The Sexualization of Early Childhood

As I sat and thought about this topic, I became sad and a little overwhelmed with it. Children that are this young should not be thinking about sexualization; rather, they should enjoy being a child and playing. Sadly, children are viewing sexual images as well as sexual encounters way earlier than they should. They are viewing things on video games, watching older siblings, as well as seeing and hearing things from their parents. Instead of seeing others in "regular" clothes, children are viewing women as sexual objects that are dressed in very little clothing, excessive makeup and very thin. Sadly, even children in preschool want to be just like the women they see on television and video games. This is not healthy development; I believe this is taking away children's development by pushing sexualization.

This topic made me think of my own daughter, who is almost 15 now. It makes me truly sick to see the people on television that some of her classmates are idolizing. Thankfully, I have instilled in my daughter to be her own person and never try to be something she is not. She is very classy, has high standards, and refuses to act like something she is not. She does not like the trashy clothing or the messages it sends out. I also realize I cannot shelter her from everything; she will see and hear things she should not hear or see, but I have to hope she will make the right choices based on the way I have brought her up.

When I think of all of these things both for my students and my daughter, I want to protect these sweet babies and my teenager from all of the negativity! These children should be allowed to be just that-children. They should not be exposed to sex at such an early age! I remember, several years ago, one of my preschoolers talking about the "sexy" women and naked women he seen on a video game. I let him talk for about a minute about how hot she was, and how good she looked with no clothes on. I was SHOCKED! He was only 4, but he was talking like this. I was beyond appalled at what I was hearing. I pulled him to my table and had a discussion with him. He told me overheard his brother and dad talking like that, so he was repeating it. I told him I understood he looked up to both his brother and dad, but those types of things were inappropriate for our classroom and he would not be allowed to discuss those things. I even called his mom in for a conference and expressed my concerns. This mother was as shocked as I was, and he was not allowed to play that video game again.

Because of the influx of technology, I do not believe we will be able to reverse this trend. I believe our children will continue to see inappropriate images and sex. We, as educators need to feel comfortable collaborating with parents and families when topics of this nature come up. We must allow children to be children who enjoy playing without brining up the topic of sex or sexualization.