couples

Is there ever a good reason to spray tan a toddler?

Or give a baby a pedicure? These mums are leaning towards “Yes”.

“You look like Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball.”

While most mums would shudder at anyone saying this to their 4-year-old daughter, this mum means it as a compliment.

Sophie-May Dickson is talking about her 4-year-old daughter, Princess Bliss Tianna May. Prin for short. She says it as her little girl is swinging on a ball in a playground, with long golden curly locks to her bum (which we later learn are hair extensions) and a pink tutu dress (well, at least she isn’t naked).

Sophie-May and Prin are on a new UK show called Blinging Up Baby, which says it’s about:

Every parent thinks that their child is beautiful, but some are prepared to go to any lengths to prove it. From crystal-covered dummies and frills to hairpieces, make-up and spray tans, the growing trend among ordinary mums and dads to kit out their toddlers in top-to-toe glamour is now worth five billion pounds a year.

Making your daughter a princess is costly, but Sophie-May doesn’t mind saying that she would “walk around in a black bin bag” to be able to afford her daughters’ clothing and primping. (She has a second daughter Precious Belle Ruby Rozina, 1-year-old).

But she doesn’t. In fact, she gets a spray tan with her eldest (who started spray tanning at 3), asking how dark she would like to go – with the response “just like you mum”. And if you asked her whether she has any issues with getting her 4-year-old to wear a hairpiece daily or regular spray tans, the answer is no.

“Princess has been into hair extensions since she was 2. She’s always been a glamorous baby. Princess was 3 when she had her first spray tan. She really wanted it because she saw me have one and she’d be unhappy if I said no.”

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As for her youngest, Precious is not exempt from the primping. She already has her ears pierced and wears golden hoop earring (so “people don’t mistake her for a boy”) and had her first pedicure at 9-months-old.

Both girls have designer wardrobes but Sophie-May doesn’t reveal how she affords it – being a single mother who doesn’t work.

And Sophie-May is not alone. The show is dedicated to mums all picking up the trending of blinging their babies with spray tans, manicures, make up, hair extension and frilly frocks. 

26-year-old Sammy has been buying princess dresses for her now 1-year-old Halle May before she was born. “I think that every woman thinks of their daughter as a doll,” she says.

And 33-year-old mum, Liane, has done everything possible to enter her 6-year-old, Bessie-Sue, and 4-year-old, Scarlett, into beauty pageants.

As Blinging Up Babies is set to air tonight in the UK, we can’t help but wonder what message these mums are giving their daughters?

How far would you go to make your daughter feel like a “princess”?

CLICK THROUGH the gallery to see some stills from the shows trailer:

Want more? Try:

Why my daughter will never be a pageant princess.

You’ve never seen the Disney princesses like this…

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