Photo © 2012 AAP One/Annaliese Frank

Angry Aussie parents have taken to Facebook to voice their concerns about kids’ clothing at department store, Target.

It all started with comments from Port Macquarie mum, Ana Amini, who said that Target was selling clothes that would make her six year-old, Mia, “look like a tramp.”

“You have lost me as a customer when buying apparel for my daughter as I don't want her thinking shorts up her backside are the norm or fashionable,'' Ms Amini posted.

And it turns out that Ana wasn’t the only one who was disgruntled about Targets children’s fashion.

The comment received more than 44,000 ‘likes’ and triggered thousands more comments from parents keen to have their say.

When I was a little kid in the 80s, my idea of a good outfit was a Punky Brewster shirt, a side pony tail, a pair of shorts and some thongs (yes, flip-flops.)

And I’m pretty sure that my mum bought all of this attire at stores like Tar-jay (as she affectionately called it). Because in the 80s, if you were around 6 years-old, this is what you wanted to wear.

These days you don’t have to look very hard to see images of young girls in pretty raunchy clothing, and this has a run-on effect. Little girls want to look like Miley Cyrus or a contestant from “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

Stores aren’t pushing moral values; they are pushing a product that people want to buy. And in this case, it’s clothing for little girls who want to be big girls too soon.

So is it the fault of the store that they are producing what is in fashion for kids in 2012? Maybe we should be looking further for the problem.

I don’t have children and I don’t agree that you should be dressing your little girl up like Honey Boo Boo from Toddlers and Tiaras.

But if parents have a problem with what is being sold in a store, it’s their responsibility to go and shop somewhere else. Not tell the store they are wrong for suppling fashion that is currently in trend.

The problem isn’t the store. It’s everything else.

The opinions expressed in The Side Project blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Project or the Ten Network.