Yuck, I hate that girls are missing out on childhood. I didn't wear makeup until I was a junior in high school. I didn't even want to. It's the time in your life when you don't need it.

Whoa. This is just wrong. I mean, I had my Petite Miss sets when I was like 5 or 6, and I was notorious for finding my mom's makeup and applying it in a rather non-expert fashion, but that's just playing. There was nothing serious behind it, no idea that this is what was supposed to be done to look a certain way. (Thus why there was green eyeshadow on my cheeks...) I got my first "real makeup" - a bottle of Wet'n'Wild nail polish in a lovely shade of purple - when I turned 8. I think that's fine, really. I had lots of Bonne Bell lipsmackers in the 8-12 time period, and some gloss and eyeshadow, but I certainly had no idea how to properly apply it and it was just for fun. (The results were often quite hilarious - there's a beautiful photo of my whole group of friends decked out in dark purple lip gloss and powder blue eyeshadow at about age 10, looking immensely proud of ourselves. Eep.)

This is a lot more scary. Makeovers? That's implying something's wrong with their current look. And teaching them that there's certain things they have to do or have done in order to look pretty. Furthermore, giving them virgin cocktails may be perfectly legal, but the implication that you need to drink alcohol to be glamorous is not healthy for them. At this age, they're particularly impressionable, and while it may all seem like fun and games, I don't think it's a good idea at all. "Fun and games" really should involve letting them play how they want with the makeup, not making them behave and look as mini-adults. This is scary, and I hope it stops, or these girls are going to be in real trouble as they get older.

Don't even get me started...

Yeah I wasn't allowed to wear make-up until I was like 13! My little cousin who is 5 years old is so self-consious about what she wears and how she looks. She has been to Libby Lu's quite a few times b/c her friends have all had their b-day party there for make-overs. It's crazy!

when I was a kid I wanted to be paula abdul (it was the 80s...) but I think this is going too far. playing dress up is one thing, but should be confined to the house. I was allowed to wear lip gloss to school as a kid, but definitely no eye makeup. wasnt allowed that until high school. that youtube video - those girls looks so awful afterwards!

Ok, the virgin cosmos is going way too far. And yeah, I'm with the others, makeup is fine for playing when you're that age, not serious. Yikes, let kids be kids!

This is why I said i'm raising my kids in Africa where the closest they will get to make up at an early age is their dolls.

I agree with SugarCat..Virgin Cosmos? Man. I know by the time I was in 3rd or 4th grade that I was wearing lip smackers and nail polish. I think in 5th grade I started wearing lip gloss. I had other makeup , but I never really wore it out of the house.

I don't like the idea of giving a kid a "makeover". That implies that there is something wrong with their appearance. Craziness.
Also, I don't get the hype over Hannah Montana. My eight year old cousin is flipping obsessed with her. She has the wig and all of that. I just don't get it.

Wow, I just started wearing make-up and I don't wear it regularly. When I was younger my thing which still is: lip gloss (Avon and not colored).

here we go again....

::

woah! what's with the cat puffin smoke? lmao...

what I meant to say after my sentence was *sigh*

LMAO, kitty up in smoke!

I've been painting my daughter's nails (mostly at her request) since she was 1 1/2. Usually just the toes. And, I don't see a problem with that.

I agree that playing with makeup at a young age is fine. But, this article is disturbing.

Yesterday, I dropped my daughter off at her occasional daycare and a little girl who could NOT have been older than 5 or 6 was leaving with her mom wearing glitter eyeshadow, either mascara or eyeliner and carrying a purse and wearing little wedge heels. (I admit my daughter has a ton of my old purses and she's the only 2 year old showing up at daycare with a purse not a backpack, but she picks it and I think that's cute by itself.) Then, today, I dropped my son off at school and a 5 year old girl in his class was wearing blue eyeshadow, blush and lipstick! Clearly applied by her mother! I was totally floored to see two of these tiny little clowns in two days at SUCH young ages!!!

