<![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet? - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet? - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hatepaperdoll:

Side note: I was in Urban Outfitters the other day, and I could not believe how 'done' the 14-17 year old girls shopping there looked. I know I did not look that put together when I was that age. Where are the bad plum dye jobs? The liquid eyeliner? The experimentation?

When I was that age I had the bad plum dye job AND the liquid eyeliner (which later progressed to clown red hair and spiked collars).

Hot Topic didn't exist at the time, so my dad had to go to the local S&M shop to buy the Manic Panic dye for me.

I'm thankful to have been given the chance to experiment in that way because it allowed me to develop my own standards of beauty, rather than having them forced onto me by a corporation.

catita

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I remember feeling like manicures and the like were "grown up" and for special occasions like the prom or whatever. My problem with a 7-year-old being "pampered" is that, first of all, what CHILD needs to be pampered? Aside from the potential of raising a spoiled princessy twat, if a girl is getting her eyebrows waxed at 9, what's left? I just think that some things should still be a hallmark of growing up. Plus, not every girl gives a shit about getting her nails polished.

MGB

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Nefret: Seconded.

annejumps

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hatepaperdoll: Yes, yes, I know, and what you've given is the meaning of "pore," not "pour." Look it up. An editor worth her salt would have caught this common error.

Nefret

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Pedicures can be fun as long as it's a bonding experience, not a weekly appointment. It's just a girly thing to do.

I had stepdaughters when I was married the second time and had a blast with the youngest one 'playing' dress up and buying her very own lipstick. (So sheer her dad couldn't even see it.)

Everything in moderation.

mmaertz

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @loversaurus: WHAT! Tapdancing is whoreish? Jazz dance is whoreish? What is wrong with you? Am I missing a joke here somewhere?

azi

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: You clarified when you were scrapping with another commenter that you only took issue with the extremes of this sort of behavior, that getting a mani or a pedi occasionally with your mother falls into the acceptable range, a ten year old refusing to leave the house without a faceful of make-up = unacceptable. Okay, that's fine. I agree with that as a matter of fact. The fact remains that there is a spectrum of behavior and condeming all of it is offensive. Blemdem appears to be saying that getting a manicure under the age of 18 is going to condem a child to a lifetime of beauty pageant style shallowness. And that just isn't true. Playing with make-up and dress-up is part of childhood and just like playing video games is something best done in moderation.

azi

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> In my family we call Club Libby Lu, Whores R Us.

Academy Queen

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Nefret:No, I'm pretty sure she did mean "pours", as in studying or looking over. ie: "Jenny was pouring over all the occult books in the library"

Frankie says relax.

hatepaperdoll

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @azi: The disapproval isn't knee-jerk, though. Many of us have given long, thoughtful analyses defending our position(s).

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @blemdem: Dude if you don't want your kid to get manis and pedis, don't let her get them, but your kneejerk disapproval, echoed by many others on this bored, is ignorant and annoying.

azi

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> My mom would never let me do jazz or tap when I was a kid, ballet only, and I thank god when I look at childhood photographs at my grandma's house. They look like tacky cheap tarts and I got to wear the tutus and look like an adorable little girl.

noloversaurus

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I'm pretty sure you mean "pores," not "pours," unless I've missed a critical part of the manicure process. I thought Jezebel had an editor, but I guess there's no copyeditor.

Nefret

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Also, we use the weekly spa sessions as "teaching moments," and help our girls see the importance of tipping those who are less fortunate then they are. LMAO, oh my fucking god. I wonder how long it took them to think that up.

annejumps

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Let me be an asshole and say that women who think that being beautiful or "HAVING to fit a mold" rather, are not very attractive and more importantly, stupid. They cant even see that the looks thing really isnt that important--more of a bonus really--- and make it into this big big thing because it is like something to blame. "Im not successful because I didnt fit the mold" blah blah overestimating how much it "matters in the world." Like, you know what also matters? Not having that fucking attitude and being a decent person. And if youre going to pour money into something for your daughter to "get ahead" go with education you dimwit. Sorry that was kind of mean.

LaFemme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Cam/ron:

It is definitely for real. And it is exactly like they made it look on the show, right down to the mariachis, the cliff divers, and the little flag stands (used to signal that you want more sopapillas*).

When I was a kid growing up in Colorado, getting to go there was almost as cool as getting to go to Disneyland. It was that highly esteemed among kids.

*Pretty much like a big beignet, but with a Mexican name and served with honey. Yum!

jetmore

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I can't get pedicures because my feet are so insanely ticklish, I sit there grimacing like I'm getting a tooth canal so that I don't yank my feet out of the lady's hands and kick her in the head. which wouldn't be polite.

