Right on, Hillary! It makes me sad, too. And, while at 8 or 9 years old I am sure I begged to do the same, my mum would have none of it. She let me dress up in her things and run around the house pretending to be Marilyn Monroe, but when it came to leaving the house I had shoes appropriate to my age. Doesn’t mean I wore ugly shoes, but they certainly were not heels. Now, I look at these little kids–and that’s what they are little children–and I feel so sad. It’s not only the heels, but the shirts that show their tummies (tummies that should still being given zerberts), the makeup, on and on. I know that no little girl understands when you say “You have plenty of time for this. Enjoy your childhood while you can.” But the mummies and daddies out there have to keep saying it, or start saying it again and then they have to say “No” and stand firm. I know it’s hard being the bad guy, but feminist arguments aside (and there are PLENTY of those, too), your children need to be children at least until they’re teens…And teens, well that’s a whole different post.

You’re right—totally creepy.
When I was a child, I LOVED makeup and playing dress up. And my mom was perfectly fine with me doing that in the house, but she never let me wear my dress-up clothes, high heels, and makeup outside of the house. Not even lip gloss. Even in the 8th grade–back when I mistakenly thought bright red lipstick was “my color”–she’d occasionally/conveniently drive by my school, stop her car, beckon to me with her finger and hand me a tissue to “wipe that crap off my face.” Only in high school was I able to wear lipstick (not red…) and platform heels, which were in style at the time (and even then I couldn’t really walk in them anyway without spraining my ankles)
I’d never let my child look like she’s much older than she is by allowing her to dress in inappropriate clothes and shoes in public. That’s just asking for trouble in so many ways.

Emmabliss – right on! I can’t even understand why they manufacture high heeled shoes in these kiddie sizes. I think they’re mainly used for pageants – feh – and confirmations (just odd, if you ask me). The ones in the picture are Kenneth Cole. Maybe I should write to them about how unethical I think they are!

I have a beautiful eight year old daughter. I will not purchase any sort of clothing or shoes for her that will not allow her to play freely or get dirty, let alone things that might sexualize her. Not only are they making high heels for little girls, you can buy padded bras for little girls! Not teenagers…little girls. I saw them in Target of all places. I simply do not understand parents who buy these things. Thankfully, child appropriate clothing and shoes can still be found for little girls…but you have to look hard and pay more. It seems the little “hoochie mama” trend has taken over most of the major retail clothing establishments. So sad.

I think it depends. For little-little kids, the line between “dress-up” and everyday life can get pretty blurry. One little boy came into my library dressed as Batman continually for about a year. So maybe the kids are in a princess phase and the parents’ compromise is that they can just wear the shoes, but not the full outfit? I’m trying hard to think of a reason besides, “I want my kid to wear hoochie-mama shoes because I think it’s cute.”
It’s somehow more disturbing that these are clear-heeled shoes, since I vividly remember Chris Rock’s old routine about how clear heels = totally nasty slut.

That whole thing about making children look like adults is creepy. I’ll bet that if we looked back at the very first “little girls dressed up as grown women” event we would find that it was started by a bunch of creeps. And what about the goings on of the people in Murphyville, No. Carolina?

I never bought shoes like this for my daughter, not did she ask for them. But as you mentioned it might be a cultural thing. I noticed that in May our local children’s shoe store was selling lots of white sandals with heels for First Communion. That’s for seven-year-olds. I overheard one mom tell her daughter, “You only need to wear it once.” I picture the little girl tripping down the aisle of the church. The girls are dressed as miniature brides, so I guess this is part of the ensemble.

Ooh, what’s going on in Murphyville, North Carolina, Cully? I will have to Google it.

I am an online retailer of high heel shoes and boots and with that one may think that I would lean towards favoring of such actions of little girls wearing such shoes, but to be honest I don’t. But what I have noticed is we do get alot of people calling asking about low heels for young girls, and what seems to be the most popular reason behind it is beauty pageants. Alot of parents get so wrapped up in them that it rules their lives. Others get them due to their little girl sees their mom wearing them all the time and they want to be like her. Now while I’m not for young girls wearing them all the time, I do feel there are occasions where it would be appropriate, like weddings, church, pageants, or any formal event, but not for everyday wear. So distasteful? That depends on when and where.

Actuall, as a little girl I took off my shoes and went barefoot as much as possible – and so did my daughter. In fact, she is talking about wearing Keds under her wedding dress. I don’t understand why anyone would want to put those kinds of shoes on a child – they are uncomfortable and actually, from what I have read, can damage a child’s legs and back.
We need to let our children be children as long as we can – life happens fast enough without accelerating it.

