Ten is too young for a Brazilian
An article in January 8th Melbourne's The Age caught my eye. Written by staff writer Larissa Dubecki it focussed on the 2007 release of the Pretty range of hair removal products by Nair aimed at the 10-15 year old age group- or in Nairspeak "first time hair removers".
Yep. You read right. Ten year olds girls - roughly Year 5 and 6 - according to the Nair website"at an age when the childhood fuzz is becoming thicker and coarser hair. It's time to give some serious thought to removing it."
Girl.com.au a site visited by nine to 14 year olds claims that "Nobody really likes hair in their private regions......" . Good grief. What next? Baby Brazilians.
Now anyone who has followed my thoughts over the past few years will realise that I am on a bit of a crusade about preserving kids' childhood, as much as possible. (Sign up to Happy Kids, my FREE newsletter for parents at www.parentingideas.com.au)
There are lots of reasons developmental reasons why kids should be kids and not dragged into adolescence before their bodies and minds do this for them.
For some years now tweenie fashion (for girls) has had a higly sexual edge to it - exposed midriffs, skimpy tops, and glitter make-up for starters. Now we have hair removal products for tweenies just to completely blur the lines between childhood and adulthood even more.
Nair's online advertising presents hair removal as a type of rite of passage. It suggests at the age of ...... (the website doesn't actually state an age but you can guess) you can start removing hair from your body. The big question to ask is WHY? WHY would a young person want to go through all the hoopla of hair removal. One can only assume to make yourself more attractive, but to whom? Again it is unstated but let me fill the blank.... the opposite sex.
It is hard to be a parent today when there are so many commercial interests that DO NOT act in the best interests of children and young people. Resist this latest craze for goodness sake and let girls be kids just a little longer. I can just see a question at my next seminar that goes along these lines; "What age do you think girls should get a Brazilian. My eleven year old daughter keeps bugging me about it?" Good grief!
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- Michael Grose
- Michael Grose is a leading parent educator, parent coach, writer and speaker on parenting and family matters. He is the author of the groundbreaking book Why first borns rule the world and last borns want to change it that tells everything you need to know so you can understand your birth order personality. Michael shows parents all over the world how to bring out the BEST in their kids. He is the first parent educator to conduct a parenting presentation to Australian politicians in Parliament House, Canberra.
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5 comments:
I am shocked. There should be a campaign against allowing this kind of marketing to children. Anyone up for it?
I am a relatively new mother and I do agree that brazilian's at such a young age is absurd.
However as a young girl I reached puberty very young, by the time I was 11 I had the lot pubic hair, menstration and I had well and truly outgrown my training bra. I remember the day my mother came to me with a packet of daisy razors and taught me how to shave under my arms. I was over the moon. At last I could feel normal again and not in the preteen "what is happening to my body" kind of way. I could now raise my arm in class to answer questions, I could put my all back into sport such as netball, touch football and baksetball, I could make it through the day without having to wash under my arms a dozen times to rid the musty smell...... I could do all this because I didn't have to worry about the hair under my arms raising taunts from my peers and/or making me smell.
I definately agree that the tweenie culture is dominated by oversexed marketing and as parents we need to help our children make sense of it all with honesty and logic.
Abby
Michale you make it sound like it is the norm. Someone wrote it and who knows how many followed the advice. Not many , I think. Their is a LOT WORSE things a 10-16 year old girl can do .
Thanks for your column.
I agree that we should let our kids be kids as long as possible.
With pre-teen girls, there is sometimes a fine line between letting them be kids and letting them grow up according to their own, personal developmental timeline.
I've got a 12 year old and I remember at age 10 she was embarrassed by the hair on her legs. I have no idea why I went ahead and allowed her to shave it off - but the funny thing is that later she let it grow back and now at 12 refuses to worry about her hairy legs. She is otherwise very concerned about her appearance and takes good care of herself.
The question is, how do you decide whether or not a child is ready to move forward and where do you draw the line? I have it clear that no daughter of mine (and I have four) is going to have a "Brazilian" before she is old enough to vote!
There's too much nonsense out there and the first thing we have to concern ourselves with is teaching our kids common sense. That's something you have to pay attention to every day - dishing it out in small doses with every opportunity. Make it appetising. Be consistent and JUST DO IT :)
I had to go back and reread the whole thing because I couldn't find where Nair was advertising their products for Brazilians. And they dont. While the thought of brazilians on little girls is horrific, having a little girl covered with dark fuzzy hair all over since birth (she is 6 now) hoping it would fall off (it hasnt)I welcome an option that will help her avoid the teasing and shame that will come when swimming and camps and just wearing short sleeve tops or school uniform shows her hairy limbs and back. I am not ashamed to say I have already inquired about laser removal. I think there is a place for such products, as long as it is not used for shaving the parts of the body that should be covered anyway.
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