I lived in Westchester, NY during college and one of the surreal moments was in a cvs pharmacy when I heard a 9 year old whining that she wanted to get fake nails. Her mother's answer? "Not right now, we don't have time." My mother's answer if I had done the same thing? "Not in this lifetime, kid. When you can pay for it, we'll talk"

LadyvonSnarkyPants

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Ladies regularly come into the store with TINY little girls, wondering if I could give them a "makeover" with lipgloss and face shimmer so that they can trick the little mites into thinking that the shopping trip is about them. It apparently serves to keep them quiet through another store or two. I also get women who bring in single digit little girls and plop them into one of our appointment chairs and demand that someone "play make-up" with the little girl while someone else works with the adult of the duo...effectively tying up two make-up artists. I wish that I could decline putting make-up on anyone under 15, period, but I am absolutely forbidden by the company for whom I work to turn anyone away for anything...even if they request the Jon Benet for their little ones.

GodOfBiscuits

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @KittenFluff: You know her spoiled daughters are going to torment the other girls in middle school and high school, what with training like that.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Hehe, I think it's safe to say that Earnest Reader's kids will probably end up on "My Sweet 16". First comes to pre-teen waxes, then comes the unwanted lexus convertible at 15... I still haven't picked up my jaw off the floor from that one!

helladesigner

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Sev: OMG. This is the second time in a month that I've found out that Casa Bonita was not just a weird dream that I had.

AnnieGetYourFun

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> And this is why, if I end up with girls, they will be in sports. Preferably Little League Baseball and maybe some basketball with Dad...

wednesdayam

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: If my hypothetical future 8 year old ever asks about waxing, I will cry. And don't get me started on the "suitability for wives" thing. I will cut a bitch.

Melistic

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @mercymercyme: Yes, they were just so jaded and bored, nothing was fun, shopping wasn't a treat...it just skeeved me out.

hatepaperdoll

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @jetmore: So Casa Bonita is real? I thought that it was just a South Park creation.

Cam/ron

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> yay. you're the best. i've had 3 pedicures in my entire life and they freak me the hell out. i hope i never have to do it again.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> My mom took me to get my first tattoo at 16. I love my mom.

honwood

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: dammit. i wish i hadnt read that.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @optical_allusion: Ha! Perhaps! I mean, this sighting of mine was in a tony part of Denver, so it's conceivable they'd be flying Southwest...

mercymercyme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @optical_allusion: Yeah, that's about where I lost it too. The smug factor is like 1000000

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> we used to paint our fingernails with markers or whiteout, and my mom ALWAYS got annoyed with me. sneaking into her makeup bag when she was out was a real treat (I used to covet her nailpolish, but wasn't sure how to remove, so didn't dare try that). I think that was WAY more fun than actually being allowed to wear makeup/polish. when I was 11, I remember endless battles with my mom over getting my hair permed, but even though I really wanted to, I kind of expected her not to let me. I can't imagine letting my daughter participate in this crap, and it worries me that it's becoming popular - because you don't really want to isolate your kid. what do you do when her best friend is having a bday party at the nail salon?

kerbr

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Holy shneikies! It's hard to write better SATIRE.

mercymercyme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @thatgirlinnewyork: "What IS it about mothers who refuse to encourage their daughters' natural looks?"

self hatred. pure and simple.

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @helladesigner: I still use that method to cut my bangs. It may just be the art school way.

SequinsMakeTheWorldGoRound

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @helladesigner: You are not the only one. I got a certificate for a facial from my boss for Christmas and I still haven't gone. (Like, what's your message, boss? Ha ha ha!) My teenaged years were spent at the dermatologist's office so I kinda don't want that attention. As to the nails, I used to get acrylics but I am over that.

About the little tiny girls getting these services: when I was in this age-range I was rollerskating or riding my bike (Schwinn Sting-Ray, that's right)! Maybe watching the Little Rascals or reading Robin Hood. So I can't relate to this at all.

bigleggedwoman

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Also, not to mention, everyone I knew who was "popular" and got the "best" prom dates or whatever in high school also peaked at 16. No one is going to care who you went to prom with or whether you always had impeccable nails when you're 45. These parents are doing their children a HUGE disservice by encouraging them to focus on their outsides rather than insides.

Also, the waxing thing is REALLY disturbing, on many levels.

KittenFluff

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @dummyfakeroller: I see what you mean, sort of. I am Hispanic, with very curly hair, and during my childhood I always had my hair blowdried straight weekly. I always got compliments on the fact that I did not need a relaxer to control my unruly curls, just some rollers and a drier. This is more of a racial thing methinks, and definitely your mom took it there with the insistence that you go against your genetic inheritance and acquire lighter hair and lighter eyes. I am in my twenties now, and my mom is still mortified that I leave my hair curly most of the time, she doesn't think it looks good at all, no curly or kinky hair could ever be as good as straight hair in her eyes. But again, I think this isn't so much about sexuality and more about racial issues. I certainly wasn't a girly girl growing up at all, despite my eternal weekly salon visits. it was always deemed a necessity, and all the other girls i grew up with straightened their hair as well (but this wasn't in the US though...).

Jezebabe

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @flackette: I know, seriously? I went out to dinner with a friend and her 4YO and the entire time she was sitting in my lap, climbing all over the back of the chair and asking when she could get a balloon. A birthday part full of 3 YO's at a salon would be a screamfest, methinks.

inkytwist

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Somebody should respond to that sorry excuse for a parent with some choice quotes from this thread. I'm sorry, but I just don't have it in me right now. Jesus, take the wheel...