I'm torn on the Club LibbyLu and DivaDo or whatever things... On the one hand, how fun would that be for 11 or 12 year olds for a party or something!? It's not like we didn't do that at sleepovers. Just not so professionally... On the other hand, I wonder how many of those girls are going in regularly and how many of these girls are much younger than 11 or 12? That's disturbing to me.

Oh, and I want to add that when I was 12 or 13, we were all going in and doing the Head Shots/Glamour Shots thing, and I don't really see a big difference between these "makeovers" and that.

And that is why as they grow older with that philosophy base they become sluts and drink cosmos, not even because they like it but because they think their worth and society's acceptance is based on their makeup or shoes. Very sad, but when people look at little girls do that they just think it is 'the cutest'.

Well, this is cute and all, but yeah, it does make little girls grow up too fast. I think young girls (like 6~10) should have to learn to take care of her skin and body first before they're let her loose on makeup. Like teaching the importance of lip balm to lips from chapping before moving to the BonneBell lipgloss and the colored lipgloss so that by the time they move up to lipstick, they will have it in their heads that if they want to look pretty, they're gonna have to work for it and they'll know what they're doing. The same could be done for face makeup having them learn the basics of skin care. Then they won't look like little hos when it comes time to wear makeup in public. And the virgin cosmos... I swear that's so wrong. Just give them a fancy Kool-Aid and don't tell them it's a mocktail and it's just like drinking punch at a party.

can we all say JONBENET much? This sickens me... Little girls should be not be concerned with their vanity....and this is part of the reason why i don't want children- i mean, bratz dolls? those dolls are sluts... and our children play with them daily!

Agree with all of the above.
One thing though: if my daughters had taken that quiz, they would have answered yes to those questions too - only my kids think that Chapstick is "lip gloss" and we always paint their toenails crazy colors in the summer. I never thought of either of those things as sexualizing young girls! To me those stats are misleading.

A bad idea all the way around. Too many parents, however are buying into it AND not putting their foot down! Where will the line finally be drawn? Look at the current state of our nation, as seen in headlines and in homes throughout the country...10 year old has baby by mother's boyfriend. Cyberbullying still exists. Cartoons are overtly sexual in nature these days. Every little girl wants to be Hannah Montana? Too many hours of tv watching, unsupervised. Text messaging is taking over the gift of speech.

I took my 13 year old's cell phone, just last night. Why? Because at 13, I will not continue to remind her of the chores she has everyday which is what I have been doing as of late. However, I never have to remind her when to get on that darned phone! I'd had enough!!!!! Now she is acting as if she lost her best friend. Walking around moping, not giving me a good morning kiss before she leaves for school---NO CELL PHONE IN HAND. LOL Case in point: Becoming distracted by one thing, can cloud your judgment when it comes to priorities. In my house that means there are consequences. I'll hold onto the phone, quite possibly returning it on Monday.
Little girls have cell phones outside of my daughter's age group "as means of communication." Hell, at age 6-9 I got along just fine without one!
In the case of make-up, my rule is we can start of with mascara and clear lip gloss first; next year maybe we can move into subtle shades of eye shadow; the year after that, we can incorporate eyeliner but NOT a full face of all these things at 13! No way. If she chooses not to wear the items we agreed upon in the stages mentioned, she doesn't have to wear it at all and I won't lose a wink of sleep about it. It's either that OR it's nothing!!!!!

"Even if they enjoy it? Tell me what you think."
I enjoy Cold Stone Creamery. Is it a good idea to eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner? No. Why? Because everything that seems harmless and good, ain't always GOOD for you!

I didn't start wearing make up until I was about 13! And even this it was pretty limited. When I was younger I wore Lip Smackers lip gloss and painted my nails sometimes, but that was it. Letting girls wear make up and treating them like adults only makes them grow up faster, and lets them think that some of their actions are appropriate and expected of them (most of the guys I know are scared to hit on girls in bars because they never know how old some of them are. And I worked with a 15 year old who's slept with more guys than I probably ever will and struts around with the "I'm innocent but completely slutty" look).
Girls need to learn to act appropriately, to take care of their bodies and respect themselves. We need to let them be kids.

