Eleven-year-old Tracey Loving and Ashley Cassidy, 10, could not ignore another brush with a sharp-tongued shop assistant.

Children may be small, perhaps even troublesome at times, they thought -- but they still deserved respect.

And it was high time something was done about their treatment in shops.

What better way than to fire off an angry letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette , like hundreds of adults do all the time? This in mind, the best of chums raced round to the paper, and penned a missive on the spot.

"Dear Sir, We are very disappointed with the way adults treat children in shops,'' it started.

Then they told how a cashier "rudely'' refused to show them how to play a video game -- because they did not intend to buy it.

And they said she later ticked them off for picking up stock, yet reacted differently when adults did the same.

"Our point is that kids should get the same respect that adults get in shops,'' the girls said.

"When we are with our parents we get respect, but when we're alone we get treated like trash -- and we're not too pleased.'' Tracey and Ashley, next-door neighbours in St. John's Road, Pembroke, believe their letter will win support from other children.

"We felt it was time someone said something,'' said Tracey, who has set her heart on being a teacher one day.

"We've been to a lot of shops where we get treated very meanly.'' Mrs. Jackie Loving described her daughter, a Bermuda High School pupil, as very much someone who knows her business.

And she has been known to voice a complaint or two, she laughed.

"She is very mature.'' Mr. Joel Cassidy, Ashley's dad, said he had some sympathy for children out shopping.

Youngsters had more money in their pockets than traders realised, he said.

JUST A LITTLE RESPECT -- That's all we ask for, say Tracey Loving (right) and Ashley Cassidy.