"Little spinners": Pole-dancing classes... for toddlers?

Dear God, I hope this trend does not catch on.

To the tiny students at this dance studio, the moves are totally innocent.

In fact, they are being instructed in the sleazy art of pole dancing. And their age? As young as three.  Child protection groups yesterday labelled these images from the classes ‘deeply disturbing’.

Parents pay £5 an hour for their daughters to learn pole dancing at the Little Spinners classes.  Instructor Carly Wilford insists it helps youngsters keep fit and boosts their self-esteem. ...

Up to eight girls attend the weekly classes at the Make Me Fabulous dance studio in Northampton.

What are parents who allow their kids to participate enroll their children in these classes thinking?  One of them told the Daily Mail: "The girls love it. But it is not a wise idea to announce at school that you let your children pole dance."

Gee... did you ever think there's a reason why you shouldn't go around telling people that your toddlers are learning how to be strippers?  Did the threat of public scorn ever make you think that what you're doing might be seriously inappropriate??

I wonder how differently people would react if it were a man teaching these classes.  I'm assuming they might feel differently, but then again, I never would've thought people would take their pre-K kids to stripper school.

Not surprisingly, people have begun to warn against teaching kids to be raunchy sex symbols:

Kidscape director Claude Knights said: ‘Exposing children to pole dancing at such a young age carries a great risk.

‘The children will innocently enjoy  copying the raunchy moves they learn, but be completely unaware of the sexual messages these send out which inevitably can have dangerous results.

‘It is of course very important for children to take exercise and group activities, but why would you package it as pole dancing, something which has overt sexual connotations?

‘We need to allow children to be children. The people who started these classes and the parents who take their kids to them need to ask themselves hard questions.’