Do you allow your children to get their faces painted?

I think face painting for kids is wonderful.
I'm not keen on the sticker tattoos....If we keep things from our children, guess what they do!
They rebel when older sometimes....and do something even more 'out-there'.
My boys often say ''Oh you didn't let us do this or that'', and they made up for it.
So I think freedom of expression is great for kids, and it stops resentment to the parent(s), and temper tantrums.
Of course kids can't have it all their own way, but pick your battles is the old saying.Some things are not worth the hassle, the less temper tantrum's...the
more the child is happy, and that's a win win.

by jonaja

Yes - and we recently painted our faces with colored sunscreen to partake in the Santa Run!

by chipp

Why wouldn't you allow your child to do that? I'm genuinely curious. Are they worried about toxicity in the paint? Face paint is specifically designed for using on skin, so it's safe for use on most people, though you should do a patch test if you have sensitive skin or known allergies. I used to do body painting in my art school days so I'd be a massive hypocrite if I turned around now and said my daughter can't have a butterfly on her cheek if she wants one.

I let my daughter have her face painted if she wants to. She's never had a temporary tattoo but she can have one of those too if she likes. With temporary tattoos, is your friends' problem with them that they think real tattoos are a bad thing so children shouldn't have pretend ones? Again, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't let my daughter have temporary tats when I have a real one (and she can too if she likes once she's 18, it's her body).

by Jennifer Muirhead

I meant to add that I also let my daughter draw on herself with non toxic pens if she likes. It's her body and it washes off.

My friend's issues:
1. why would you "ruin" a perfectly beautiful face by putting paint/makeup/cosmetics on it? she is more of a "natural beauty" kind of a person.
2. sometimes children are fidgety or forget they have face-painting and rub their face resulting in smudges. it makes their innocent faces look deformed.
3. she also feels that face-painting, if it is indeed beautifully done, might give them the feeling that it is only by applying makeup on their face that they can look pretty.

Anyhow, if my daughter was not really into it, I wouldn't encourage her too much. I personally don't like it.

Interesting. As I see it, face painting isn't like "normal" makeup. It's not about "fixing" perceived flaws, but rather about trying on another identity for a little while, for fun. If my daughter gets it done it's not really about whether I like it, but whether she likes it,since it's her face not mine. She chooses what she wants painted (within reason, depending on what the painter can do), not me. If it smudges, no big deal. You can always wash it off.

I wouldn't encourage my daughter to wear makeup daily but face painting is generally a one off thing just for fun so I can't see that giving them a warped idea of their own looks. That would be like telling my daughter she can't dress up in fairy wings because I'm worried she might then think she has to wear fairy wings all the time.

But hey, it's always your call with your own child.

Face painting at the Roller Derby is hilarious - the woman came over to ask me if she was allowed to do a zombie face and a knife in the head painting which the 2 kids had asked for. I said yes but the face painter was covered in real skeleton tattoos, so it was pretty funny she was so concerned with the kids selections...So not all face painting is about 'beauty' - sometime it's just festive.

Lydia, that is a funny story. I once saw a little boy who got a zombie face-painting (he was one ahead of my daughter in the queue) right before Christmas. I was so concerned for him.

I once painted both my kids faces as zombies for the Brisbane Zombie Walk. They quite enjoyed it. It wasn't scary to them because they were with their Dad and I and understood that it was just a bit of fun.

I find all of these replies very interesting. Why were you concerned for the boy who had his face painted like a zombie Happy Mom?

Most definitely. It's fun.

by Justine Crowley

I used to encourage my son to get his face pained when he was young, but for some reason he never wanted to.

by Ivana Katz

I hated it as a kid too.

My eldest son also hated it, but the girl is made for it...

mad for it, though maybe made is applicable too ;)

I was a bit reluctant at first myself, but eventually had to relax my views on face-painting when my daughter became a big fan of getting her face painted. If the face-painting is done nicely, it makes the children look cute, but if done badly, it can make them look not so cute. My deeper concern with face-painting was that why would a child feel the need to "look like someone else". But I have realized that children do not think that way.

by Happy Mom

Looking like someone else is part of play, the same as dressing up as a nurse or a fireman.

If it doesn't look good you can just wash it off.

Why are you concerned with your child looking "cute" or "not so cute?"

I think face painting for kids is wonderful.
I'm not keen on the sticker tattoos....If we keep things from our children, guess what they do!
They rebel when older sometimes....and do something even more 'out-there'.
My boys often say ''Oh you didn't let us do this or that'', and they made up for it.
So I think freedom of expression is great for kids, and it stops resentment to the parent(s), and temper tantrums.
Of course kids can't have it all their own way, but pick your battles is the old saying.Some things are not worth the hassle, the less temper tantrum's...the
more the child is happy, and that's a win win.

by jonaja

yep and yep to the temp tattoos - I often put them on too, with my youngest (Pirates, cartoon bears etc). That said, no one in my family has a real tattoo, nor would they get one.

by Lydia C. Lee

My daughter has a skin allergy, which has been with her since Kindy. I blame the 'Play Dough', as she didn't have the problem BEFOREHAND!

So I definitely would NOT allow face painting or peel-off tattoos'.

Aside from that, I think that face painting on a child looks stupid, & slightly scary!
A child has naturally beautiful skin, usually, so why make it look 'unnatural'? Dumb move.

by donjo

I agree. And what about getting it OFF the face. It isn't all that easy. Particularly, in the case of kids that never have soap on their faces and now need to be scrubbed with whatever soap is at hand. No. don't like it.

I like face painting. It is just another way of dressing up. My son was allowed to have his face painted and to have temporary tattoos. Now at 34 he has many tattoos and piercings. I don't think that allowing face painting made him want tattoos. He has always been artistic in the way he presents himself.
My friend is a face painter. This is a pastel I did of her daughter.

by annfi