To hate the vacuousness of some young girls nowadays?

[CarryOnCharon]

I find it so sad. 12 year olds obsessed by beauty brands, TikTok, doing their hair for school, fake tan, ridiculously short school skirts, it all seems so sad. And they are clones. Room in their heads only for brands

i know this is not all of them.

Yes, because anything feminine coded is trashy and crap and we must mock it.🙄

Most kids don't have one singular interest, it's possible to like boys, make up, music, art, poetry, reading, films, swimming all at the same time.

Put firm limits on sm and this won’t be as much of a problem. Talk to your dc about advertising and make them wise at an early age as to how products are marketed to them subliminally and subtly through sm.

And make sure your dc are in positive friendship groups BEFORE adolescence hits, and it helps if they are focused on a sport, hobby, interest that takes them outside of themselves; scouts, music, D of E, karate, tennis, dance, horses, dog agility, art, crafts anything so that they don’t get too much time to naval gaze.

But a little navel gazing is normal I think for adolescent girls with a few obsessions thrown in. Happily this current make up obsession passed them by but my dds had a very intense and prolonged loom band phase and I occasionally still find the wretched things in the house about 10 years later!

Usually the vacuous “thing” that teen girls are obsessed with are not actually about the “thing” itself which is just a vessel for them to feel bonded to their group and that’s a perfectly normal part of development.

Probably because their mothers are as shallow as they are - grown adults queuing round the block to buy bloody cups, worshipping "influencers" and other such shite.

And yes I do have a nearly 12yr old daughter and she has no interest in this stuff thank god

This!!

I find it beyond sad that at the age of 12 girls (children) are already being judged and found wanting like they won’t get that their entire adult life when they grow into women

Young people have always followed trends. The only difference now is the Internet, especially social media, applying pressure to conform in a different way.

But there's also more pressure to be healthy, eat well, look after your mental health, exercise etc. It isn't all bad.

Do you actually know any of these girls you're judging? Or are you looking at these girls in their short skirts and making assumptions? Can't you like make up, short skirts.AND other more worthy pursuits?

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households.- Socrates

I think these are quite separate trends though

I do know some. This is why it makes me sad

My confusion is why you are targeting young girls?

I would understand and even agree if you said - isn't it so sad that young girls are pressured into growing up so quickly and that compared to generations before, thanks to social media there's an even greater awareness of brands and higher expectations to be consumers.

Stop being vile to the literal CHILDREN and blame the adults that created the culture.

But this is not what I’m seeing. Discussions are ONLY about the brands etc

I was 12 (30 yrs ago) and loved make up, fashion and accessories. I don't think it's changed tbh. Only that Primark is seen as acceptable for most everyone and not just for paupers like it was in my day.

Ahh the sweet days of sun in, body glitter, hair mascara and impulse. Let’s not forget Benetton hot and cold. Transparent rucksacks, those black necklaces with yin and Yang pendants.

To top it all off, ‘position of the fortnight’ and MSN chat rooms - both of which make me shudder now as a parent. Absolutely unacceptable.

Fond memories though!

YABU and yes, judgmental.
Young people have always wanted to fit in. Whether that’s following the ‘right’ football team, having the ‘in’ trainers or fashions.
They now have ‘influencers’ who are paid a lot of money to convince them they need the latest products.
None of this makes them vacuous.
Your disdain is aimed at girls in particular and this is simple misogyny.

No. The trends now are not for cheap and cheerful. That’s the rose tinted view.

The 12 year old I know will only countenance TikTok endorsed brands and the like. Skincare that’s inappropriate for young skin.

It’s a different world from dewberry and white musk

Yes and going back to 80s toners, shaders and harmony

I always loved the charts too

Primark? All the teens here ( mine included) are head to toe Nike and other designer brands 🙈.

so are you actually a teenager as you are referencing Tik Tok as something you had to comprehend?

If those brands could have marketed directly to teens and made money off them, they would have. Blaming the teens for being easily persuaded/manipulated is misdirected.

I'm not sure this is something new. I'm 43. When I was in high school in the mid 1990s, there was a group of girls who were obsessed with make up, skincare and fashion brands, short skirts, fake tan (one of them would literally stain everything she touched). The only difference was there was no social media. They learned it from magazines and each other (and older sisters/mothers).

That said, my nearly 12 year old is into wild swimming and climbing and playing with the dog and did a 30 mile hike and camp last weekend instead of being stuck at home on a phone. She doesn't have tiktok or snapchat or any social media at all. So they definitely aren't all like that. It's down to parenting and modelling the sort of values you want your dc to have.

what is it that you are actually complaining about? The price of the products these young ladies are buying or the fact that they are using them to conform.

You’re correct in that we didn’t have the makeup brands available back then that they have today, but you can bet we’d have wanted them. Think about the clothes… jeans in particular I remember paying $100 US for a pair of jeans… ~$300 in today’s money.

Kids my age absolutely would have been the same as today’s kids.

Sun-in!

I spent months looking like I needed Brasso for my hair instead of shampoo. Between that and blue and pink eyeshadow worn together I thought I was the bees knees.

I'm very relieved that camera phones and social media weren't available to record it all for posterity.

Hope it makes you feel good to be judging children @CarryOnCharon - seeing and they are so vacuous and shallow, great you can introduce them to the time honoured tradition of women bitching about eachother behind their backs.

Ah I forgot Lancôme juicy tubes. In various glitter shades. There definitely was ‘high end’ teen stuff then too.

Im still a devoted Carmex user from my teenage years. And Dr Haushka

i specifically stated it’s not all of them