My mom didn't care. I was always a girly girl and painted my own nails by the time I was 10 outside in our yard. I just liekd girly things!
And seh wanted me to learn about make-up and hair stuff and taught me all about it, so I knew how to put it on right (no cake-face)!

My friends and I used to give each other "makeovers" and play around with makeup. I think that is a-ok, same with peel-off nail polish, which I also played with when I was as young as these girls surveyed. I didn't really start wearing much make-up until high school, and even then I think I was pretty tame compared to a lot of girls, so I think having a few lip glosses and whatnot is a bit harmless really. I guess I would cross the line at eyeliner though as for some reason I think that really ups the creepy factor re: makeup on children.

As for the virgin cosmos, I used to drink Shirley Temples (a non-alcoholic Roy Rogers) when I was young pup because it tasted good. Am I a raging alcholic now? No. Perhaps they could come up with something less alcoholic-associated for a virgin cosmo vs. just calling it a virgin cosmo (or is there a name for one already?)

It's kiddie beauty pageants that freak me out more than anything, yuck!

Playing with makeup as a child is fine but wearing it everyday like adults is just wrong. It was not until I started working full time after college that I wore makeup on a regular basis.

As for the cosmos it bugs me that a nail salon is doing it. It is one thing for the parents of the child to do so but a whole different story for a non-parent. I used to drink Shirley Temples as a child and loved them. In fact my sister who is 23 had the memory of ordering them so she recently order one at a restaurant and the waiter's face was priceless. But damn they are super sweet. Another virgin drink I would drink as a child where virgin strawberry daiquiris.

LOL @ msdyanelk. Tough mama! Somehow I have a feeling your daughter will survive this terrible ordeal.

My aunt taught me how to paint my nails when I was 5. I had tons of the kiddie-makeup sets, that I would put on all of the colors at once, and look like a streetwalker (said my mom).

I had the bonne-bell... not bonne-bell? I don't remember, but it was some company that made toiletries for little girls. They had peel-off nailpolish. I even had a nail-dryer that I wish I could find.

I don't remember ever wanting to be more grown-up with my makeups and nailpolishes, just that I thought nailpolish was pretty. I occasionally paint my nails and wear lipbalm regularly, I don't think kiddie-pampering made me a precocious brat any more than I already was.

makeup does not = wh*re

It's sad to see young girls wearing as much make up as they do nowadays. At 22, I see girls who are a decade younger than me out shopping with a face full of make up on -- MORE make up than I wear even when I go out at nights!!

I don't see anything wrong with younger girls having fun with nail polish and whatnot, but a lot of people have mentioned a good point: little girl makeovers.

Little girls look beautiful the way they are! They don't need makeup to enhance ANYTHING.

Oh, and virgin cosmos? I'm not even going to get started.

kids should love the way they look at an early age, not try to change it. Parents need to reinforce that

My six-year-old daughter watches me apply makeup and begged me for her own, because I won't let her play with mine. I bought her real (drugstore) makeup--a blush, shadow, and clear gloss--for her birthday. Buying neutral colors that would blend with her skin tone was, to me, preferable to buying her garish play makeup. I showed her how to apply each product properly. She went through it in about a month, and only occasionally asks me to wear a little makeup, now. She has moved on to styling her hair.

I have taken her to Club Libby Lu once for a hairstyle. She thought she was smokin' with her fake ponytail and purple streaks.

I think the key here is moderation. Excessively indulgent parents are going to indulge across the board. I don't see the big deal in having a makeover party; it's a fun treat for a special occasion. It would be excessive if a little girl was going in for weekly manicures.

My grandmother started bleaching my mother's hair at age twelve (this was in the 50s), and my mother is pretty low key when it comes to makeup and hair. I started experimenting with serious makeup at about the same age, but didn't wear it on a regular basis until about 14, by which time I was fairly skilled at application. Makeup is still something I consider a creative outlet and a hobby. My mother, an artist, would have never discouraged that.

My daughter has terrific self-esteem. I hope this is because I encourage her to explore and pursue what interests her, which, I'll add, includes sports, superheroes, crafts, and cooking, in addition to hair and makeup.

