‘Twisted values’ behind children in sexy clothes

Dr Helen Wright, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) suggested there is something “intensely wrong” with society if some parents can see no problem with dressing their young child in provocative clothing.

In a speech to the GSA’s annual conference in Bristol this week, she will raise concerns many parents have been failed by the education system – brought up with no respect for their elders and little idea of how to raise a child.

Dr Wright, who is headmistress of St Mary’s Calne, a private girls’ boarding school in Wiltshire, said: “There are all these images in magazines and TV, if you’re bombarded with that, you’re going to think its normal, and actually it’s not. It’s becoming twisted. I don’t blame the parents, I don’t think it’s their fault.”

In her speech, Dr Wright will say: “I have a deep worry that some parents have been so deprived in their own lives of education and values, that they no longer know right from wrong and that they are as a result unwittingly ‘indulging’ children in some parallel universe where it is acceptable to let young children wear make-up and provocative clothing.”

Dr Wright said she was not suggesting that parents need parenting classes but that schools have a key role to play in providing guidance to parents, as well as help and support.

“I think there’s lots of good advice out there, but people are afraid to be seen to be taking it.”