Slow down!

This morning, for some crazy reason, my daughters said they want belly rings. Wh-wh-what? This is the moment when the record scratches, the music stops, you drive off the road - you know, the kind of moment when all of a sudden your life flashes in front of your eyes. Now, instead of seeing yourself at the Wharton graduation or the NASA launch, you see yourself in a bail bonds office or signing up for trade school. Look, I'm not saying that a belly ring automatically means jail. I just mean that 4- and 7-year-old girls shouldn't know about freakin' belly rings. They shouldn't know about tongue rings and eyebrow piercing and blue hair and mohawks. Stuff like that should make them stare wide-eyed and then turn away in fear. It shouldn't be an attraction! One of the problems is that my husband and I both have younger sisters. My girls constantly see young women who have chosen to display their "assets" instead of cover them up. To kids, that is cool and pretty. The line between what is appropriate and what isn't has moved so far that parents of girls are facing a tough battle. I told my girls that when they turn 21, they can make whatever choices they deem appropriate. So, I have a few years to work on them.