My image of children seems to always stay the same no matter where life takes me — a starry-eyed little boy playing with a fire truck or a dimple-cheeked baby girl singing to her mother after a day of preschool. Even though my outlook on myself, life, etc. has changed, it seems that children are locked into a certain ideal which I had never planned on altering. My views were challenged, though, with a recent article about a new line of lingerie…for children.

Jours Apres Lunes dubs itself “the first designer brand dedicated to ‘loungerie’ for children and teenagers” aged four through twelve. This statement does not seem to coincide with my light-hearted images of children. The word lingerie, and even “loungerie,” brings into mind a completely different age group, an age group that actually has sex appeal. Children of this age are almost always pre-pubescent, and in many cases unaware of the existence or purpose of lingerie. So why taint the minds of the innocent with something meant for adults? I ask myself why these designers would think of such an uncomfortable line of clothing. Why would children need such a thing? When I was a child, I had one thing on my mind: playtime. Maybe our society has corrupted the minds of youngsters already and I have just not let go of my idea of an ideal childhood. Maybe children do think about sex and lingerie and dream of what is to come as an adult, but I have faith that this is not so. Growing up is a hardship, to say the least. I dare say that people aged four to 12 have the mindset that they don’t want to grow up yet, so why rush the process? Let children be children.

I am still not convinced that this line of “loungerie” will succeed. I personally don’t know a mother who would buy these clothes for their child, nor do I know a person of this age group to have a job so they can furnish themselves with these clothes. But something I do believe to the fullest is that this line of clothing is completely inappropriate and seems to be a scandal of the highest authority. Jours Apres Lunes should try for a line of clothing for teenage girls instead of the babies who hold our futures.