A friend told me the other day about a make-over party, complete with make-up and hairdos and all sorts of other fun sounding stuff. I thought to myself that this sounds like a great way to while away an afternoon -if one is into whiling – until I realized that we were not talking about a make-over party she was invited to – but her 3-year old daughter.
In fact, it was a 4th birthday party for a kid from daycare and the parents had apparently reached the conclusion that it would be a wonderful and appropriate idea to show three and four year old girls how to put on lipstick, do their hair right and apply glittery products all over their faces. My friend was shocked – but what can you do? Grab your child and leave under protest, causing something approaching an international incidence resulting in a permanent ban from all birthday-party-lists for the next two years or swallow hard, screw a smile on your face, and pretend that you think this a very cute idea?
My friend’s little girl keeps wondering and asking whether she looks pretty now, without all that make-up on her face and my friend keeps telling her that she is beautiful and does not need all that stuff. But seed has been planted – a seed that does not need to be planted, especially not so early. In 10 years’ time she will fall into that trap of defining her worth by her looks anyway. Do we really need to get them started at 3 years old? I think it is absurd and obscene to make-up little girls like models. Sometimes I am very happy to have a boy! (other times not so, see blogs about guns!)