The other day in a Facebook group there was a debate whether a little girl should be allowed to wear red lip stick or nail polish. As a mother myself, my first thought was “Sure, why not?”, but after reading through the comments there were a lot of different opinions I questioned if my thoughts where allowing my child to grow up to fast.
Ive personally never seen red as a “seductive” color, although most of the mothers agreed red was not an appropriate color for a young child. Others commented that girls are wearing makeup to young in general, no matter what colors they were using. I started wearing makeup my 6th grade year in school, I remember a lot of girls applying their makeup on the school bus and taking it off on the ride home so their mothers didn’t find out. At this moment I didn’t think anything of it. I always thought it was strange that they couldn’t leave their homes with makeup on. My nine year old cousin will always apply her makeup and do her hair before we go anywhere and i never thought anything of it… until now. Is allowing her to take the time to apply makeup before leaving letting her grow up to fast? I had my first child at the age of 16 and my second child at 18, was this due to how young I was when I started wearing makeup, or due to the clothing choices I made?
The Justice store now sells crop tops in size 6…. a 6-year old in a belly shirt? I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if I would be allowing my 6 year old to wear crop tops or micro mini skirts. As a child I never saw any colors as sexual… I saw them as pretty. I didn’t see clothing as sexual either. Are we allowing our children to grow up to fast or are WE the problem? Even in schools, there’re restrictions on what GIRLS CAN WEAR. I received a letter at the beginning of the year from my children’s school on what they were not allowed to wear. A little girl is not going to look at the color red or a revealing top and think “Oh! This will make me look sexy”. The sexualization of children seems to be an ongoing issue. Cheer leading, Dance, Beauty Pageants…all include our young daughters wearing makeup. As little girls watching our mothers apply makeup and do their hair we all looked up to them and wanted to do the same. As little girls, we all wanted to play dress up… And yes AGAIN this included…you guessed it! MAKEUP! Why as adults do we now see this as sexual?
Personally, I allow makeup in my home. I do not see it as sexual for my daughter to go out of the house with painted nails and lipstick. I do not believe my mascara and lip stick was the reasoning behind ended up pregnant at 16. That first set of butterflies, and a long term relationship that young got me pregnant at 16. Watching those girls on bus showed me that strict parents create sneaky kids. I do not believe we have control over what our children are going to do as teenagers. With the right guidance and influences in our child’s life, all we can do is hope they make the right choices. Everyone has their own opinions and parenting styles, but in my home if my daughter is watching me do my makeup and wants to throw on some lip stick…my answer is going to be YES!