Heidi Klum on letting daughter Leni experiment with makeup

Model Heidi Klum, 34, has developed her own makeup line with Victoria’s Secret, but what does she do when daughter Leni, 3, wants to dig in to her collection?

I let her. She has to understand she can’t go to school like that.She’s only 3! But as long as it stays at home and she’s playingdress-up. I think if you have rules, then you can let them have fun,too.

Source: People

Photo by Pacific Coast News.

Do you allow your children to experiment with makeup? What are your rules regarding it?

Comments

Cortney on June 28th, 2007

Leni is sweet and looks a lot like her mom but even more like Apple Martin. Are the two little girls friends?

Cassandra on June 28th, 2007

I like that, I think it’s a good idea. She should also instill in Leni that she is beautiful no matter what is on her face. But when I was a little girl I loved to play with makeup.

Ashley P. on June 28th, 2007

I don’t have a daughter yet, but I’m sure if I do, she will be allowed to play with make-up. When I’m putting on my make-up now, my 20 month old son loves to play with my make-up brushes and he loves to copy what I do, brushing his face and asking me to put chapstick on him. He loves to do what mommy does and it gives me some time to get ready!

Leni is beautiful, just like her mommy!

purplelisa on June 28th, 2007

I don’t for 2 reasons: #1, I just don’t want her to get into the habit of playing with makeup and thinking that all girls/women use makeup. Even though it’s playing, it’s re-enforcing the idea. I’ve found that since I didn’t let my daughter play with my makeup (she just turned 4), she just lost interest in it and doesn’t care about it, which I like. #2, I spend good money on my makeup (the few that I have) and I don’t want her playing/using/wasting it. That’s my more frugal/practical reason.

preesi on June 28th, 2007

I dont think Leni looks anything like Apple.

Anyway, I find it ridiculous NOT to allow them to play with make-up.
My cousins in Florida werent allowed to play with make-up and one ended up in a questionable profession and the other got pregnant and ran away.

annonymous on June 28th, 2007

Leni is so sweet. You can tell already she’s going to be really beautiful when she’s an adult; she is already.

Lydia on June 28th, 2007

Yeah, Preesi – the lack of makeup in their lives caused that for sure.

Sara123 on June 28th, 2007

That’s the most insane thing I ever heard! Where’s the self esteem? I could possibly understand if she were a young girl trying to experiment with color and wanting to enhance her beauty but Leni is ONLY 3… are you serious? I personally really disagree!

Lauren on June 28th, 2007

Preesi, not trying to be mean, but are you for real? Think about what you wrote for a second-it doesn’t even make sense. Without more detail, I have a real hard time believing that a lack of experimenting with make-up had to do with your cousins’ situations. Honestly, that’s the kind of reasoning a child would use.
Anyway, I agree with Heidi on this one. I personally didn’t begin wearing makeup until I was in my early teens, but as long as there are rules involved, such as wearing lipstick or whatever only at home and not out in public, I don’t see the harm in it. There’s nothing wrong with girls being girls. And at 3, I really doubt Leni has “self-esteem” issues. If anything, the makeup will teach her to feel beautiful and thus confident in herself if she doesn’t use it as a crutch.

preesi on June 28th, 2007

It makes PERFECT sense!

Their mother was so strict that she wouldnt even let them use play make up like Tinkerbell!
They both rebelled against her! Went in the totally OPPOSITE direction that the mother wanted them to.

Now do you understand?

Gabbie13 on June 28th, 2007

At this time I do not have any children, but if I do have a daughter I am sure I would let her play dress up with makeup. Just as I would let her play dress up with high heels (but of course she wouldn’t wear those to school!) As with anything, you set boundries. I don’t have any problem with a little girl playing with make up as long as they realize it is “play”.

Tonia on June 28th, 2007

I allow my 3 (almost 4) year old to put on make-up when we’re home and she’s playing dress up. She sees me put it on and so she wants some too and I don’t see anything wrong with it if we aren’t going anywhere. She’s not going to be allowed to wear it to school or other places until she’s a teenager, but to play at home, I don’t see the hurt in it.

Naughty Cal on June 28th, 2007

Preesi, I seem to remember you being one of the ones who was against kids playing with toy guns in the post about Angelina and Brad barring such toys for their kids. Are you saying it’s okay for girls to be girls, but not for boys to be boys?

Lisa on June 28th, 2007

I don’t have any children, but when and if I do have a little girl I will let her play with makeup. When I was younger my mom let me play with it at home and made sure that I knew it was for dress up at home, not for school. It was something that I did for fun. I see absolutely nothing wrong with it and find that it’s a girl thing. I feel it’s strange to not let your daughter do that.

Aura on June 29th, 2007

I think it’s ok for kids to play with their own makeup (Like the kids stuff they make), but not with adult’s makeup. But it’s up to the parents to decide what they’re comforable with their kids doing.

Bev on June 29th, 2007

The way I see it, a 3 year old is not using make-up to ‘enhance their beauty’ it’s like face paint. If I’m painting my toenails my boys come along and instruct me to paint a nail or two sometimes, they think it’s funny and silly. It’s no biggie. If my daughter wants to play with make-up when she’s older that would be cool too. I rarely wear make-up and prefer to go out without and I think it’s the image that’s modelled to her that will have a lasting impact

sil on June 29th, 2007

I don’t use make up (just for special ocassions…) so my 2 yr old daughter doesn’t know what make up is

I agree with your #1 reason, purplelisa “I just don’t want her to get into the habit of playing with makeup and thinking that all girls/women use makeup”

but IF one day she will ask me to play with make up it will be toy make up, not the real ones because I don’t think they are good for baby skin. They’re made for women, not for kids.

lucy on June 29th, 2007

My Gosh!!

