Tom Roberts: The power lies with the parents over 'sexualised' children's toys

IT IS encouraging to see that the sexualisation of young children is a subject being highlighted by political parties as an area of concern.

While it is important that government is involved in this debate I think that it would be extremely difficult to enforce a specific standard.

Some extreme cases have been identified here, such as the Lolita beds and padded bras, and it's interesting that parental pressure led to these products being pulled, despite the fact there is no existing legislation.

This proves that, in terms of retailers, the power that parents have is just as important and powerful as policy or legislation. Controlling what children see and hear on a daily basis would be extremely challenging.

For example, how do politicians expect to regulate music videos which can contain extremely sexualised images of people that a lot of young people look up to? Once again, the power lies at home with the parents, and they have to take a view on what is acceptable in their own households.

The real issue, then, is how we address these problems, rather than simply looking to police the world of marketing.

Society can not shield every child from seeing things that may affect their well-being, but we can work towards equipping parents and children with information and giving them the ability to make informed choices.

An approach that only relies on making certain dolls, clothes and videos inaccessible simply will not work.

• Tom Roberts is head of public affairs at Children 1st