Take a look at this picture.

She’s beautiful, isn’t she?

Now look closer, and imagine her with no make-up.  Suddenly she looks like she is maybe 13, and could be one of our daughters.

If I enlarged this image, you’d see she is modeling a lovely purple lace bra for Victoria’s Secret.

Am I wrong that I find this a bit disturbing?  Am I just getting old and crotchety?  Am I just jealous, and pining away for my lost youth?  Should I just go along with the fact that young girls are selling sexy lingerie, being portrayed as much older than they are?  I admit that I don’t know who this model is.  Perhaps she is actually in her 20’s with a very youthful face.  But I doubt it.

I am well aware that our teenagers are growing up and maturing, at least physically, much more quickly than we did when I was a teen.  And, those teenage girls are shopping at Victoria’s Secret.  And I’m pretty confident that no one was holding a gun to this young lady’s head to force her pose for a well-known, popular fashion retailer.

But are we (the media, Hollywood, retailers, the internet) encouraging our children to grow up too fast?  What happened to running around like a tom boy, or giggling over celebrity magazines, or even, GASP, playing with dolls and toys?   What happened to being a little girl?  Does that only happen now from age 6 – 10?  Then BAM, it is adulthood?  Is this how we are training our “Real Women” of the future?

I realize I may be over-reacting.  After all, I have a son, no daughters.  As it is, I see my son growing up way too fast – at 11, he’s struggling between those days of being a cute, fun little boy vs. starting to act like a cool dude teenager.  So I can only imagine how much more challenging it can be to have a daughter.  As much as I’d be proud of my beautiful daughter for growing up to be a successful model, (if that is what makes her happy), I know I wouldn’t be comfortable seeing her modeling lingerie for the world before she’s even out of high school.

Ok, I will now step down off of my soap box. Because I think I’ll go see if my son wants to play a game or watch cartoons before it is too late.