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> "We are all god's children. Especially those of us who are pretty and popular."

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Holy effing crap. Waxing? This part killed me:

"Also, we use the weekly spa sessions as "teaching moments," and help our girls see the importance of tipping those who are less fortunate then they are. It's hard to instill a sense that we are all god's children if you never leave the house."

Yes, those who clip your 8 year-old's toenails are lowlife cretins, who rely on your pity tips to sustain their pathetic little lives. God's children? I think not, with the devil's concubine here at a parent. Thanks for sharing that! Although I want to stab now.

AbbyNormal

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Oh my GOD.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Jezebabe: Not to mention using the weekly spa sessions as "teaching moments," and help our girls see the importance of tipping those who are less fortunate then they are. Gah! GAAAAAH!

optical_allusion

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> This story also reminded me of that woman on Dr Phil who wanted to get plastic surgery for her 12-year old:
"Diana's 12-year-old daughter, Bri, is overweight. "If I could have plastic surgery done for Bri tomorrow, I would," she says. "It's just unfortunate that Bri looks the way Bri looks. The world has standards. You have to fit into a certain mold."
[www.drphil.com]

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @thatgirlinnewyork: yea, i cant wait for scientists to develop a serum that prepubescent girls can rub on their cooters so the hair never grows!

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> ok, i was reading the article on the nytimes and was positively incensed by this reader's comment:

" wonder how many of you are actually parents. Some of the comments are unreasonably critical and judgemental. Our daughters (8 & 10) go for weekly manis and pedis, and they are hardly the maladjusted children that some of you seem to be referring to. Both have asked about waxing (perhaps spurred on by their peers or television, I will admit), and when the time comes, we will provide that as well. This is not "giving in" to the children; it is simply a recognition that, yes, popularity counts in life (many studies prove this), and physical appearance has a lot to do with that. We can wish that it was otherwise, but the fact is that even little girls can worry about their suitability as wives someday, or their prospects for prom dates, relative to their friends. Also, we use the weekly spa sessions as "teaching moments," and help our girls see the importance of tipping those who are less fortunate then they are. It's hard to instill a sense that we are all god's children if you never leave the house.
- Earnest Parent, Montclair NJ"

Does this woman/man not realize how shallow and ridiculous he/she sounds? They want to provide "waxing" services to their pre-teens? and think it's just fine and dandy when said preteens worry about their "suitability as wives"? I cannot believe it. I have still not been able to pick up my jaw from the floor.

Jezebabe

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Another note, my mom is in town visiting me today, and I said something about how in the morning my hair is straight, but by noon (with the humidity) my hair is completely frizzy/wavy, because I blow dry it in the morning, and she absolutely freaked out.

She was like, what on earth happened to you? When do YOU blow dry your hair. It took a while for her to realize that when you leave the house at 7:30 in the morning, and it's 25 degrees out, you kinda have to blow dry it. In the summer I always let it air dry.

I love that my mom knows me well enough to freak out when a blow drier comes near my hair.

I did play in her make-up ALOT, and I can honestly say that since I was about 6 years old, I haven't ever worn more (minus weddings) than just powder.

SequinsMakeTheWorldGoRound

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Does anyone remember Tinkerbell cosmetics? They were kind of like fake makeup for little girls to play with. The nail polish would peel off in weird, rubbery strips right after it dried.

katelizabeth

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Yeah, in fifteen years' time, it's going to be like the Millionaire's Dating Club took over and ate the world.

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> My roommates and I went to get manicures one sunday after brunch in Park Slope (it was really random, and we found a cheap place). A woman walked in with her 5 year old daughter, and the little girl knew the drill better than us. She went and got into the spa pedi chair and turned on the massage thing, and they did her nails and toes at once. I absolutely freaked the fuck out... This was possibly the 5th manicure in my life, and I was 5 times her age.

I'm sorry... if the little girl wants pink nails, hand over some sally hansen's and let her figure it out herself. She needs to develop some hand-eye coordination sometime.

SequinsMakeTheWorldGoRound

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: "Her Wing Sauce stays on my miiiiind!" lol, oh dear, that slayed me. I am slewn. Slain. Um, dead funny.

AbbyNormal

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @VeryFancyBunny: Yes, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I mean, I was wearing
Wet'n'Wild lipstick and putting together outfits from Value Village in my teens. Where are they getting this money?

hatepaperdoll

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @dummyfakeroller: you have my sympathy. I have a sister-in-law whose mother turned her from mousy brown to blonde bombshell in high school, complete with a perm and robin's-egg blue eyeshadow which is oddly back in at the moment. Only problem is, she's been working that look for 20 years now. At one one point, her hair took on a green tinge from all the process. She's re-embraced brown since.

What IS it about mothers who refuse to encourage their daughters' natural looks?

thatgirlinnewyork

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Dontcha just wish you could shake the sense into some people? It's like she's purposely trying to be affronted. Me thinks she doth protest too much.

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @mercymercyme: This was four years ago, right? I think those 14-year-olds grew up into those horrible 18-year-olds from yesterday, who were too pretty for Southwest!

optical_allusion

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Sev:
A friend of mine once described the food as, "If the Army ran a Mexican restaurant..."

