'They grow up too soon.' It's a phrase parents utter and hear often these days as they observe their young daughters or friends' daughters apply make-up and mimic the dress styles of their pop idols. This is often accompanied with light-hearted amusement and sometimes even with pride.
But parenting author and mother of two young girls, Tanith Carey, believes it's a phrase that should instil fear in all parents of girls.
Her book, Where Has My Little Girl Gone?, looks at the modern-day phenomenon of the so-called Lolita Effect, or the sexualisation of children in which girls often as young as seven are encouraged to dress and act like women.
It is filled with frightening examples of parents who appear to think it is okay for young girls to behave this way and even promote the fast-tracking of their young daughters into adulthood.
There is one mother who teaches her seven-year-old daughter to pole dance, another who happily pays for the cosmetic surgery which she believes will improve her daughter's chances in life, and one who spends HK$360 on spray tans, false nails and beauty treatments for her 13-year-old beauty queen daughter.
Carey points the finger of blame at celebrity culture and consumerism promoted via the internet and the media.
She warns this modern way of depriving our daughters of their childhoods puts them on the slippery slope to self-destructive behaviour, eating disorders and low self-esteem.