I have a few thoughts that come from a very personal place. I have always had a very healthy self-image. I can attribute much of this to the "plain Jane" style of my Mom. My mom has a lot of natural beauty and I always told my friends how pretty my mom was. In a lot of pictures of me as a toddler I actually look like a little boy. I'm so glad that my mom didn't put the idea of "image is everything" into my head. If kids want to look pretty, make "ants on a log" for a healthy snack or get them into sports. I will dress my kids up, but I will never dress them up to look like mini versions of celebrities or teenagers. I think it's cute to play "dress up" but when a toddler is giving fashion advice, I really think that's teaching them the wrong priorities and that's not okay. A lot of girls in America today have image issues because their parents set bad examples and/or it is expected that they looked a certain way. If you start that early, they'll have problems earlier.
I don't mean to come across as extreme, but I really think that there is a time and place when girls should wear make up and wear trendy clothes to school. That time shouldn't happen until they date, ideally.
In short: dressing up kids for play or for a cutesy photo is fine, but don't make them feel like that is when they are the prettiest and don't send them to school like this.
I don't mean to come across as extreme, but I really think that there is a time and place when girls should wear make up and wear trendy clothes to school. That time shouldn't happen until they date, ideally.
In short: dressing up kids for play or for a cutesy photo is fine, but don't make them feel like that is when they are the prettiest and don't send them to school like this.
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