You got your tacos, your burritos, your enchiladas and your free endless sopapillas. And I think that's the whole menu. I don't think it's changed since the early '70s.

Awesome!

jetmore

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: word. tinkerbell rocked!

honestly, it's pathetic that we have children just to turn around and make them "all grown up" (read: high maintenance before their time). Why stop at manicures? Introduce them to Brazilian wax early, and maybe we'll have fewer Second Round Virgins out there.

thatgirlinnewyork

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: my mum is super-groomed and to this day (!) bugs me about going out without lipstick and earrings, but i was never into the girly. besides, i'm so clumsy manicures last, err, 30 mins on me, forealz.

not to say i don't love going with her to have to have the nails and hair done, it just doesn't have any appeal to me in my daily life.

Charlotte Corday

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: simmer down. No one was judging you. It sounds like you had a perfectly normal upbringing, where you were free to be the tomboy that you are. You were not given makeover parties and told subconsciously that your only worth in this world is how you looked./sigh

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I think we should start pampering old people they could do with a little sexualising. They are so overlooked and disrespected, it seems that you are only relevant if you are an up-and-coming consumer. What about the oldies. We'll all be there one day. My plan is to shoplift and blame it on dementia, hell prison is better than most nursing homes. Lets go make some grannies golden.

mepo

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> A makeover at that age should be a haircut or a baseball outfit exchanged for a soccer outfit.

aspiringexpatriate

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: Oh, dear...pre-teen girls should not be wearing thigh high anything...also, you saw the Spice Girls? Jealous.

@Sev: I was going to ask if there were cliff divers, but I thought it couldn't be true! What brave new world is this, to have such wonders in it?!!?

hatepaperdoll

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hatepaperdoll: I totally and absolutely share your disbelief and (forgive me if I'm assuming incorrectly) disgust. I don't really go to malls, but I was in one - at another Urban Outfitters! - with my boyfriend's mom, picking out cute clothes for her for a trip she was about to take...and I see these 2 girls who couldn't be older than 13 or 14 with the sleek bouffant/ponytail style, smoky eyes, tight pants tucked into the uggs, big sunglasses on their heads - just style, style, groomed Rachel Zoe-lite style. But, to top it off, was this...insufferable smugness on their young, haughty faces. I mean, perhaps looking at the world around oneself and coming to the conclusion that it's all inherently lesser is a hallmark of being 14, for some. But there was something in their eyes that made me very uncomfortable. It's as if they were looking down on me, and the open contempt of things in their gaze made me see myself like they saw me, if only for a moment.

This isn't the first time I've seen this, but I only see it in malls, which is amongst my reasons why I don't like going there.

mercymercyme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> why does it have to be either/or? girls have been getting manicures then destroying them playing softball or climbing trees or puddlemucking as long as i can remember.

yamish

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Preach it, sister!

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Yes. You are absolutely right! Cause what we need are MORE consumers in our society.
Painting nails with mommy is one thing. Teaching a child that they "need" to get a mani pedi every two weeks is just wrong.

BeAgrestic

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @thatsrealbutter: I took my grandmother's eyeliner and made myself into a cat with whiskers.

Flackette reminds everyone to Vote!

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> doesn't anyone do face-painting anymore? if i were 7 i'd take a giant unicorn flying over a rainbow on my cheek over some dumb nailpolish on my toes any day.

thatsrealbutter

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Once we turn young girls into adults, then who we gonna sexualize? It's a sick sick sick catch-22 that so many supposedly grown women try to emulate little girls, and little girls are sold into the trappings of womanhood.

lisaraine

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: LOL yes. Wing sauce is classier than freeze dried coffee, imo.

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> You know what else bothers me? Children are being groomed to associate "girlishness" with consuming products and making onesself over. You think this bodes well for women, as far as stereotypes and social expectations go? You are doing a disservice to your child if you teach her that "being a girl" is all about spending time at the salon, being pampered, sipping pink drinks and gossiping. That it's her duty, as a girl, to drop lots of cash on makeup, skin treatments and hair colorings.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> my sister takes her girls (7 and 12) to weekly manicures with her. it's their "bonding" time.

don't see anything wrong iwth it -- i didn't have manicures until i was late teens, like author. result -- still averse to the whole process but once in a while will shell out $$ only to see paint chip next day.

dashenbka

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @MadameX: My mom gave me several perms as well, against my will. I have no idea why, they always looked terrible.

layladylan

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: stop the madness! now im craving fried chicken.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> This, and watching Little Miss Sunshine last night, make me very thankful for my mother. Who painted her two tomboys' toenails when they asked, and also let them play soccer.
I <3 you, Mom.

PhoneticLorin

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @faire-la-moue: AFTER they've been whitened, of course.

heykoukla

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hortense: I don't know why this little exchange is brining to mind those old Taster's Choice commercials. Wouldn't those have been funnier with fried chicken?
That said, "Her Wing Sauce stays on my miiiiind!"