There's a Libby Lu place at Downtown Disney. I had a friend who worked at Disney and she said that creepy men sit outside the store and watch the little girls. More than one man had to be arrested for, um, pleasuring themselves outside the store.

i used to look for my mom's make up and used it secretly when she was at work, but i never went out with it. if she caught me with it, she would tell me to take it off. i bought mascara and clear nail polish when i was 13. i didn't start wearing make up when i was 14. fadeastride, that scene in disney sounds so disturbing.

I LOVED playing with makeup when I was really young and I still do! I always went into my big sisters room when she wasnt home and painted my nails and put on dark purple lipstick and used everything in her bag. She caught me a few times. Gooooood memories.

My sister and I were always little girly-girls, always played with our mother's makeup and had huge collections of Bonne Bell.

I don't really think it's a big deal if it's just for fun...a lot of little girls watch their moms and big sisters put on makeup and get all dressed up. They just want to be like them.

I think people overanalyze this stuff sometimes.

I don't think there's anything wrong with playing around with makeup. I think the problems start when little girls are told (or begin to think) that they have to be made up to be pretty, when there are so many other things to think about when you're a kid.

I thought my mom's approach was very reasonable. Nail polish and lightly tinted lip balm were never off limits. When I was 13, I could have real lip gloss, when I hit 14, mascara. I think 15 was eyeliner and shadow, and at 16 I could wear foundation and real lipstick, as well as color my hair- but it was such a gradual introduction that I never felt the need to go crazy and make myself up like a clown.

The only thing my mom didn't count on was my younger sister stealing my makeup and getting very VERY made up on the sly.

I think it's one thing to play with makeup, or to have fun makeovers, but I think in this day, where everything is oversexed, having young girls wearing so much makeup, looking older than they are...

Well, things are a little (though not much) different than they were when I was a pre-teen (which was over 20 years ago). If I had lipstick on before I was 14, it was probably a special occasion - a recital or something. Nowadays, as was said in earlier comments, kids half that age are wearing it on a regular basis.

Kids should be kids as long as they can.

That said, my daughter is 13, and only allowed to wear lip gloss in either clear or very pale colors. There's no reason for her to put on the full war paint for math class. :/

wow.
i cant stand seeing three year olds in full makeup.
thats why pageants disgust me.

honestly.. virgin cosmos????????

that is the most irresponsible parenting i have ever heard of!!
sure, my mom let me order shirly temples when we went out to dinner, but this sounds like the parents want to see their little girls re-enact a sex and the city episode

as for the make-up... tinkerbell nailpolish and blue lipstick is one thing, its fun at a sleepover and stuff
but dying my daughters hair and sending her out the door in eyeliner and lipgloss at 10 years old is something i will never be willing to do...

these kids are growing up WAY too fast as it is, they definetly do not need encouragement

The Club Libby Lu stuff turns my stomach. The girls look like little glitter wh*res when they leave. My 8 yo likes to have her toe nails painted when I do my nails but sticks with pink or sometimes some off-the-wall blue or purple.

I've heard some 10 year olds talk about dieting for goodness sake. Serious "weight loss" when they don't need it dieting conversations. It's scary. The emphasis on appearance at such an early age is disturbing.

This is why I'm terrified of having a daughter

What's wrong with having your nails painted as a little girl? I mean getting them done at a salon is a little rediculous but I think my mom started painting my nails at the age of 5. And the lipgloss thing is harmless too if you think about it. At age 9 your a 5th grader about to become a big middle schooler and probably thinking about boys. The lipglosses there girls are wearing are probably clear.

Club Libby Lu "make-overs" are more like dress-up. I have a friend that works there and they pick out princess outfits and get their make-up done and their hair styled then they perform a silly little song and dance for their parents. It's just a cute idea for a themed birthday party(probably averaging 5 to 7 girls a party that adds up)

The whole Cosmo thing is rediculous though.

*these

Thank you, Bella! It's a tough job but I am up for the challenge. I cannot give up/in to her and too many other MAMAS are doing just! that!

