young girls. When we embarked on potty training 8 month ago, I stood in the toddler underwear section having a mini panic attack. I could buy briefs, bikini’s and low-rise hipsters for my barely 2 year old. Really? Had toddler thongs been an option I am sure I would have completely lost my mind. At that age I assumed I would only have one choice – full cut briefs. It surely was an eye opening experience and one I had not mentally prepared myself for. I knew I would have to deal with it eventually, but, figured I had at least a good 10 to 12 years before I reached that parenting hurdle.

    I really made me stop and think that society is trying to age our daughters much faster than what their bodies are developing. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a prude and I don’t live under a rock, but this, a bra, for little girls is just too much for me. I view it as a slippery slop. I understand that my daughter is going to grow up – but, I want her to reach certain clothing milestones when it is age appropriate and when her body is ready for them. I don’t want a ridiculous fashion trend like this forcing her to “grow up” any faster than necessary.

    1. Of course they need to have low-cut hipsters! Otherwise their underwear will show under their low-cut hip-hugging jeans!

      All jokes aside, yes, even though I only have boys I am not feeling relief from the fact that I only have boys…

  9. I don’t know. I would never buy one – but bras aren’t about sexualizing. Bras are about forcing to a stereotype and conforming to societal norms. (They weren’t burned in the 60’s so the girls could go be nuns, right?) I mean who would you assume was more sexual, a girl wearing a bra in her 20’s or a girl not wearing a bra in her 20’s?

    But for me that is totally beside the point…

    I’m FAR more horrified that I think it’s a tube top. A TUBE TOP. Please let those never come back into style. I will DIE before I see my child in a tube top.

    Well, unless she’s pairing it with the appropriate skin-tight acid-washed jeans and classy black pumps from PayLess. Then it’s totally ok. You just have to have a consistent message.

  10. My daughter is 6…she sees the bras and wants to know why they aren’t made for her size. I tell her b/c bras are for boobies and she doesn’t have any yet…she just has nipples.

    I *did* get her one of those double tank tops with the “bra” inside…but it’s really more like a liner…it’s not molded with cups or anything. And I bought it for SLEEPWEAR.

    I would NOT buy *that* particular item for my daughter.

    I know someone brought up the underwear issue…FWIW, I buy my daughter the low-rise panties…b/c she doesn’t like for the tops of the underwear to show over her clothes. She likes skirts (the ones with the little shorties inside, or she wears leggings, b/c I’ve told her she doesn’t act lady-like enough to wear them alone) and as she pulls the skirt down during the day (after it creeps up from playing/sitting/etc)…the underwear band used to get in the way and would bunch above the clothing band. I switched to the low rise and it’s not been a problem since.

  11. oh boy! That is sick and disgusting. Kids should be kids and adults protect their little girls from ‘cute’ stuff like this. They have time to be big girls when older…

  12. I have two boys, so I’m pretty sure buying female undergarments will never be a concern. At the same time, when I see things that seem to sexualize girls at ever younger ages, I have to worry for both girls and boys. I think it’s worthwhile to think about not only what this sort of mentality is going to do to our daughters but also to our sons. I want my boys to respect the girls and women in their lives, and their mother and I feel we are raising them to do so. But I worry for them when it seems so often that the parents of girls are not doing the same or when we see things like this.

  13. First off… I’d like to defend this product a little. Take out the cups and you’ve got a little tube top. One that would serve a purpose for the parents of a lot of SKINNY little girls, such as mine were at this age. Follow me here.. Your four yr old is wearing a tank top or a tank dress, but so many of them are cut for kids that are way chunkier than her. So what happens when you buy a top/dress that is the right length? It’s way too wide. So she bends over and you can see her nips. Maybe you don’t care. But if you’re like me, you DO! It’s not just the tanks tops being too wide either. Sometimes the straps on a tank dress are too long, and the same thing happens. Sometimes the dress or tee fits in the morning but after a day of active play, its all baggy. Sure you could layer another tank under (good luck on a hot day), or avoid tanks altogether. You could make her wear a bathing suit underneath… Believe you me, I’ve been through all of these ideas.

    As a children’s privacy garment manufacturer, I actually think a tube top like this is a GOOD idea to solve a common problem. I have something similar in the works for my company (minus the bra cups, I promise). The issue here lies in the execution. And that, I would venture to guess, is an issue of cheap, bulk foreign production.

    Someone, somewhere had this brilliant idea for this product. They went to a manufacturer that made similar products for women. They ordered the same thing for kids. But nobody bothered to CHANGE THE PATTERN. They just scaled down. This happens all the time and it’s why cheap kids clothes do not fit. They’re not actually made for children. They are made for freakishly small adults. Or nobody really, because scaling more than 4 sizes from your master pattern inevitably results in dreck anyways. Alternatively, the production house screwed up and made the adult sizes too small and slapped some princess labels on them hoping to minimize their losses.

    I don’t think it’s indicative of a plot to sexualize girls. It’s indicative of our need for cheap overseas production and more more more products faster and cheaper. It’s pointless and wasteful manufacturing. Which is also pretty depressing, come to think.

    Now can we talk about why a 12 yr old needs a padded push up underwire bra, and why this is being sold in the children’s section of large chain stores nationwide?

    1. Yeah. I’m seeing eye to eye with this comment. I’m 1000x more likely to believe this than that we are trying to make hookers out of 4 year olds. We at least like to wait until they are 10 and fit them into a tiny Hannah Montana miracle bra. This garment speaks of controlling an issue rather than enhancing sexuality. I mean, as far as I can tell, there isn’t even a tiny little bow on it like we had on our first bras.

  14. Hey Jessica! I have an idea….why don’t you use your social media powers and influence and contact the company that distributes the product and get the real scoop. I’d be interested to hear their ideas on the use of their product.

  15. I’m not letting the manufacturer off the hook for this. You can use fitted cotton tank tops (which are basically underwear) under too-loose shirts on a 4 year old. Molded cups are ridiculous and frightening for this age group.

    In trying to research this product, I found a very relevant article from the Guardian.

    “Too much, too young? Retailers still selling over-sexualised clothing to kids
    • Survey finds top chains offer inappropriate items
    • Retailers face pressure to remove clothes from sale”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/16/children-clothing-survey-bikini-heels

    Moms in Britain have started a campaign demanding the removal from stores of clothes that sexualize children. BRAVO!

    1. Amber…I agree!!

      Any time I get a survery for a children’s clothing store (I tend to stick to outlets, etc, but buy some items from The Children’s Place about twice a year) I am ALWAYS very specific about what I think looks like an ADULT item in a child’s store. Gathered stitching on a v-neck…low-rise/hipster jeans…padded bras (I don’t think I’ve seen this at TCP before, but I know in similar stores for girls like The Limited Too I *have* seen them)…event “cutesy” matching bras and panties weird me out. As a woman, the only time I have bothered with MATCHING (matchine designs in particular, not your basic whites/tans/etc) bras & underwear was b/c I was going to get laid and I wanted to look good in the few seconds before we got naked. I dunno…maybe that’s just a hangup for me…other women have told me they wear matching stuff to make *themselves* feel good…but then they have said they do it on a big date. …To make themselves feel confident? Or to look good once the clothes are off? Hmmm…

  16. I don’t buy the “cover-up” argument. It’s black and it’s strapless. Completely inappropriate. The sizing discrepency is wrong and the marketing is even worse.

    I mean, whatever happened to t-shirts? I went to private school, and we wore white t-shirts under our uniforms ever single day. I developed early (training bra in 1st grade, underwire by 6th grade) I still can’t fathom having worn such a thing.

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