@AbbyNormal: It's cool, we've ALL done the tTootsie-Pop-as-lipstick trick.

BiscuitDoughJones

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> jeez, I got my first manicure and pedicure the day of my wedding. At 28 years old. And then proceeded to ruin the pedicure because I hadn't realized I should wear flip flops and not SNEAKERS after getting the toes done...oops.

Major ridicule. I'm so not good at being a "girl" sometimes! Or at thinking ahead apparently. haha.

Avi

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @funnyface: it's weird how pierced ears are a big deal here in the US. in PR all babies get their ears pierced as soon as they are born.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @flackette: "What really bothers me is the whole idea of a "makeover" on little girls. Because to be made over implies that you were not OK the way you were. I'm in no way anti-makeup."

Exactly. It's a really damaging message to send girls, let alone girls so young! What say you, dmb girl?

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Stuff like this just makes me glad my parents had rules and boundaries.

After years of begging, I was allowed to pierce my ears at 13, the same age I started shaving my legs. I believe I was 13 or 14 when I told my mom I wanted to start wearing makeup, and she took me to the Clinique counter and told Molly (yes, I still remember her name) to give me something subtle that my dad wouldn't notice. I got pressed powder, blush, and some brown mascara.

funnyface

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: Look at ALLLLLLL the commenters saying IT'S NOT ABOUT THAT!

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> My mom would very occasionally let me get a manicure if we were already at the salon for our haircuts. This happened fewer than five times throughout my childhood. The rest of the time, I paint my own nails with the Tinkerbell polish mentioned above (yay peel-off!) or I had bare nails.

There's a difference between bringing your child along for weekly mani-pedis and allowing her to get a manicure once in a while as a special treat. (That said, I'm glad SarahMC is here to make me think about WHY a manicure would be considered a special treat for a child.)

KittenFluff

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> When I was younger (9?) my family and I were staying at a house on the beach. One day when it was raining my mom took me and my sister (5 if I was 9) to town and we all got manicures. I hated it. I still do. I liked my sparkle nail polish, but the manicure was annoying and ticklish. My sister loved it! My mom never took us again, but it was an experience.
And I think it depends on the kid. My sister already loved makeup (she would steal my mother's lipstick and, by the age of 10, had amassed a very large secret stash) and I was already enamored of books and our swing set.

speaksoapcube

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: What you're describing is not even what we're talking about! Reading comprehension, Jesus.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I painted our Welsh Corgi's toenails bright red when I was in elementary school and then declared she loved it. She sat still for it to dry at least, better than me with any subsequent adult manicures.

Cranimal

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: YES! I AM judgemental of parents who give birth to babies whom they immediately turn into conspicuous, wasteful, image-obsesses consumers. I am allowed to judge people who make society WORSE.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @FoxintheSnow: Ha, it's actually called a Safe Sex on the Beach.

Cam/ron

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> What really bothers me is the whole idea of a "makeover" on little girls. Because to be made over implies that you were not OK the way you were. I'm in no way anti-makeup. I love the stuff on my adult self, and I too have been complimented on my handiwork by the MAC girls. I rock everything from a bare face on weekends to black retro liner and red lips when I go out. But I wasn't allowed to do serious makeup beyond gloss and powder until I was in high school, and I think that's ok. Also, I had to spend my own money on it once I started wearing it. I like that my parents didn't give me the idea that it was something that had to be done in order to look acceptable; it was just a fun extra.

Flackette reminds everyone to Vote!

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @janna: Yeah, I never wore makeup as a kid. Just wasn't in to it until I was out of high school. Then I wore it EVERY DAY for like, 2 years and got tired of that, so I stopped.

The judgemental comments just really bother me. I know plenty of awesome adults who got manicures as kids. But I grew up in a small town and it was just normal to see kids running around a salon, lots of times getting free manicures. My best friend's mom (also a close friend of my mom) worked at a salon and we hung out there ALL the time. And we'd get free manicures and then play our Gameboys.

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: Would you shut the fuck up and stop with the knee-jer defensiveness? You could not be more transparent. All I have to say is what westvillagegirl said.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: no, we are denouncing the existence of places where little girls go and get a makeover and drink virgin daiquiris.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Archetype: My mom GAVE me my first perm. Eek.

Give your mom a hug for standing firm.

MadameX

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: This is about salons and deals catered SPECIFICALLY to girls of the preteen age and under. It's not dealing with a mother taking her daughter along with her to the salon. My mom used to do that all the time, though I kept myself busy sweeping up the hair instead of getting my nails done But I loved doing that.

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Heatherly: fair enough. i was in ballet until 8th grade, and i must say that there was a variety of shapes in my class, but i dont doubt that my school was different than the norm.
(everyone got to be in the shows)

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: Doing it with your friend and your friend's mom=fun bonding activity. I

ntroducing your daughter to the beauty industry with all its subtext of 'maintenance' and conforming with adult beauty ideals = sexualizing your child ala JonBenet.

There's a distinction there, and perhaps I didn't delineate that clearly enough, but it's there. Such as.

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Judgemental much?

