Children love to imitate adults, especially their parents. Watching her mother doing a manicure or pedicure, the girl can also reach for the nail polish, and sometimes mothers want to teach their daughters to "make beauty" as soon as possible. But learning may not be as harmless as it seems.
For the first time, a girl may have a desire to paint her nails at the age of 3-4 years, when the parents are a reference person for the child and the desire to imitate them is especially expressed. The influence of peers is also possible: a girl may see her friend's painted nails and want to follow her example.
Health effects of nail polish
Some parents think that nail polish is harmless because it is intended for external use. Nevertheless, some of the substances contained in the varnish still enter the body.
Some of the ingredients in nail polish are extremely harmful. Formaldehyde lowers immunity and negatively affects the nervous system. Toluene and methylbenzene are carcinogenic substances. Camphor and acetone are just as harmful.
All these substances harm not only the body as a whole, but also the nails themselves, making them weak and brittle. It is possible to bring such nails into proper form only with the help of varnish, it has to be used often, therefore, the amount of harmful substances supplied to the body increases.
Such a chemical effect endangers even the body of an adult woman, and the body of a child is much more vulnerable. Expensive varnishes produced by reputable companies are less dangerous, but they are not devoid of harmful impurities. Even such a varnish can lead to indigestion and even poisoning if a particle of it gets into the stomach, and the habit of biting nails is inherent in many children.
Psychological impact
Everything that parents do is desirable for the child also because it is perceived as an attribute of adulthood, it is connected with the child's desire to “become big”. By linking the concept of growing up with the use of cosmetics, parents form a vicious attitude in their daughter, which will certainly manifest itself in the future: "external attractiveness for the opposite sex is the main value." Such a girl runs the risk of growing up not as a self-sufficient person, but as a "doll" aimed at "selling herself at a higher price."
Another vicious attitude associated with too early acquaintance with cosmetics, including nail polish, associates the idea of beauty exclusively with the use of cosmetics. It is much more important to form the girl's idea of the "beauty of health".
Coloration of nails can meet with negative reactions from kindergarten teachers or teachers at school. If the parents go into conflict with the teachers because of this, the authority of the teachers in the eyes of the girl will suffer, if the parents obey the requirements, their own authority will suffer (“first they were allowed, then they were forbidden”). The pedagogical effect in both cases will be negative.
If the parents still want to teach their daughter how to use cosmetics in general and nail polish in particular, it is better to use special cosmetics intended for children. Even this varnish should not be used every day. It is necessary to explain to the girl in advance that she will paint her nails only on special occasions - for example, to go to the theater or to visit.
