Attack of the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen Clones

Listening to NPR this morning, I heard that companies are marketing to a new segment heavily, the Tween population. For those of you who don't know, 'Tweens' is the marketing definition of girls that are aged 9-12. Not a baby, not a teen, they are beTWEEN the ages and are fast becoming the largest spending population of mommy and daddy's credit cards. Think Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen sans tits, and to be honest...I blame these two chicks (and really their parents) for bringing this hell upon us all.

Gone are the days of "Mystery Date", where little Jenny's biggest fear was that her date would be the nerd. No longer do young girls dream of their first boyfriend, who will be rich, handsome (read...no acne), have a great car, will be content to only hold her hand instead of pressuring her to have sex, and will never, ever, EVER break her heart (as the Back Street boys have sung to her...Oh my Gawd...Nick is so dreamy!)

Now companies market "makeover parties" where with enough make up to make a Tijuana whore jealous, your daughter can look like Christina Agliera (who proclaims that "I am beautiful" in her own slutty way). KB Toys has announced that they will be selling "Home decoration" Kits so that young girls can decorate their rooms in leopard skin pillows and fuzzy pink throws, showing that even young girls can lack taste. Mattel has stopped making the Ken doll (He was doing GI Joe anyway...but that is another story), DKNY Kids is marketing kids clothes, but all the ads contain adults (and the one male model is hot!), and even Pottery Barn Kids (because shouldn't your kids have over priced furniture?).

Now the conservatives will argue that the tweens are growing up too fast and the media is to blame. Do I agree with this...well yeah. How many tweens do you see on television? None. You do see a lot of adults playing teenagers (once again showing that unattainable perfect skin that makes the Oxy products fly off the shelves), but these same conservatives aren't doing the smart thing. Shut off the damn television. Spend some time with your kids, give them a (*gasp*) book to read, better yet...read with them! And don't candy coat the world for them...they won't believe it, give it to them straight. Answer their questions about sex, and be honest. Yeah, that even includes conversations about sex. Explain that bills are coming in, and at the age of 9, you don't need a cell phone. When you can get a damn job, and pay the bill, then you can get one. Until then...here's 35 cents...use the damn pay phone.

We are creating a generation of spoiled children who believe that they should have the most expensive things. This generation is the clones of Mary Kate and Ashley, and Brittany, and Christina, and Paris Hilton (you want your daughter on a video tape?). When do we go to far? Why don't we let kids just be kids a little longer?