by Bridget Webber

Created on: January 15, 2009   Last Updated: November 27, 2011

Most little girls love to play at dressing up. They will stumble around in their mother’s high heeled shoes, clutching her handbag and wearing items of her clothing if they can get hold of them. At the same time they may paint their nails and make up their faces with cosmetics from their mothers make-up bag. This is normal behavior as girls combine play with practicing behaving like their role models.

This isn't a bad thing. It is all part of growing up. However, wearing make-up for real on a daily basis can bring up other issues that may be regarded as problematic if a girl is just too young.

Make-up, when not being worn as part of a dressing up game has a primary purpose. That is to make the individual beneath the cosmetics more attractive. For a woman this can be important. It can make her feel better about herself and give her confidence. For a child though, things are different.

There are many young girls concerned about their appearance who starve themselves so that they think that they will be viewed as being more attractive. By letting children wear make-up a parent may inadvertently be sending them the message that they are not fine as they are, and that their looks need to be improved upon.

When this happens girls suddenly lose their carefree and child-like nature and enter a woman's world of neurosis, worrying that they are just not good enough as they are.

No-longer are they free to run and play without being concerned about their looks anymore. They end up trying to avoid situations where their make-up will smudge and start to keep a mirror with them so that they can re-apply lipstick when they would be far happier playing and just being a child.

When a child begins to come to the point where they notice the opposite sex they tend to become more engrossed in concerns about their looks. It is impossible for parents to hold this moment back and to prolong childhood if a girl’s hormones are speaking to her more loudly than they are.

All girls reach this stage at different ages. There-fore saying that there is a set age when it is correct to begin wearing make-up wouldn't work. It is an individual girl and her maturity which counts when it comes to identifying a particular age when she may like to begin exploring cosmetics.

Generally speaking though, children who are under the age of twelve may enjoy dressing up, but don’t usually have the maturity with which to cope with the onslaught of male attention that will invariably come their way if they indicate, by wearing make-up, that they are sexual beings.

Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.