Check out the ultimate guide to 16 return-to-work programs in India for women
A fashion week for kids - developing confidence or unnecessarily focus on appearance at an early age?
I read about this first in TOI (Paper I get at home, you know..the hard copy!)….a Fashion Week for Kids…I mean for Kids!! I was appalled, all upset and worried about how parents are actually letting their kids be models at such a tender age…and then I read about women I admire like Maria Goretti and Sushmita Sen taking part as show stoppers or whatever with their children and that upset me even more.
And then I read this article in NDTV about some people saying that it’s an exploitation of kids while others saying that no it’s not, because children enjoyed it and there was no pressure and that the fashion week was tied up with a charity.
Then I thought hard….and I realised my views on the topic don’t change.
I don’t agree to this fashion week. I mean…no, even if it’s tied up with a charity, I don’t agree to it. In simple words, NO.
There may be no pressure, but why are you teaching kids that you need to be fashionable…I mean seriously! At 10 years, do they worry about how to get that extra bit of cheese from or what to wear while going down to play??
I agree kids need to be dressed well…but fashion for kids! I can’t imagine..I mean, ‘when you are a kid, you worry about when to play, not about how to dress while you go down to play…’ and logically, with all these designer clothes, can you even play is my question!
Or even if you go to a birthday party, or wedding, or whatever function where you apparently need to be ‘well dressed’, children = play. Anytime, anywhere, is it possible with such clothes…however user friendly they are..at the end of the day, why parade children in them…
I can’t understand the concept. If people really wanted to do charity, make it a ‘paint for a week’ campaign on a dirty wall, or read a book for a slum kid for a week or something like that…but fashion show!
And what would you say about celebrities endorsing such stuff? Sohail Khan (I dont dislike the guy, I dont love him either, I am pretty neutral to him) says, if children get a platform to showcase their talent, it helps them gain confidence: (all quotes below from this article linked to).
“There is nothing wrong in it (letting kids show their talent), it only increases their confidence. That’s why we even have dramatics in school, the kids grow up and open up to the world and get some kind of confidence in them,” the 41-year-old said here at the India Kids Fashion week.
There is a HELL OF DIFFERENCE between doing dramatics in school and walking on the ramp under the glare of the camera.
“Today I was backstage and saw the kids, all of them were so adorable and sweet, they get our childhood back,” he added.
Of course all kids are adorable and sweet – you don’t need to go backstage of a fashion show to figure out that out…you can find it in your own children, boss!
“A lot of people, thankfully, with generosity have become charitable, which is great. If you earn money, you should also contribute some to the society. It’s even tax-free. So I would say, earn from the rich and give it to the poor,” said Sohail, whose last film as a producer, “Ready”, garnered accolades.
Charity is tax-free – and that’s why you are doing a FASHION SHOW! I am shocked, upset and angry at such statements…I may be over reacting and then RD would tell me perhaps to think rationally…but in this case I can’t…I can’t imagine WHY we need fashion for kids.
In fact the shop I go to buy the school uniform for R, it has pictures of kids striking all model type poses for various clothes they are wearing, and I was always wondering who on earth would have thought about modeling kids…and then I read about the kids fashion week.
My questions
1) Are the parents of kids whose children participate really okie with this? I mean, is it about the fame, or do you think your children are really more confident after this show?
2) Am I a stupid parent?
3) Do kids really need ‘fashion’? Does it really help them in developing any ‘skills’?
Pic credit: Maciek Zygmunt (Used under a Creative Commons license)
R’s Mom is a working mother in Mumbai trying to balance work, home and baby. Learning the ropes of new motherhood and wanting to spend more time with baby. Running to catch up with read more...
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
I huffed, puffed and panted up the hill, taking many rest breaks along the way. My calf muscles pained, my heart protested, and my breathing became heavy at one stage.
“Let’s turn back,” my husband remarked. We stood at the foot of Shravanbelagola – one of the most revered Jain pilgrimage centres. “We will not climb the hill,” he continued.
My husband and I were vacationing in Karnataka. It was the month of May, and even at the early hour of 8 am in the morning, the sun scorched our backs. After visiting Bangalore and Mysore, we had made a planned stop at this holy site in the Southern part of the state en route to Hosur. Even while planning our vacation, my husband was very excited at the prospect of visiting this place and the 18 m high statue of Lord Gometeshwara, considered one of the world’s tallest free-standing monolithic statues.
What we hadn’t bargained for was there would be 1001 granite steps that needed to be climbed to have a close-up view of this colossal magic three thousand feet above sea level on a hilltop. It would be an understatement to term it as an arduous climb.
Why is the Social Media trend of young mothers of boys captioning their parenting video “Dear future Daughter-in-Law, you are welcome” deeply problematic and disturbing to me as a young mother of a girl?
I have recently come across a trend on social media started by young mothers of boys who share videos where they teach their sons to be sensitive and understanding and also make them actively participate in household chores.
However, the problematic part of this trend is that such reels or videos are almost always captioned, “To my future daughter-in-law, you are welcome.” I know your intentions are positive, but I would like to point out how you are failing the very purpose you wanted to accomplish by captioning the videos like this.
I know you are hurt—perhaps by a domestic household that lacks empathy, by a partner who either is emotionally unavailable, is a man-child adding to your burden of parenting instead of sharing it, or who is simply backed by overprotective and abusive in-laws who do not understand the tiring journey of a working woman left without any rest as doing the household chores timely is her responsibility only.
Please enter your email address