Some people that respond to these are so uptight, what is the harm? It’s a little fun!

She probably just wears it occasionly at home, anyway she’s a rich kid, she’s gonna wear it in later life so why not for dress up?

Seriously, some of you guys need to loosen up.

Sophie on June 29th, 2007

3 is way too young. Maybe just experiment with simple makeup at 6-7, but no way at 3. They will look like little clowns which is exactly why Leni’s mom doesn’t let her out of the house. I even see 8 year olds at the mall wearing so much obvious makeup that my friends and I start laughing at them, because they look ridiculus.
Having said that, too many woman are addicted to makeup, fearing to get out of the house if they are not wearing any. I am young so I don’t have to worry about that yet

preesi on June 29th, 2007

Naughty Cal? since when were WEAPONS that can KILL a must have item for BOYS?
Guns are NOT TOYS for anyone!

Diana on June 29th, 2007

I hardly see how there is a comparison between toy guns and MAKEUP. I can’t see how they are even remotely similar.

I don’t see the harm in a little girl playing with makeup at all.

Now I wouldn’t think it would be appropriate for her mother to put on the makeup and take her out of the house, but for the little girl to play with makeup in the house, I don’t see the harm.

Sabina on June 29th, 2007

I wasn’t allowed to wear or play with makeup at all when I was little, but I was allowed to use facepaints from time to time under supervision. Frankly I don’t think there’s much difference between makeup and facepaint when they’re being used by a young child, the child certainly doesn’t make the distinction! If I had a daughter, at Leni’s age I’d let her play around with a couple of things from my makeup case like blusher and lipstick so long as she was being supervised. I don’t see the harm if it’s just another form of play. If I thought she was forming an unsuitable attachment to makeup or using in an inappropriate way then I’d step in and stop her using it, simple as that.

Jessica on June 29th, 2007

Oh for heaven’s sake we’re taking about playing dress-up here! My daughter is 2 1/2 and she’s all about copying her mama these days. If she sees me putting on concealer she wants to put a little on her finger, which I’ve let her, and then she dabs it on her nose. She likes it when I playfully dust her cheeks with a little pink blush and I say, in an exaggerating high pitched voice, “Oh, you look so pretty Olivia!”. I get the biggest smile from her and her eyes light up at the compliment. She’s gotten into my mascara more than once because I made the stupid mistake of leaving it on the counter within her reach, and then had to clean up the black streaks she paints all over her face, all with a smile on my face. She’s a little girl, so is Leni, there is no harm in letting her play with a makeup brush or letting her put powder in her nose. My daughter doesn’t walk out of the house with it on and Heidi has said here that she doesn’t let Leni either. It’s nothing a quick swipe of the face with a wet cloth can’t fix. It’s just for fun. You’re little girl is only this little once, you should be able to let go and have a little fun girl-time and not be so stubborn about *everything*. She won’t turn into a prostitute because she wore mommy’s lipstick when she was 4.

J.M. on June 29th, 2007

I see nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Infact when I was younger I wanted to “make mommy up” all the time. My mom would lay out her makeup and I would spend hours “perfecting” her face. Even though I made my mom look like a clown she always said that she looked beautiful. We had so much fun putting on makeup and pretending. Those are fond memories I have. It’s absolutely harmless. People are so uptight. Makeup isn’t going to lead to your child “growing up to fast” or lead to careers in stripping at bars…please if your child does those things it’s not because of makeup!!!!
I guess while were at it maybe we should gripe about mothers allowing their children to get their ears pierced or paint their fingernails and toes!!

FC on June 29th, 2007

I was allowed to play with makeup all the time, even applied it better than most women twenty years older than me at the time. It didn’t bother me any. I just wanted to play with it, period. Nearly twenty years later and I don’t even care for makeup now.

It’s harmless…

Kat on July 2nd, 2007

I don’t wear makeup most of the time (too much time, too much to do where it would sweat off, etc)… but when I do… my daughter, who is 3, loves to have some… I keep her looking natural… but definitely let her have some on when we’re not going places.

She loves having her nails painted… I can’t paint mine… don’t like the feel of it and such… but it has helped her stop biting her nails (they bite off the polish instead at first… gradually they stop as it does NOT taste good and they can see what it does… )

She always has to have her toes and fingers match.

Honestly, if my boys asked for makeup at that age, I would have given them some, too.

It’s experimenting with how you look… and for girls, it’s the first steps to learning how to use it, so that they know how to use it without using way too much.

But definitely wouldn’t let her go out of the house or to school in it… not until she’s 12… well, lipgloss at 8…. something to cover acne when it happens… and she can use a little blush and eyeshadow (in natural shades of pink) at 12….
but no eyeliner or mascara till 14.

no lipstick or dark glosses until 16.

midriff always covered (except bikini swim suits… and she’ll be in a one piece as long as I can manage it… we’ll see when she bugs me for it and if it ends up one of the battles I pick)