Wow. I would say I can't believe this, but I totally can. I've got no children of my own, but I do have plenty of nieces and I have seen this behavior in them. My niece Dani has always been a girly girl, playing with makeup and wanting to be like auntie, and for a while it wasn't abnormal. Then by 7-8 years old she was wearing eyeshadow and lip gloss, a little much, but nothing too red-flag. Now, at 9 years old, Dani's had her hair dyed and is talking about dieting. THAT'S why this kind of stuff is a problem, it totally damages a girl's self image and worth. And my bro and SIL are pretty strict about what she watches and plays with (they have a NO BRATZ policy on toys, they get donated if they get given to their daughters).

I'll admit, I did the lip gloss thing when I was little, but the only time I was allowed to wear makeup outside the house was for dance performances, and even then it was neutral colors only. When my mom said I could wear makeup at 11, I had no interest in it, didn't even start wearing it regularly until about 16, and even then not everything. I'm barely wearing everything regularly and I'm 24! I wasn't allowed to dye my hair until I was 14 either, and I've gotten over that because I ruined my hair. Oh, and I've never seriously thought of dieting (I'm about a size 11 now, probably will lose a size through the summer NATURALLY) and I'm even getting married this year, isn't that when women are supposed to want to diet most?

I won't even get started on the virgin cosmos, but I will say those are the equivalent of candy cigarettes in my eyes... They seem cute and harmless, until you're hooked on the real deal.

Childhood is sacred, we only get one shot at it. Let's help our daughters say, "Yeah, I remember that fun innocence," without the tagline, "but I felt so bad about myself when it was all over." Because let's face it, these 6 year olds don't know they're not supposed to look like Hannah.

Lets look at who the Kiddies are looking up and or playing with nowadays shall we?

Bratz Dolls, which are basically toddler prostitutes what have gigantic heads and feet that come off.

Miley Cyrus- while not a bad influence per se, she does wear a wig to play Hannah Montana and lots of makeup.

Popular culture: Lindsay Lohan, Paris, Britney…all are on our magazines TVs and talked about constantly and we all know that all those girls need to get their mouth washed out and a good old babtism in make up remover.

At Disney world here in Orlando florida they can go to the “bippity boppity boutique” and pick out a Disney princess makeover. Girls three and older can choose from three hair styles — Fairytale Princess, Disney Diva and Pop Princess and let me tell you they come out looking like Mickey is the pimp.

Just like the article said, we are creating consumers at a very young age.

And by the look of that Hannah Montana wig, not very discriminating consumers at that.

The girls of today will grow up to be the low self esteem women of tomorrow...

little kids should not be worried about how they look o primping themselves! i didn't even have my first manicure until i was 12, and even then i picked colors like blue and green...this is just way too weird!

i always walk by the dashing diva near my university's campus, and i have never seen anyone other than adult women in there....maybe cause they offer relatively cheap mani/pedis? it explains why it looks like it does if it is really marketed towards children/tweens.

my experiences with makeup when i was little were usually with ballet recitals, in which we had to wear our hair up with curled bangs (if we had them, but it was the 80s), blue eyeshadow (once again the 80s), pink blush (lots of it), and bright pink lipstick. my mom or a helper backstage would put it on us, and looking back in the pictures they are pretty hilarious. oh the 80s...

and if i was allowed to paint my nails i could only wear light pink until i was probably about 11 or 12 years old. and i distinctly remember my little cousin staying with us who was about 5 at the time and my mom letting her paint her nails red while she would still make me only wear ballet slippers and i was so mad! in retrospect it really didn't matter, but at the time it was a big enough deal to induce tears. oh the trauma!

I don't see anything wrong with lil girls having their nails painted, i see it all the time in my nail salon and i think its cute.

now as for wearing makeup thats just a tad ridiculous, using it while playing dress up is one thing but an every day thing - no way.

I used to play with all the bonne bell stuff when i was younger but it never made me want real make up quicker. The most i ever did when I was younger was paint my nails except for dance recitals and then i had to get made up which i actually hated.

Even now, the most i wear is lipstick and eye shadow and thats very rarely. I stick with the natural make up free, if you take care of your skin properly younger you won't need makeup when your older.