MY LITTLE girl got into my make-up bag at the weekend. She expertly did her face with copious amounts of expensive foundation, applied eye shadow in a fashion that May McFetridge would have been proud of and blushered up her cheeks, her nose and her forehead so that she took on the appearance of a dodgy partially sighted Las Vegas showgirl who had flown a little too close to the sun.
It took half a packet of wipes to remove all trace of this experiment from her face. And as I returned her to her natural self, I contemplated how a young child in full make-up looks rather crazy.
In recent years Katie Price has been criticised over allowing her daughter Princess to wear make-up. Katie was accused of 'sexualising' the youngster after she shared a snap of her wearing full professional make-up last year. I saw the photograph and, although many may support Katie, think it's just a bit of fun and disagree with me, it really did disturb me. I get the same uncomfortable feeling when I see young girls in beauty pageants done up like little Lolitas to prove to adult judges how pretty they are.
In my opinion, make-up is fine for dress up and playing. I know parents who don't mind their little girls wearing make-up and actually buy them eye shadow and lipstick. It's not for me. My girl will have to wait until she is well into her teens before she will be plastering her face with stuff that is essentially designed to increase confidence, hide flaws and accentuate and enhance beauty.
Apart from the fact that make-up makes young girls look older and sexualises them before they are old enough to understand such things, I do not want my daughter to become a slave to her appearance at such a young age.
It actually upsets me that young girls are peddled products to help them 'fix' their face and have this message drummed in from an early age. I remember being on a trip with a number of 14-year-olds who set up a mobile beauty salon on the back seats of the bus we were on. Tween girls formed an orderly queue to have their face contoured by an expert make-up artist among their number.
It was a conveyor belt that saw beautiful, fresh-faced girls go in one side and emerge out the other with sunken cheekbones, Hollywood starlet eyes, comedy eyebrows and drawn-on lips twice the size of their original ones, a la Kim Kardashian. They all aged 10 years in the process.
I don't think I'd be comfortable with my girl wearing make-up at that age. I think the longer we can keep our daughters from the pressure to be perfectly coiffed and preened adults the better. Girls have beautiful, young, vibrant skin, a prize any woman over the age of 25 spends a fortune to recreate. I don't understand why they would cover it up or feel the need to enhance their skin using beauty products.
Our young daughters should not equate their self-worth with their appearance. There's too much emphasis put on hiding our flaws, and as a result our girls are growing up with the notion that their natural looks aren't socially acceptable and need enhancement. They are being pulled into adulthood too quickly.
I get that make-up often represents adolescent girls' excitement and eagerness to become grown up, but we should stall that process until they reach their teens. I hope that you and I can raise daughters who can look beyond looks, both with themselves and with others, and learn to form opinions on people by their hearts and by their actions.
My girl is only six years old. I am not prepared to let a slick of red lipstick sign off on her childhood just yet. I'll be hiding my make-up bag from now on.