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @DorothyZbornak: That's what I like now! I might buy myself a little present of that. My little sister, though, she's more of a mice/bugs/tidepools kind of girl. Despite a penchant for pink, I just can't see her tolerating a mani/pedi. I dread the day that I see her acquiring adolescent affectations and becoming appearance-conscious; I silently wring my hands over her sometimes.

mercymercyme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: Hey, y'all are pretty much saying that any kid who gets an occasional manicure at a salon is going to turn into a spoiled brat. Which I think is just a taaaaad judgemental.

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @siren77: AMEN. I am the same way. I just can't be bothered. I can't cut/color my own hair, but I can pluck my eyebrows, shave, and paint my own nails.

KittenFluff

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: Defensive much?

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: waaaaaaaaaaa.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @TheGintheCity: Oh, trust me, I was in Sephora yesterday perusing the aisles, spraying the Hermès perfume I love so much but can't afford, staring at all the makeup and pondering the best anti-blemish products. The only thing that stopped me from spending any amount of money was what I have read from Jezebel's Sephora spy. Oh, and that also kept me from actually touching ANY of the makeup as well, heh.

helladesigner

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Sev: OMG Casa Bonita. My husband is also a Denver native. He can't go to Casa Bonita or even hear it mentioned now, because he once had a seizure there as a small child. He doesn't remember the seizure, but he just knows it's a bad place.

funnyface

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: And I don't mean to insinuate such. Steering her away from ballet just another way I'm trying to insulate my girl from having the body issues that I have today. Plus, I live in a small town in Texas and I know too too well which girls are the ones in ballet, and Jon-Benet is just about right.

I'm just trying to balance it, that's all. Dance is great, but worrying that you're not going to get cast in a dance because you're not the right body type? Not ok.

Heatherly

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @VeryFancyBunny: I'm going to blame The Hills for this. And I don't know where the money comes from. Probably from parents who don't give a shit. Or they rock the 5-finger discount, gift to teenage girls everywhere.

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @azi: You're totally a horrible parent! Your kids must be REALLY SPOILED! NO kid can handle the occasional spa visit without suddenly thinking they deserve THE WORLD! OH NOES STOP IT NOW!

(Please sense the sarcasm.)

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> While I agree that it's totally sick and wrong to get little girls spa treatments, what really pisses me off is the emerging attitude that there's something wrong with a grown woman if she doesn't get a mani/pedi, eyebrow wax, bikini wax, etc. on a very regular basis. I mean, who can afford that? Besides haircuts/color, I'm totally DIY and proud.

siren77

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: omg! hahahaha. Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers new scents: KFC, BBQ, and carne asada.

A friend once applied cheetoh dust as eyeshadow, but, ahem, we were in high school.

AbbyNormal

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BadenBaden: i just spent the day watching full house reruns. ah, the past...

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Man, I guess my mom was a horrible, horrible parent for allowing me to get manicures at a young age in a real salon *gasp*. I guess I'm a total spoiled brat and totally immersed in consumerism.

Strange, then, that I was also a total tomboy. Strange, too, that I've gotten a manicure only a total of twice in my adult life (I'm 26) and I wear makeup maybe twice a month and never blow dry my hair, and I've lived completely on my own since I was 18 and don't own a whole lot in the way of material items. But no, that doesn't matter; because my mom allowed me to get manicures in a real salon at a young age, I'm a spoiled, bad person.

Yay for judging others woo!

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @heykoukla: genius! and those creepy little baby teeth HAVE to go.

faire-la-moue

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> there's a line between painting your toenails and smearing lip balm on your lips and doing the fully tricked out makeovers that the article is talking about. i've been painting my own nails since i was four years old, and i didn't have mani-pedis until i was well into my 20's. still, it's cheaper and easier for me to do it myself.

rednrowdy

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Wow. This IS ridiculous. I'd just like to point out that about a week or so ago there was a snap judgement of Madonna's daughter getting a mani, and I said I thought it was unneccesary for children of that age to get beauty treatments and I was told by another poster that I was "bitter" as a result of my austere upbringing because my parents refused to pamper me. HA. Thank fucking God. Call me old school but children don't need to be pampered. They need to be loved and supported.

eucalyptus

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @crushdmb: I loved stuff like that as a kid. At the same time, I was not allowed to wear makeup outside until high school. I never became a slut (not that there's anything wrong with being a slut), and all I wear these days is eyeliner.

janna

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Cam/ron: "I'd like a virgin Sex on the Beach"

FoxintheSnow

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hatepaperdoll: I've noticed the teen (and younger) girls looking too "done," too. Whenever I go to the mall (not often, thankfully), all the high-school-age girls have perfect highlights, beautiful shiny hair, bags that coordinate with their shoes and their outfits, and more everyday makeup than I'd wear to, say, an evening wedding. At 27, I look positively unpolished and frumpy next to them. The high-school-age me would basically look like a homeless girl next to them. What's the deal? How do they all get the time and the money to put themselves together so well?

