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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...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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