My Girl’s First Dressing Table

From pink rompers to cherry frocks, from red booties to lavender baby bags, from their tiny cries to their caring hugs, girls are a treat to watch when growing up. Little girls always have a desire to drape on scarves, wear oversized high heels, put pearls around their neck – and look like a ‘princess’. Always wanting to look their best, they soon start to notice their mom as she gets dressed to go out, and soon that obsession with mom’s dressing table gains strength. They start making their own hair, choosing their own clothes, and spending endless hours in front of the mirror doing twirls and turns. 

Don’t resist the change, make this transition enjoyable for both you and your daughter. Here’s EPP’s list of things you can do to give your daughter a chance to indulge her ‘dress-up desire’ without going overboard with make-up. Help her make decisions and encourage her, while setting appropriate limits. Your guidance and support during these growing years will help strengthen her approach to her own self image.

Her Pretty Corner

Make a separate corner in her room with either a medium-size mirror with two shelves, which can be cut in various shapes and framed in the colour of her choice or alternatively buy her a cute little dressing table. Different versions of such tables (cartoon characters and colours) are now easily available in the market. You can call it her ‘pretty corner’ or any fun name that you can come up with.

Next step would be to fill the grooming corner with a lot of interesting items that she can put on her dressing table.

Hygiene: Instil in your girl the importance of personal hygiene from an early age. You can do this by allocating one section of her dressing table or shelf to baby powder, moisturizer, deodorant and a nice kid’s perfume, as smelling clean is as just as important for her self-confidence as wearing clean clothes. Preteen girls have to be taught the significance of regular showers, frequent change of clothes and use of deodorants to avoid body odour. Stores have a lot of variety in perfumes for young girls, let your little one pick a fun scent that makes her feel special and smell divine!

Colour her lips: Lip care is an important aspect of personal grooming and girls like colouring their lips in nice shades however a line has to be drawn between lip sticks or liners and products that are suitable for children. Use options like chap sticks, lip balms and lip gloss minis in different unusual flavours like chocolate, bubblegum, kiwi, apple and mint to add sparkle to your daughter’s beautiful smile.

Perfect Nails: Every once in a while you can let her indulge in painting her nails in soft colours. Make sure that you purchase non-toxic, low odour, water-based formula when buying a nail polish. Don’t forget to get a soft nail polish remover using natural ingredients and a small pack of colourful cotton buds. Let your daughter polish her nails under your supervision. Frequency of application must be watched personally because during their early years girls are capable of overdoing it - just due to sheer excitement.

Hair Care Basket: Make a frilly fluffy basket for her to keep her clips and hair ties. Let her help you create the hamper. You can make use of discarded ribbons, patterns from old birthday cards and coloured paper to decorate the basket. The next natural step is to take her shopping for the hair accessories of her choice. Try to avoid hairclips with sharp teeth as they can lead to scalp and hair damage. Pair the basket with the matching soft brush or a comb with preferably wider teeth and let your little girl caress her tresses.

Funky Jewellery: Add some colourful strings, beaded bracelets, chunky rings and small earrings to her little salon. Young girls have this penchant for jewellery and other accessories. Help her make her own little collection by picking up small knick knacks for her to wear. 

Helping your little girl develop a sense of proper grooming and hygiene is important to build confidence and self image. Parents have to start teaching their daughters to develop them into elegant ladies of tomorrow without compromising on their free spirited childhood. Setting up a dressing table is not only a source of great fun for girls but will also teach them a vast range of lessons beginning from maintaining personal hygiene to eventually looking gorgeous. Their involvement every step of the way ensures quality interaction with the parents, develops a strong bond and creates a sense of ownership in them. This progression can be an amazing learning experience for both parent and daughter, and can create a new bond of friendship with redefined roles.