My daughter is four and I’m already dreading the tween years. I can’t even imagine what the r-e-a-l teenage years will bring. Wait, I said she was four so why am I already saying this?
Well, my adorable toddler-turned-little-girl-virtually-overnight loves to dress up. She likes clothing, accessories and all things nice…just like her mama.
Ahem.
She’s at that age where she loves to wear headbands, cute boots and she loves to pick out her own outfits in the morning, with a little help from her mama of course.
She’s at that adorable age where princesses are still her heroes and chasing butterflies are worth catching. And that Daddy is and always will be the only man in her life.
She’s at that age that we are still total BFF’s.
I’ll take it while the getting is still good because the other day I had a vision of what life will be like in about seven years, maybe even six.
You see, one of our friends gave her an adorable gift set for Christmas – it was a cute container with some fun nail polish colors, lip gloss and even some body lotion – the perfect little pint sizes for my little girl. Of course she went nuts over it.
She loves getting her nails painted and tries to act like she’s 15 wearing a little lip gloss around the house. But I’m not ready for her to start sporting that stuff in public just yet. I don’t need her looking like Toddlers and Tiaras anytime soon. She’s four and I like to keep her that way as long as humanly possible. So lip gloss in the house is where it stays.
Anyhoo, we were getting ready for preschool the other morning when I had my holy-cow-what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do-when-this-kid-actually-becomes-a-teenager-if-this-is-what-I-already-see-right-now moment. She finished putting on her coat and boots when I grabbed her backpack and heard jingling coming from inside. The backpack also felt much heavier than normal.
She stood there with a mischievous smirk on her face as I opened her backpack.
And inside, what did I find?
The gift set from our friends. Yeah, apparently my daughter had plans to take it to school because she and her little four year-old friends were all going to play beauty parlor.
And her last words before I took the set from out of the bag?
“For real mommy.”
My final thoughts on this little incident?
Well, it’s kind of hard to say since all I could think about is the vision of her leaving the house in one outfit and sneaking another in her backpack. The outfit she would change into which includes that little black mini skirt, you know, the one that I would detest and her father would want to burn – I have a feeling were in for quite a ride.
Four going on fourteen. Please send wine.
Oh I hear you. My girl is not even two yet but the attitude that she can emit already scares me to death. Cute gift set though
Oh my…. 14 isn’t to bad. Really…. it isn’t. I’ve survived it almost twice (17 yr old & 13 yr old) and have another one on her (10yr old) way there.
‘For real’ made me laugh. They’re so sassy at this age.
My oldest is 12. I knew (KNEW!) from 2 that she was the girliest of all girly girls and that she was going to give me a run for my sanity. The lip gloss, the hairdos, the clothes just right, the nails, the enjoying manicures and pedicures, the time in the bathroom. Twelve going on 20 unfortunately. I think we’ll make it through just like you will, though. And sssshhh I understand it — she’s me all over again and I must admit it makes me smile because I totally get being uncomfortable if my bra and undewear don’t match.
I’ve got one of these in my home as well. The attitude she can give me from her little four year old body scares the you-know-what out of me for the teen years. It’s going to be a wild ride! Best of luck to both of us!
This is part of why I’m glad I don’t have girls. I don’t know how I would handle that. Boys don’t really care about their outfits. I actually have a harder time with things being snuck into the house than out of it.
At 4 it’s cute, at 14 I expect it won’t be. I have a 3 1/2 year old & he is so confident in what he wants & he can get a major attitude when what he wants is not what I’m going to let him do.
I love that they were going to play beauty parlor–that’s stinkin’ adorable!
If you asked me 5 years ago (or even 2 years ago) if I’d let my daughter wear nail varnish or makeup before she was at least 10 I would have looked at you in sheer horror. How could I possibly let my innocent child wear nail varnish or makeup???
How things change!
It was a very gradual process. She always used to pester me whenever she saw me painting my nails or putting on makeup, wanting to be just like mummy. I managed to resist until she was around 4. I started off letting her have one toe nail on each foot painted (a very pale pink), then that increased to one nail on each hand and then more and more. At the beginning I made her take it off if we went out too.
She is now five and today went out with bright pink nail varnish on all of her finger nails. I sometimes let her have a bit of blusher or lipstick too and she even has a pair of heels that she wears to birthday parties. All these things I said I’d never allow. Funny!
I also have an 18 month old daughter and she wants to be just her big sister. Refusal on my part leads to a huge meltdown (I’m a big believer in picking your battles). She has has already had bright pink nail varnish on her fingers and toes.
I’m a lot more relaxed about it than I imagined I ever would be. The way I look at it is that it’s a bit of harmless fun.
I have a 3.5 year old and a 5.5 year old. And ohmygosh I’m scared already. I hear you loud and clear!
I have a 4 year old daughter as well and I think now would be a good time to just stop her from growing up. She is my girly girl so I completely understand your fears. All I can say is…I am in denial that she will actually grow up.
Hey Heather! My girl is 2 and I want her to love Elmo and Mickey Mouse as long as possible. I’m just bracing myself because I was a girly girl who would’ve taken makeup to school at age 4. ::sigh:: I think as long as we’re strong mothers, we can temper any precocious behavior.