The Lolita Syndrome

Isn't it weird how we all can't wait to grow up?

Even as tiny tykes goofing off in the playground, we try our best to reenact the mature adult scenarios of home and work. Weird how we all imagined that turning to adults would be something to aspire to! A pity though since I actually enjoyed being a kid.

Don't get me wrong. I like where I am right now. Pretty comfortable in my thirties, mature enough to stand on my own two feet and yet not so old that I'd need a proper wooden cane to remain upright.

Doesn't mean I wouldn't mind a couple more years in school :)

Yet I have a kid cousin who'd obviously prefer to be in her fabulous twenties. Far from being a sweet lil girl all sugar & spice, she'd probably sneer at buttons and bows these days. At the threshold of her prepubescent teens, our Little Lolita ( so not a Toys 'R Us kid ) simply can't wait to grow up. Technically a tween, Lolita imitates her fashion-forward celebrity idols by strutting about in stiletto heels, a skimpy minidress and a glittery handbag that wouldn't look out of place on a mature woman thrice her age.

Jenny Humphrey, eat your heart out.


Paul : You do know that handkerchief of a dress is hardly appropriate?
Lolita : I'm not a girl. I'm a woman!
Paul : As your one-time babysitter, I beg to differ. Try not to lean over, things are spilling out.
Despite her winsome, waif-like appearance, our tween queen Lolita displays a scandalous facebook profile that would suggest a devastating femme fatale being courted by a dozen or more beaus. Even her daily comments - openly displayed to the rest of the family - seems to suggest an active social life full of lovelorn boys, daily crushes and broken promises.

All at the age of 12.

And to think I once bought her cotton candy and ice-cream on carnival rides.

Hard to blame Lolita when tougher childhood icons have knuckled down to peer pressure. Fueled by wily marketing efforts to create an entirely new consumer market, the recent sexualization of tween girls has affected even Dora the Explorer. Tough for them to remain sweet lil girls when everything - and everyone - else around them is telling them to grow up.

Unlike the boys. While the girls are playing with eyeshadow and earrings, I don't think the lucky tykes have even left the muddy playground yet.

But oh my Lolita. Why be in such a hurry to leave behind those innocent childhood days? There will be a time and place for minis, make-up and men after all.