Hi,
In our European originated Western culture, now prevalent in practically all developed nations, high heels are a sexual accoutrement; they form part of the projected sexual persona of an adult female. So ingrained is this in city dwellers (I note comments above that suggest some differences in attitude in rural and semi rural small town areas) that as such the actual physical objects themselves have taken on a sexual identity of their own and there is little doubt that most men are attracted to women in high-heeled shoes more than they would be were they not wearing them. Thus they have no place on the feet of pre-pubescent girls!
The crystal shoes that you show above are not particularly “sexy”, but in Britain there are some styles of shoes aimed at tween (7 to 10) to mid teens with 2.5 inch and even 3 inch heels (with a platform) with proper stiletto tips that are made in small size 11 through to UK adult size 6 (US 8). This is highly problematic, because if a particular shoe style is visually “sexy” in an adult size 7, its visual impact (and audible impact!) is no less sexy in a small size 13! Now this certainly does not mean that it makes the little girl sexy, it certainly does not, however the shoes attract attention that is incongruous. It wouldn’t be the first time that I and other men have obeyed a conditioned response and turned at the noise of high heels expecting to see a possibly attractive adult female only to find, rather embarrassingly, that one is looking at a child!

In support of my comment above, please see the URL attached. Admittedly it says Teen not Tween, but check out the sizes and remember that UK sizes are numerically two less for the same size than an American women’s size; therefore a UK size 1 is a US size 3. Look at the very high (for the size) grey (gray) hidden platform stiletto Mary Jane, – that sexy creation is available in UK size 1!!

I have seen girls as young as 10 in pumps and stillettoes now as well. It’s a real trend.

its al fine if little girls want a wear some can make them look sexy there nuthing bad about it i have even seen girls as young as 8 years old weraing 4inch high heel sandels and short skirts dont make it a bad thingthey just kids

“sexy” is becoming a real problem and society doesn’t really even understand it yet.
The biggest problem comes in that women don’t understand “sexy” in terms of men and vice versa.
Much like the word “cute”, “sexy” has no real meaning for women, and it covers a host of concepts that usually flutter around “edgy”, “assertive”, “vivacious” etc.
For men, sexy means one thing. The dictionary definition. That is “to make one want to have sex with”.
So when teenage girls go around trying to be “sexy”, to them and their peers they’re just trying to be “cool” and generally emulate what television says to be glamourous. But unknowingly they’re sending out one signal to guys. “Please have sex with me”.
I’ve seen girls try to argue that that’s not what they’re doing at all but… yes. yes it is. It might not be what they’re intending to do, but that’s really beside the point, isn’t it?

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I suspect that the point about high heels hobbling little girls is not fully appreciated. Little girls are too young to make a sensible decision and need their mothers’ guidance. That why the idea that a mother would be quite content to let her nine or ten year old daughter walk around all day in two inch heels is quite appalling. I suspect that many little girls would be willing to endure the discomfort of wearing high heels in order to enjoy how pretty they look and the feeling of being grown up. Even if the shoes hurt I suspect that a little girl might be too infuated with how grown up she thinks they make her look to take them off. A grown woman understands the problems that high heels causes and can make a judgment about the level of pain or discomfort she is willing to endure. On the other hand, a little girl is unable to make such an informed choice. She is quite like to wear high heels constantly and if she does then her Achilles tendons will shrink and she will be unable to wear shoes without heels. I suppose it is a cliche to compare this with footbinding but the similarity is too obvious to avoid. For over a thousand years it was mothers, not fathers, who insisted that their daughters’ feet be bound. Modern mothers who let their daughters wear high heels for everyday wear are incurring the risk that their daughters will be hobbled for life.

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Ich merke gerade das ich diesen Blog deutlich ofter lesen sollte- da kommt man echt auf Ideen.

Irgend ne Ahnung wie sehr das verallgemeinerbar ist?

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Lustig, ich hatte garnicht gedacht das das *wirklich* so funktioniert. Komische Welt.

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Da fragt man sich beim lesen ja schon, ob man nicht irgendwie auf den Kopf gefallen ist.

Irgend ne Ahnung wie sehr das verallgemeinerbar ist?

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Ich denke das ist eh nur ne Modeerscheinung.

Da fragt man sich beim lesen ja schon, ob man nicht irgendwie auf den Kopf gefallen ist.

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Krass! Hatte ich garnicht gedacht…

Unglaublich! Sowas hätte ich absolut nicht für möglich gehalten

Herrlich, jetzt endlich habe ich das Problem in der Tiefe kapiert

Da fragt man sich beim groben Durchlesen von blog.beliefnet.com schon, ob man selbst doof ist. Herzlichen Dank für eure Erläuterungen

An sich ist das ne super Geschichte, ich überlege mir aber, ob das auch dauerhaft machbar sein wird.

Heftig, ich habe garnicht gedacht dass dies wirklich auch so klappt

Absolut Genialer Artikel, dies wollte ich schon immer mal schreiben, wusste aber niemals wie ich dies zu Papier bringen kann .

Unglaublich dass das wirklich wahr ist

Da fragt man sich beim groben Überfliegen ja schon, ob man selbst doof war. Herzlichen Dank für Ihre Erklärungen

Da fragt man sich beim groben Durchlesen von blog.beliefnet.com ja schon, ob man selbst doof war. Herzlichen Dank für Ihre Berichte

I thought this site was for high heels.

extreme high heels