Tween Celeb Crushes: Are Girls Getting Crushes too Young?
6-year-olds are swooning over the Jonas Brothers and 8-year-olds are falling victim to Justin Bieber's boyish charms. Is it just me or do girls today catch the celebrity love bug at a much younger age?
It's perfectly natural for young girls to get all giddy over teen heartthrobs. In fact, experts say it's even healthy. I was 12-years-old, I declared my undying love for Donny Osmond. But not before I was 12.
Girls have been swooning over teen heartthrobs for generations, but there is something very different about what's happening these days.
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Because most of us were slightly more mature when we developed our first celebrity crush, watching our very young daughters get goofy over famous boys can be a little disconcerting. But is it something something we should be worried about?
Child psychologist John Carosso agrees that girls are developing celebrity crushes at ever younger ages. But he believes there's nothing to worry about as long as the infatuation doesn't cross the line into obsession.
By and large, it's a normal, typical thing. For the first time in their life, they have these feelings toward the opposite sex, and this is a safe way of expressing those feelings. Later, they meet real people that they can be in a relationship with.
But while crushing on a celebrity may be a perfectly normal rite of passage for a teen, I find the prepubescent fascination with boys, love and all that goes with it a little bit disturbing. Girls today are zooming through their childhoods much too fast. They want to dress like teens, act like teens and, clearly, crush on boys like teens.
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It's never easy for a mother to watch her baby give up toys for boys. But when it happens at an age when those boys are supposed to still be icky and repulsive, it is even more difficult.
Is your little girl already crushing on celebrities?
For 5 ways to prevent early puberty both emotionally and physically, visit Babble's Strollerderby.
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