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<title> The dramatic change in the way kids dress </title>
During the last five years a dramatic change has taken place in the way kids dress. If you visit a class in the fourth grade you will see girls wearing tight stretch jeans, pink hot tops with texts like "I am a Barbie Girl", five inch platform shoes and don't be surprised if several of the kids, although just 10 year of age, wear make-up. The boys in the same class would most likely wear baggy pants, baggy shirts and baggy hats, all of some expensive brand. All of these clothes are very fashionable and cool according to the fashion designers, but at the same time they make it very much impossible for the kids to play. So the kids should hate these clothes like they hate everything else that prevents them from playing. But they don't. So what are the reasons behind this trend? 
	Since parents have the ultimate responsibility for their children, they should be part of the answer we are looking for. Even if the parents aren't the driving force behind this trend, they must accept it, if not agree with it, in order for it to be a trend. They pay for the expensive clothes their children wear and by doing so they have given their consent. Can it be that parents like these clothes and want their kids to wear them? It may be so in a few cases, but most parents are not particularly interested in buying expensive clothes that are anything but durable and that prevent their children from playing. Consequently, it must be the kids that want these clothes. Why? In my own experience, kids hate everything that prevents them from playing and having fun for example bedtime, Sunday dinners and museum visits. So, who or what has so successfully persuaded these kids to wearing these extreme clothes? 
	The first and maybe most obvious answer to that is advertising. There has been an enormous increase in advertising aimed at kids in the last five years. Much due to this the kids in the fourth grade are much more aware of fashion and what is cool than their parents. Traditionally kids have worn very proper clothes based on durability, but today they wear clothes that their parents wouldn't be caught dead in, all in accordance with the latest fashion. Advertising aimed at kids has become smarter, more extensive and more daring. But there is still something missing, because advertising can convey a positive image of these clothes to the kids, but it takes more to persuade them to wear clothes that prevent them from doing most things that kids usually love to do. You can advertise for cereals all you want to but if they don't taste good kids will not eat them anyway. There must be a reason why kids find these clothes attractive. This leads us to the main driving force behind this trend. 
	Childhood is all about learning. The best way of learning is to imitate those who have, or rather those you think have, the knowledge and experience. You look for role models to imitate and learn from. If we look at who the role models are to today, and especially at how they dress, there is no doubt that this trend is all about imitating the people you admire. The girls want to look like celebrities like Brittney Spears or Jennifer Lopez and the boys like Eminem and the guys in The Offspring. The smaller kids who don't know much about these stars just want to look the older kids. Clothes play a very important role for the images these celebrities have. Accordingly, kids learn that you are what you wear. It goes to such lengths that the kids prefer have the right image to have fun. 
	To sum up, this trend couldn't exist if parents didn't accept and allow it. They are how ever not one of the main driving forces behind the trend. Advertising aimed at kids has had an enormous upswing in the last five years and has definitely had a great influence on the consumption of fashion orientated clothes for kids. But the main reason behind this trend is that the kids want to look like their role models who wear very extreme clothes as a part of their image. As long as the kids have these role models and as long as their parents allow it, this trend will prevail and even grow.
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