I remember a playgroup DD was in when she was 2. They had lots of blocks of wood and wanted children to use their imagination, use a block of wood and pretend it is a phone etc.

It can be a little extreme but I remember as a child having 3 Barbies was a lot. You had a case of clothes for them and a car and a bedroom set. You were pretty complete. DD had Disney princess dolls (Barbie size) plus a bunch of Barbies, and 3 prince dolls, totaling at least 20 before she was 5. My friends and I had rejected clothes and shoes from our mothers when we wanted to play dress up, that was the norm. Now DD has had a closet of Disney costumes with matching shoes, crowns, other accessories. Perhaps the make up is one step further. But I also think putting that on young skin is not good. It is like getting face painting every week. But the concept, I admit, seems similar. It goes beyond pretend play and probably all of it is not good on a lot of levels.

Though dressing like a princess seems to have fallen by the wayside. The "magic" seems to have died somewhere between 4 to 5. But that worries me about the make up. It isn't about "dress-up", pretend, it is more reality based about using make-up, being really you, not Cinderella, and needing make up.

Luckily DD seems pretty OK with my reasoning and accepts my decision. The thing I find a little strange is that the mother who gave the make up doesn't wear it. Maybe on some occasion but we have gone out to dinner with them, socialized frequently since they bought a house at the beach. I also tried to arrange a trip on a pirate boat, these excursions that are great with kids are still young. They dress up, go out on the pirate boat, find treasure. DD had a great time. She could not commit and you had to book in advance. She didn't express real interest in something that her kids would have loved. We even offered to treat for the cost, which was not a lot. But buying make up is fast and easy than driving 8 miles to the harbor and sending them to their room to amuse themselves rather than 2.5 hours on the water in the summer air.

Now I digress and make assumptions and criticize so I should stop.

Ren