To think three year olds don't wear red lipstick, even on stage?

[DrSeuss]

DD has just turned three a few weeks ago and goes to a dance class, which she loves. They have a show coming up, her first and we are all really looking forward to it. However, the kit list specifies red lippy and blusher! DH and I were horrified!

Thoughts?

My DD's have worn makeup - blue eyeshadow, blusher and red lipstick for ballet and jazz shows from the age of 3.5
Only thing I don't like is they get a photo taken in their costume - and it really looks too much -but on stage it is hardly noticeable.
I don't wear makeup ever now - but did from a similar age for ballet and tap shows ...it was part of the show -part of the performance.
A long time ago and lighting has improved but in my day we also had to wear american tan tights and have all visible skin (arms, shoulders, face and neck) darkened...at first using gravy browning- later using pancake makeup...used to make a mess of the costumes and our clothes
(I used to hate the smell of gravy browning but now I love it - takes me right back...)

DD wore makeup for a show last summer. She never asked for makeup once the show had been done.

Going by photos friends have shown me, it's totally normal for dance shows.

Makes me glad DD doesn't do that sort of dance. (But then I think curly wigs are wrong, which is why she doesn't do Irish dancing)

Both sons dance and have done shows from an early age. No-one has ever suggested putting make up on them. They look fine when viewed from the audience, ditto in the obligatory DVD. Facepaint when dancing 'in character' is one thing, lipstick quite another.

Ewwww. Glad we seem to have swerved the dreadful dance/ ballet twee grimness. The thought of little girls prancing about with facefulls of slap and gunk on their hair makes feel nauseous - they should be out climbing trees or playing in the park. It's all for the parents anyway.

When I think of the joy that dancing has given to my daughter over the years I find your comments distasteful.

If children want to be out playing in the park then fine. If they want to be learning a skill that makes them happy then also fine.

My dd did it for a term the whole thing was very strange IMO. Make up? Specifications for hair? Ticked off for the wrong cardigan? They are pre schoolers! Enough time for them to be fussing about how they look not something to encourage in little girls sorry but that's my opinion and I'm entitled to it.

Well, KERALA1, all I can say is that you never know what life is going to throw you.

Certainly, my kids have certainly never felt the need to choose between 'prancing about' and mud/park/climbing trees. And the balance and stamina they've learnt through dance is really helpful when skateboarding. And the gunk is definitely optional - at least til you dance professionally.

They generally ask for rosecoloured lipstick at dds old dance school unless it was a character part.

I guess it's going to be the full works at her new one.

Dd was 5 when she did her first show and yes,they had lippy and black marks at the corners of the eyes. On a full stage with lights they need it.

During the day she was up to her eyeballs in horse shit.

But the children enjoy the dressing up part if it. It makes the show special.

And enforcing the rules when they are young makes it easier when they are older. Start as you mean to go on.

You have a point Kerala but it might be helpful to keep in mind that there are different kinds of dance schools--those with the prancing and goofing around in tutus and those instilling discipline and strength.

A aargh am going to be attacked now by dance mums!

I'm no dance mum.

I just pay the fees & let dd get on with it.

I'm not a dance mum but I'm grateful for the years spent in dance classes.

As others have said if it's a stage with lighting then its fine imo. Ds did a dance show at 5 on stage, he did the dress rehearsal with no make up and looked really ill he was so washed out under the lights. Make up on for the performance and from the audience looked fine, not made up.

Blue eyes, blusher, amd Bright pink or red lippy at D's dance shows.

No make up allowed for the costume photo shoot though (aprt from the older girls)

Thankfully we (and DD) don't think dancing and mucky tree climbing is an either/or activity. In fact im often far too lazy to go home to get her changed out of her leotard and leggings before heading out for picnics in the woods. So she can often be found dancing in the trees!

It's probably a standard list aimed at the older girls. Check with the teacher. My dd hates lipstick and wouldn't wear it even when older.

they should be out climbing trees or playing in the park.

Lol. Yes, because the two things are mutually exclusive aren't they? If a child does dance they can't climb trees or run wild in the woods. I must tell DD off then. Ridiculous.

It's all for the parents anyway.

Hell no. I've never been so bloody bored in my life. DD had a whale of a time though.

Dancing/acting; you do know it's make believe, right?

Kerala, yes you do deserve to be "attacked" for your ridiculous statements!

DS1 is quite capable of playing football in the morning and then doing his dance show in the afternoon, with eye makeup so his eyes/eyebrows can be seen, as others have said, they're not mutually exclusive activities!

Narrow-minded or what...

I admit I chose to put DS1 into dancing, to help him with discipline, balance, co-ordination and strength. He also does Tae Kwon Do (actually after his dance class, they're in the same place) - but it's been his choice to continue, and to increase the number of classes he does. Every year I ask him if he wants to drop any - answer "No".

Don't worry I'm very polite and nod along when friends race home early from girls weekends because their dhs cannot possibly do little Tamaras hair to the exacting standards of miss Millie the ballet teacher. Not changing my views though - little Tamaras would be much happier on the trampoline hair flying free...

Wow! Those are very narrow minded views... I used to do ballet class in the morning as a child, then water sports (a predominantly male sport) in the afternoon. I enjoyed them both for their differences and got different things out of them.

It's good for children to experience a spectrum of different types of activities, how else do they figure out what they like or enjoy or could be very talented at?!

I pity the child who is held back by a selfish parent who assumes 'they know best' about what activities the child might like to do based on how tidy they might need to have their hair...

I find all the angst about little girls in make up (when it is for a stage show, I hasten to add) hysterical.

I was a ballet dancer pre-children. I started when I was tiny, was hooked, and that's what I did.

I wore full on stage make up for shows and festivals from the age of 6. I had minor shows and exhibitions where I wore a dash of blusher and a bit of lippy from about 4 probably.

I had to have exacting standards for dress, hair, where ribbons were sewn on shoes, how they were tied etc.

In RL (both the and now) I don't touch make up - can't actually stand the way it feels, but put up with it as part of the job before.

I still dress like a student - jeans (more often than not with holes in/worn through - they are jsut getting comfortable at that point!) and tops, trainers/comfy shoes.

Imo, and ime, you are either someone who will get drawn into the world of makeup and dressing to please other people, or you are not. I have worn things for stage work that I would not dream of wearing in RL, and it didn't bother me as it was for the job.

I do understand why it is not a good idea to promote ideas of 'looking pretty' to,little girls - I have 2 young dds, and I battle constantly with dd2 against the shit that a sexist world is training into her (mostly ideas from school, sadly). But I still maintain it is perfectly,possible to wear full stage makeup for a reason (ie looking 'normal' once stage lights are on) and not make little girls think it is a necessary way to live their life. It isn't about making them loom 'prettier', and anyone who tells them that should be corrected.