From spaghetti straps for preschoolers to ultra-miniskirts on tweens, girls clothing is getting noticeably skimpier.

Kid-magnet chains, including Limited Too and Abercrombie Kids, as well as discount stores such as Target are focusing their marketing efforts on a much younger demographic, luring young girls into ensembles that in years past had been reserved for their teenage sisters.

BIKINIS FOR BABIES?

GapKids recently featured a white, crocheted string bikini you'd likely see Anna Kournikova wearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

The bikini was for a 12-month-old.

Racks at Target held several bathing suits perfect for a Hawaiian Tropic bikini competition. The crocheted and camouflage-designed suits started at size 4 in the little girls' section.

Inseams on "classic" shorts at stores such as Abercrombie Kids and Hollister Co. are microscopic. And halter tops, shirts often lauded by fashion consultants for their ability to enhance a less-than-voluptuous chest, are everywhere for every age.

Moms hoping to find anything even mildly modest have to be happy Bermuda shorts are trendy again.

"It's a very scary phenomenon," says Patricia Leavy, a sociology professor at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. "I don't think it's going to go away. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Leavy says the clothing trend is only piggybacking off pop culture and the toy industry, where Bratz dolls have spun off Baby Bratz and celebrities such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have grown up much faster than the fans who follow them.

"The reason it's really happening is money," Leavy says.

A MATTER OF MONEY

There's serious money at stake. From clothing to games to snacks, parents spent $179 billion in 2006 on kids 12 to 19, according to Teenage Research Unlimited. Retailers want a piece of that pie, and they are looking for lifelong shoppers. The younger they snag them, the longer they'll have them, Leavy says.

As if shopping for a teen or tween wasn't difficult enough, there now is a new category: the pre-tween.

Yes, your child goes from toddler to pre-tween, skipping the "plain old kid" level altogether.

Cindy Istook, a professor of textiles at North Carolina State University, says retailers aren't designing clothes for kids. They are simply making mini adult clothes.

"We all think about the JonBenet Ramsey thing (the 6-year-old beauty-pageant veteran whose killing remains unsolved) and look at how obscene it was," Istook says, "and we're all shocked, but, really, it's pretty common for kids to dress like that all the time."

T-shirts and tanks are cut slimmer. Shorts are shorter. Makeup for tweens, once controlled by the sheer colors of Bonne Belle, is glittery and glossy, marketed as of-the-moment must-haves.

MADE FOR MINI-ADULTS

In some cases, mini-adult is cute. Poufy skirts from the Crew Cuts line at J. Crew are impractical but adorable nonetheless. Big, vintage-style sunglasses for toddlers at GapKids are fun and useful if the little ones will oblige you and actually wear them. An infant-size shirtdress from Old Navy is funny, as if she's off to a big meeting.

But there's a line between cute and "not in a million years."

Kathleen Waldron, a faculty member in Arizona State University's College of Human Services, ran into trouble with her daughters when they hit the tween sizes.

"All of the sudden, the clothing styles are not little-girl cute," she says. "I couldn't find clothing that I thought was appropriate."

Waldron instead bought a sewing machine, though she was the first to admit she's no Vera Wang.

Lila Metcalf says it doesn't have to be that way. As the owner of Urban Kidz boutique in Scottsdale, Ariz., Metcalf knows that shopping for girls can be a struggle. The boutique specializes in tween fashions that are trendy but include a dash of modesty.

Moms regularly come into her store exasperated, Metcalf says.

"Moms and daughters in that age group are constantly fighting a battle," she says.

There are ways around the knockdown, drag-out fashion fight between moms and daughters. Here's advice from experts: