In a recent Washington Post article, it was reported that cosmetics for girls as young as three years old are beginning to be marketed more heavily by toy companies. Five-year-olds are refusing to leave the house until their faces are on. One mother said that with all the other issues to worry about, "why sweat the small stuff?"
It is precisely this sort of 'small stuff' which leads to the 'big stuff.' This mother is obviously forgetting that makeup was meant to be an alluring enhancer of female beauty. When that definition relates to a tot, I don't call that small stuff at all.
Besides, who wants to see a five-year-old in "Passionate Purple" lipstick anyway? Grown women have a hard enough time choosing appropriate colors; imagine what it would be like for someone who can't even SPELL the word fuscia. And what would companies like Clinique begin giving away in their bonus gifts? Bubble gum flavored gloss and eye pencils thick enough for tiny hands to clutch? Would department store cosmetics counters begin having Estee Lauder and Estee Lauder, Junior? Would the child labor laws be altered to allow fifth graders to don white lab coats and give free skin analyses to their peers? Personally, I don't want to have to instruct my future pre-adolescent daughter on how to apply the perfect coat of mascara. That's something even I haven't mastered!
Makeup is a rite of passage for young girls in this country, but it seems the age of that rite is being pushed further and further backward. Not only do I not want to see children growing up too soon, but I sure don't want the line between adulthood and childhood being further blurred.
Copyright 1997 Kimberly Howell. All Rights Reserved.