Shops told: Don't sexualise children

New guidelines have been introduced for shops selling children's clothes to help make clothing more appropriate.

Over the past few years, a number of shops have received complaints over clothing that they were stocking - Asda removed a range of padded bras aimed at 9-year-olds, while Matalan was also criticised for selling padded bras to children and Tesco came under fire for selling high-heeled Disney shoes aimed at 3 year olds.

Now, the British Retail Consortium have released stricter guidelines to try and prevent inappropriate clothing reaching the shelves. Their guidelines state that clothes should have modest cuts and appropriate images and slogans.

So far, Asda, Debenhams, Argos, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Peacocks, Sainsbury's and Tesco have signed up with this new code of practice - and more are being encouraged to join.

In March, we asked you on Facebook what you thought about Matalan's padded bras, lots of you replied that it was 'disgusting' and 'wrong'.

Danielle said: 'Nothing shocks me now I've seen 'future footballer's wife' T-shirts at Primark for as young 2-3 years. It's crazy but parents should have a massive say on what their 8-year-olds are wearing, so lets hope that everyone agrees that a padded bra is wrong and no one buys them.'

While Julie-Liz said: 'My daughter is 6, I can't imagine her wearing a padded bra in just 2 short years! Retailers need to re-think some of their children's wear lines.

Kellie said: 'It's wrong! I don't agree with it at all. If I had a daughter that age I wouldn't be getting her one, that's for sure.'

What do you think about this sort of clothing for pre-teens? Is it sexualising our children and robbing them of our childhood? Or is it just a bit of fun and some people are being over sensitive? Leave a comment in the box below or on our Facebook page to tell us what you think.

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- Are they growing up too fast? - Child development stages - Join goodtoknow's community