VeryFancyBunny

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I don't know. My little cousins lost their mom in October and since then have been living with my grandmother. I love grandma but she is not the best person for grooming. The two little girls started looking unkempt, so I took them out for a day of haircuts and mani/pedis. I think once in a while is okay, that way it's a special treat, but when your kid starts lookig like Miley Cyrus, you've gone overboard.

feathernotdot

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I dunno, I'm a single mom and when I get my nails done (rarely)I usually take my kid along and drop ten bucks on a mani or pedi. It's easier because she's with me and she really enjoys it. I say why not? She's seven by the way but we've doing it since she was three. And I'me talking maybe four times a year so it's not like a major outlay.

azi

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @mercymercyme: And whenever I buy a gift for a little girl who's girly like that, I always get her Lipsmackers chapsticks.

DorothyZbornak

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> When I was about 13, my mom tried to get me to quit biting my nails by promising that she'd pay for me to get a manicure if I quit.

I still bite my nails.

luceiia

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @AbbyNormal: Oh, man, is that funny. I can just picture the look of horror on that kid's face. ahahahahahha

westvillagegirl (exiled in chicago)

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: HA!

"I can't get her out of my mind. Her eyes, her lips, her scent of red beans and Boss sauce."

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Heatherly: totally understand that it's not for everyone, but that doesnt mean it's bad or you are being a bad feminist by putting your kid in ballet.

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BeAgrestic:

Exactly.
I have to inch away when a guy stands to close in a bar.

Twilly

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @KathrynwithaY: Haha, I saw so many of those when I took my son there a couple of weeks ago. It's ridiculous. Those hairpieces? NASTAY!
My daughter used to go visit her mema in Texas and come home with french pedicure. I was like WTF? I can't even afford a damn pedicure for myself.

chocolatecoffeebeans

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Also, this thread reminds me of that Full House episode where DJ starts middle school, and Lori Loughlin has to teach her how to do her makeup, since she was wearing too much.

Viva the Tanners.

BadenBaden

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Why does a 7 year old need pampering? She is a child. She does not have a high-stress job or any responsibilities. Painting nails at the kitchen table is one thing. That's fun. You CAN bond without spending money (besides the $3 for the polish).
Turning children into mindless consumers who place too much value on appearance is another. Are people TRYING to give their daughters body image issues? Why would you want to HELP a girl be self-conscious about her looks and obsessed with "improving" herself via makeup & extensions?!?

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Oh fucking lovely, let's expose young children w/ still developing immune systems to staph harboring foot spas! Makes me cringe.

AGreenEyeDevil

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Archetype: I can haz all 3 pls?
But seriously, @helladesigner, I have a friend who also doesn't like to be touched by strangers. Totally normal.
When I was 4 I begged my mom for clown makeup (greasepaint sticks with foil around them, they smelled so tasty!). She told me I could have it when I stopped sucking my thumb, so I did immediately, and she bought me the makeup. Perhaps this explains why now, 23 years later, I just spent $70 at Sephora?

TheGintheCity

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @DorothyZbornak: I love them still, too! My 9-year-old little sis gave me her root beer flavored lip smackers because she didn't like the taste, and I rock that stuff only as a treat because I love it so much, and probably won't buy another tube when it's gone.

mercymercyme

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I went to a Catholic school and girls were not allowed to wear makeup or nail polish until high school. Even during the summers my parents said that I was only allowed to wear white nail polish. What's the point?

One of my classmates had to get a note from her mom giving her permission to wear foundation because her acne was so bad and it would be "bad for her self-esteem".

I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I was too busy reading and getting dirty as a little kid to worry about my nail polish.

antiheroine

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: For me it was no permanent colour until 16, but from 13 onwards I was allowed to use coloured mousse for special occasions. I grimace when I see the pictures now.

I was allowed mascara and shell pink (veeery neutral) eye shadow when I went to secondary school (age 12). I was allowed compact powder and cover stick as soon as the acne started. I wasn't allowed much other stuff until I was at least 16.
These people, IMHO, are sick. There's nothing wrong with pretend and playing dress up (my favourite song from my childhood was about a girl who wanted to borrow her mother's make up because she wanted to see what she'd look like when she was grown up), but this is just nasty.

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hortense: "Excuse me, is that Three-Piece Meal With Dirty Rice you're wearing?"

BiscuitDoughJones

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @janna: I AGREE! That's my point. There is a way to do it without taking it too far and creating a spoiled brat. Happy medium, anyone?

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> Yoo Hoo! PICKLES IN MY TUNA! Tippi From Toronto!

Come on over here and let duke it out over Lourdes' eyebrows, you bitches!!!

BowlingForDollars

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> I have acrylic nails - but I only started doing them a few years ago, when I was OVER 40. and NO ONE touches my feet ::shudder::

my 20 yr old daughter did ballet from age 3, never wears makeup except for stage and got a manicure for Valentine's Day last year - black polish. Ballet =/= divas or body issues, provided the parenting is well-grounded.

I would just as soon shave my head as take a very young girl for manicures/pedicures/makeovers. so, SO wrong.

bitchyolympian

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> When I was a kid, my mom would clean out her old eyeshadow and blush compacts, and line them with colored paper. Those, combined with cherry Lip Smackers, kept us busy for hours. It let me be a girly girl, and she never had to worry about me destroying her makeup, because I had my own.

