What age is too young for a manicure? Tony Hawk sparks debate after posting picture of his four-year-old daughter's sparkly nails
What age is too young for a manicure? Tony Hawk sparks debate after posting picture of his four-year-old daughter's sparkly nails By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 14:43 EST, 7 March 2013 | UPDATED: 19:11 EST, 7 March 2013
Parents are debating what age is appropriate for young girls to get manicures after skateboarder Tony Hawk tweeted a photo of his young four-year-old daughter painting her nails this week.
While the response has been generally positive, with fans commenting how 'adorable' the photo of Kadence Clover is, many have started to ask how young is too young?
In a recent survey conducted by Today.com, 5,960 mothers were polled and 51per cent said age 13 is acceptable; 29per cent argued that age eight to 12 was ok, while 20per cent said under age eight was fine.
Too young? Parents are debating what age is appropriate for young girls to get manicures after skateboarder Tony Hawk tweeted a photo of his four-year-old daughter painting her nails this week
Jessica Alba, 31, first took her five-year-old daughter, Honor, to get her nails done in 2011, and has regularly treated her to the pampering sessions since.
The duo even sported matching mother-daughter manicures as they shopped in Paris yesterday.
Traditionally, young girls have played with unattended nail polish, eye shadow or lipstick, hoping to emulate the sophistication of their mother secretly.
Now, more young girls are tagging along on beauty expeditions by their mothers and teenage sisters, with cosmetic companies and retailers increasingly aiming their sophisticated products and service packages at six to nine-year-olds.
Julie Novack, a working mother-of-three who is from Ohio and now lives in new York's Park Slope, first took her daughter, Sadie, to get a manicure at age four.
Now age 11, Sadie has weekly manicures with her mom, but purely as a bonding experience.
'At least until they are seven years old is best'
Mrs Novack told MailOnline: 'I am a working mom and therefore do not have a lot of time with Sadie during the week. I do not want to take even more time away by going to get a manicure so I bring her along and she loves it.'
However she is unsure what effect the manicures will have on her in the long run.
'I didn't have a manicure until I was in my 20s at least and I love them now. I do think that my daughter is not as appreciative of having one as it is not really a treat anymore â€" it is a part of something she just gets to do with me,' she said, before adding, 'In my mind, it is too often.'
Mariko Zapf, mother to a six-year-old boy and three-year-old girl, is yet to take her daughter for a manicure, but has taken her son for a pedicure.
She told MailOnline: 'I took my son for a pedicure last mother's day, and I wouldn't want to withhold that experience from my daughter.
Beauty bonding: Jessica Alba, 31, first took her five-year-old daughter, Honor, to get her nails done in 2011, and has regularly treated her to the pampering sessions since
'It was a bonding experience between him and me and I will regard her and I visiting the nail salon in the same way.'
However, she said any manicures shared with her little girl would be for special occasions only.
'Weekly nail appointments I would feel differently about, particularly if it was around some ritual to look more grown up or glamorous. But as a bonding experience with a son or a daughter, I approve.
A 2011 survey of more than 750 parents in Parenting magazine found that while most respondents agreed on matters of manicures, shaving and makeup, with 71 per cent saying age 12 was an appropriate age, respondents were way more divided on topics like ear piercing and eyebrow waxing or tweezing.
While 31 percent said age 10 is appropriate for ear piercing, 35 percent said it’s OK to pierce ears at birth.
32per cent said it was ok for 16-year-olds to wax or t weeze, 30per cent said they would wait until their daughters turned 14 and 19per cent said age 12 would be acceptable to them.
'As a bonding experience, I approve'
According to Experian, a market research company based in New York, a 2007 study showed 55per cent of six to nine-year-old girls used lip gloss or lipstick, and nearly two-thirds said they used nail polish.
Comparatively, in 2003, 49per cent of six to nine-year-old girls said they used lip gloss or lipstick.
Youth market analysts say this is part of a trend called KGOY, 'kids getting older younger,' which may be thanks to more-indulgent parents.
Rosalind Wiseman, the author of Queen Bees & Wannabes, told The New York Times in 2008: 'Mothers and fathers do really crazy things with the best of intentions. I don’t care how it’s couched, if you’re permitting this with your daughter, you are hyper-sexualizing her.
'It’s one thing to have them play around with makeup at home within the bubble of the family. But once it shifts to another context, you are taking away the play and creating a consumer, and frankly, you run the risk of having one more person who feels she’s not good enough if she’s not buying the stuff.'
Twenty years ago, girls had fewer products to choose from. Now, they have nail art and all manner of seasonal nail lacquers trends; and the products are moderately priced so that they are an easy treat from parents.
Mrs Novack agrees that a manicure's price point can sway a parent's decision.
'It used to be one off and special time as I lived in Columbus, Ohio where it is very expensive, and there is not a nail salon on every block like in NYC. We moved back when she was six years old and I have been taking her to get manicures with me on the weekends for years now.'
Lucy Corrigan, a mother of two daughters, 13 and 15, in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, New York said she allowed her younger daughter to go to two salon birthday parties in 200 8 for seven-year-olds.
She told The New York Times at the time: 'Of course, it was alarming. But I’d rather my girls try it and decide they don’t need all these products to be beautiful, and then do something more vital with their time and money and efforts, like write a poem or take a walk or save the world.'
Mrs Novak believes it is important to try to keep a balance with when and what young girls are exposed to, as parents 'can have a tendency to think that they can handle more than they can sometimes,' she explained.
'I do think waiting until later, perhaps at least until they are seven years old is best. But I have no idea if it is a bad thing for them or not in the end.'
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