After spending my Friday night babysitting, I realised many things, like how annoying children can be, how cute children can be and how hard it can be to put them to bed when all they want to do is make chit chat. As soon as I walked through the door, I was greeted by a 10 year old blonde girl tugging at my bag asking me where I bought it from, along with an 8 year old even cuter blonde asking me if I had dyed my hair since the last time I saw her. I was then asked by the 10 year old how I applied my makeup that morning because the girls in the tutorials she had been watching on YouTube use both sponges and brushes to apply their foundation. At this, I literally sat there shocked for at least a minute – momentarily wondering what I was doing when I was 10 years old – making those scoobie things and putting them on my school bag? I then went into a 20 minute discussion about my makeup routine, which was briefly interrupted every so often by the distraction of the television.

I thought back on this conversation after I had put them to bed – half an hour after their bedtime because I love chatting with them, its refreshing, (something I would never tell their mum). These girls at such a young age are already being enticed by the world of makeup and beauty. I can’t believe that it’s already grabbed them at such a young age, leading to statements such as “of course I need makeup, so and so wears it. I’m just not pretty without it…”  You need to be aware as you read this that this 10 year old is one of the most beautiful little girls you will ever see. What is happening with girls’ self esteem?? If body image issues really are becoming an issue at the age of 8 and 10, how young will it become in the coming years and who do we have to blame for it? This is such a huge topic that really needs to be somehow fixed, because I will not sit and watch 10 year olds criticising their own appearances. Is the media really to blame? Celebrities in magazines? The barriers that restrain gender appearance need to be broken, we really won’t get anywhere unless they are.

Meanwhile, here’s a message from Beyonce: