Painting my toddler’s nails?

We have kids nail polish - it's basically just coloured PVA glue and peels off super easily. She gets it done whenever she lets me cut her nails.

I have let her do it at a salon once too as my cutting/filing skills leave a lot to be desired so i found a good, high quality salon that would do it. she loved the experience.

A lot of nail polishes contain formaldehyde and toluene.

I paint both my kids' nails (DD and DS) with adult nail varnish. They know it takes a while to dry and have to have the patience for this. I only do it in the holidays, so not all the time, and they usually have the most clashing colours!

For context: I don't really wear make-up other than nail varnish. DD is older primary now and it hasn't gone beyond rainbow coloured nails!

Hahaha! You do know that people have been painting toddlers nails since nail polish was invented, don’t you? Along with wearing mummy’s clothes and shoes, it’s called “dressing up”.
My unofficial godmother used to visit my parents each Friday - she was very glamorous and always had a beautiful French manicure, which she would replicate for mine and my older sister’s nails.
Despite being very strait-laced, my DM would allow this one indulgence, and of course, it was all removed before school on Monday.
This was around the mid-60’s…

Is there a special occasion coming up that you could tie it to so that she doesn’t think she can have it all the time?

She may be disappointed though - I painted my daughter’s nails for our wedding last week. She’s 5 and I used kids glitter varnish. I did it the night before, made sure it dried properly but by the wedding it had all gone :(
she was really disappointed as I didn’t take the varnish with us so couldn’t reapply it.

I painted my daughters nails from around age 3 with either normal or kids polish, not a regular thing, she didn’t bite nails or suck her thumb, i’d use acetone free nail polish remover then give her fingers a really good clean. She loved it, she’s 8 now and i still do her nails in school holidays.

Why?

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Get the kids nail polish

It's absolutely fine it's just nail Polish. I paint my 4 years olds nephews nails all the time. 🥰

My little boys used to love having their nails painted when I did my own- from about 2 - 4 years old. It was great too as they knew that had to sit still whilst it dried. I have some gorgeous photos of them on holiday at the beach in Spider-Man beach outfits and tiny bright pink toenails

My DS had alternate turquoise and silver nails and toenails for most of his pre-school years.

My 3 year old son has a 10 year old sister so he quite often has his nails painted.

No harm in doing it, I used to do my toddler ds's nails in gold polish because he wanted to be a pirate, don't overthink it.

I painted my son's toenails when he was 3. Sometime during the first lockdown.

My boys loved having their nails painted when they were little.

Like PP said, it's just a novelty like face paint or dress up, it looks pretty & fun.

Pretty harmless option to paint a child’s nails imo

My 2 and a half year old often has her nails painted. When she sees me doing mine she places her hand flat infront of me and says my turn, so I do it for her, I don’t see the issue, she even blows on them and keeps her hands still untill I tell her they’re dry.

she takes great pride in showing her dad when he comes home, it’s a harmless bit of fun that puts a smile on their face, nothing ridiculous about it

Toddlers generally draw/paint over 90% of their body. I wouldn't have a problem with this.

why not? The kids nail varnish literally peels off or washes off as soon as they wash their hands so there’s no harm.
It’s also great fine motor activity if you get your 3 year old to paint yours/ her own

YANBU. It's not different in their eyes to getting their face painted or wearing glitter or any other colourful adornment.
My child was about 3 when she started seeing other children at nursery come in with painted nails, and asking for it herself. She then received a kids peel-off nail kit for Christmas that year from an Aunt. She was very excited at first and wanted to paint her nails quite frequently (which my husband used to do for her) but she lost interest quickly and now 2 years later only wants to do it once in a blue moon.

That's such a sweet reason that I'd go with it.
But I'd explain that since she's a pupil she'll have to remove it on Sunday night/Monday morning because it's not part of 'uniform'.

It’s a fun thing to paint a DD nails whatever the age

My 3 year old is obsessed with nail polish. He asks me to draw around his hands and draws it on and asks me to do his nails too. I just do it. He loves it and it makes him happy.

It didn’t occur to me that this might be a faux pas?

Why is it ridiculous?
it’s actually a pretty normal and harmless idea.