When I started junior high, I got a makeup case with blush and clear mascara in it. She'd let me graduate to tan eyeshadow, then brown mascara, then eyeliner, as she noticed I was getting good at whatever I was using (and not applying it like a hooker, like so many girls in their teens).

optical_allusion

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @JessaFields: Yes! I am inclined to agree. To me awkward conversation is comparable to watching a slug make it's way across the sidewalk. Maybe I am being a tad overdramatic...

When I was a wee kid, I would BEG my mom incessantly for those cheapo 124+ eyeshadow and lipgloss kits you'd find at a bad drugstore. She always refused. I always pouted. But I will always be grateful that I was blessed with restrictions. Funny thing is, now I'm a semi-pro at make-up. Even the M.A.C. girls are impressed!

helladesigner

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @inkytwist: I spent time with a three year old last night. She spent a good deal of time trying to steal my nose, then playing with toy trains. I cannot imagine a three year old child sitting still for a manicure.

Flackette reminds everyone to Vote!

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @stacyinbean: i walked past a libby lu in the mall during one of the parties...there is nothing in this world that scares me more than a throng of painted, beglittered and hair-extensioned 7-year-olds.

cristanann

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> "Pedicures" when I was six meant my mom painting my toenails pink and I'd shove them under the nifty nail dryer (which I found to be the most fun part, naturally). I was introduced to Clinique skin care when I was in HS, and slowly started to wear makeup at 15 or so--little eyeshadow here, lip gloss there. NBD.

@AbbyNormal: Well, Prince Vallium DID yawn a lot, so I'm sure he was a very deep sleeper (couldn't help it--I love me some Spaceballs!).

bellethellama

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> when did strawberry smoothies for little kids get re-invented as virgin daqueries? we breed alcoholics young, i think

beandsee

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> And on another note, my mom actually did try to hyper sexualize me as a kid. Aside from the usual "brush your hair" remarks (I have curly hair that just turns to frizz if a brush is in the vicinity), she got me two professional perms while I was still in elementary school (my hair was curly before that. I don't know what her deal was) and then tried to convince me throughout middle school and high school that I should dye my hair blonde and get green colored contacts. I'm Hispanic and have dark brown eyes/hair. I told her I didn't want to look like a lizard like the other hispanic girls that did that. But she did like me wearing makeup which I did when I was like 13 because it was cool and stopped in high school when I realized that I was starting to be like my mother, not leaving the house without "putting my face on." Now I wear mascara and blush. But still, even with all that, I'm not hypersexual.
/pointless

dummyfakeroller

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: I don't think getting your kid manicures and pedicures turns them into the people you see on that show. Not paying attention to your children, not loving them as children, and thinking you can bribe them for everything is what turns them into those kids. Like I said before, my little sister (10) loves getting her nails done (and they don't do a full mani/pedi on her, just a scrub and polish) but enjoys playing soccer in the yard, swimming in the pool, building forts etc. just as much. I don't think she's going to be a bad kid because she thinks its fun to do things her big sister and mom like to do.

stacyinbean is a proud East Coast Librul Elitist

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @ineffable.me: It wasn't for me. I'm tall and was a bit thick as a kid (in the body, not the mind), so the teachers reeeeeallllyyy didn't like me. My kid's built like a bean pole, but really tall for her age and not terribly coordinated. The Highland Dancing and soccer are helping with that, though. And in Highland Dancing, it's not uncommon for people to be on the thick side, so if she turns out like me, it'll be more accepted.

I just thought about this a little further - her afterschool program has "nail painting day" every Tuesday where the teenager in charge paints the girls' nails if we signed a permission form, and I DO let her do that. But I guess where I draw the line is the "diva" attitude that comes with professional beauty services and (more obviously) with Club Libby Lu et. al.

Heatherly

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @SarahMC: Erm. Giving your daughter (or son, for that matter) some pampering time on occasion (note that I say on occasion) does not mean they you are teaching your daughter to be a spoiled brat. A few manicures does not just earase all other parenting. *I* got them (granted, they were free, but still), and I'm FAR from spoiled. I wasn't told I "deserved" it, it was just a fun way to pretend I was an adult for 20 minutes.

I wasn't prissy or girly girl -- faaaaar from it. I never wore shoes, jumped into the river naked, rode a real go-cart around the desert ... and occasionally got my nails done.

little stripes

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @Twilly: OOOOOH! That's my reason too! I can handle waxers and stylists, but sitting still while someone I'm not "involved" with rubs my feet is impossible for me to do.
It's hopeless.

BeAgrestic

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @hatepaperdoll: Casa Bonita IS real! And it is pink, and it has a fountain in front of it, just like they drew on South Park.
And yes, it DOES have a place called "black bart's cave" and cliff divers. It was the only place I wanted to go for my birthday when I was a kid. When I got older I realized why my mom always complained - the food blows, it's overpriced...but damn, it was a good time.

Sev

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: "She is a woman of grace, of beauty, of biscuits and gravy."

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[Why Let A Girl Play When She Can Be Made Over Like JonBenet?]]>