Comments on: Stop the world, I want to get off. In America, pre-teen girls are getting bikini waxes.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:46:34 +0000

My 3 year old daughter is obsessed with makeup. Prior to her third birthday she was happy with the ‘lipsmacker’ lip balm that I bought her, so she could ‘be like mummy’. But for her birthday some ‘well meaning’ friends who were aware of her joy of lip gloss bought her a full makeup set. It was packaged for children, but as I’ve found out the hard way, still stains furniture / clothes the same as adult makeup.
Yes, I could throw it out, but instead I keep it hidden and occasionally let her indulge in her ‘face painting’ under strict supervision and tell her she is not allowed to wear it out of the house (apart from the nail polish, which doesn’t just wash off).
It’s a fair comment from a ‘non-parent’ to say ‘if you don’t want them to have it, don’t give it to them’, but in reality it’s not that simple. When they are constantly exposed to these things at the shops / on the TV / at their friends’ houses, shouldn’t you as a parent teach them how you would like them to play with it instead of strictly forbidding it? When I do let her use it, we treat it more like a game where we do each other’s face and I tell her that we looked more beautiful before the ‘painting’, and then we wash it off.
I am a fellow hater of the whole Bratz merchandise though, and will do my best never to have any in our house. However she still stops in the toy aisle to admire the Bratz dolls and tells me she ‘loves them’ and ‘they’re beautiful’ and I tell her that I don’t like them and they’re NOT beautiful, and steer her back towards the baby dolls, prams and dolls houses that I love.
I’m not quite sure where her perception of beauty has come from. Granted, I do wear makeup (minimal), and take pride in my appearance, but I have never gone to the beautician, my nails look far from manicured, I only go to Just Cuts for a quick trim, and I mostly wear casual clothes other than to work.
I just can’t believe she even cares about any of this at 3… Makes me wonder what issues I’ll be dealing with in another 10 years or so.

By: j-girl

j-girl — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:13:53 +0000

my kids are going to hate me because i am *so* playing pass the parcel at their birthdays, not to mention musical chairs, statues AND pin the tail on the donkey!
If anyone asks, I’ll say that we’re doing ‘ironic retro’.
what are they waxing these girls with? a pair of tweezers?
i get the point about not living in the past, but like you mia, i think that you should always question and question always.
i also grow tired of everyone moaning on about ‘kids these days’ and how they can’t stand the things do/consume (both orally and as consumers), only to discover that they are the ones paying for the pedicures/waxes. seriously, if you don’t want your kids to participate in these things then it’s really simple – don’t buy into it yourself as a parent!
on a personal note, i had a couple of spray on tans and then i saw ‘little miss sunshine’. i was absolutely horrified to see the scene where they spray on tanned a 6 year old.
and then i thought about it. if a 6 year old doesn’t need spray on tan, why do i?
haven’t had one since…

By: Nicky

Nicky — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:51:26 +0000

I have a friend whose daughter has been getting pedis since she was about 1. We sell fantastic nail polishes in my store that are completely non toxic and in great kid colors and they fly out. I’ve aske friends who have daughters…none of whom have heard of tweens getting waxed…ICK, but manicures and pedicures, yes.

By: lu

lu — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:35:44 +0000

Hi Cerry – Yes, I’m on the weekly merry-go-round of swimming lessons with my kids ! I’ll take your advice with the chlorine tip. She’s coloured her toe nails with purple texta today so hopefully I’m off the hook for a while…..

By: Cerry

Cerry — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:08:19 +0000

Lu – I assume that if you’re seeing kids at swimming lessons with painted nails, your daughter swims? It might be worth pointing out to her that chlorine water tends to strip nail polish off. She might change her mind about getting her nails done (of course, she may also decide that she doesn’t want to swim. In which case, I said nothing).

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:45:42 +0000

I’m having the same problem as Eve and Cerry with the Monday Morning Madness stuffing up the page and not working…Anyone else?

By: lu

lu — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:26:47 +0000

My 6yo daughters friends are all getting their nails & feet done at one of those cheap nail places these school holidays. Of course she thinks it sounds like lots of fun and thinks I’m being mean for not letting her have it done too. I’ve seen young girls (6,7,8 years old) at swimming lessons and they have fancy decorations on their toe nails! I just dont think its appropriate but think I’m fighting a battle I cant win.

By: Cerry

Cerry — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:37:29 +0000

I’m having the same problem as Eve with the page. I think it’s something to do with the Monday Morning Madness clip – the main page isn’t loading properly, and neither is the actual monday morning madness entry, but everything else is.
And anyone under the age of about 15 getting a bikini wax is kind disturbing – how many people are actually going to see it? Sure, they might wear bikinis, but they also wear boardshorts with said bikinis, to cover up their thighs.

By: Dataceptionist

Dataceptionist — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:12:32 +0000

I find this all so very very sad. I don’t have daughters yet and I terrified for them. I don’t want them wearing leopard skin boots and denim minis. But I don’t want them to hate me for not letting them dress/act like that either.
Sure we have our personal lines in the sand, but how do you explain your lines to your kids?
On the bikini wax front, I have a friend who is a beauty therapist and while she was working in Mosman she was shocked at the age of some of the girls that came in for waxing. She said to me, they’re 13! They hardly have any hair to wax!

By: Eve

Eve — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:27:47 +0000

You’re page has gone psycho again!
I tried to look at the Monday morning madness (on Sunday nite!?) and I dunno whats wrong but the page won’t load… can’t watch the video and the rest of the main page wont load either…
Just thought I’d let you know.