Cover of this month's Parent's magazine

[jennifer13]

Is that baby wearing lipstick? I'm outraged and going to write a letter to them, but wanted to make sure I'm not imagining it. Am I? My DH, who does photo retouching for an ad agency, says that even if she's not wearing lipstick she is made to LOOK like she is. Which in some ways is even worse! Sorry if I'm offending anyone, I'm just very sensitive to our culture sexualizing children. But maybe it didn't strike anyone else the same way? Just wondering.


Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03

[Marisa6826]

Either that or she was strategically fed Kool Aid :P

Yeah - it kinda made me do a double take.

-m

[kristine_elen]

Yes, the cover made me think of writing a letter to Parents. Not b/c of the lip(stick) in particular, but because the cover is so ridiculous -- as are many of their covers. I don't think they need to put hideously ugly babies (are there any?) on their covers, but how about a baby that looks real once in a while? I'm sick of all this air-brushed crap. It's bad enough we need to deal with these perfect images of women on TV and in magazines -- now we are bombarded by these Perfect Babies? Please!
(Edited to add: I think the baby on the cover is cute and would probably be even cuter if allowed to look more human and less angelic.)

[Sarah1]

It struck me exactly the same way. I found it bizarre and have found the other covers bothersome too...I definitely do not plan on renewing my subscription.

[jojo2324]

Is this month's cover blue? I cancelled my subscription a few months ago, and can't recall it.

I was at one point receiving both Parents and Parenting, and I thought the children on the cover of Parenting looked really weird, more so than Parents. They all had these glowing eyes (the whites, strange as that sounds) and cheeks...I wish we could get back to normal and not have so much air brushing. Things almost start to look like paintings.

[suribear]

People used to ask us if we used lipstick on dd. Of course we would never do that! But sometimes it looked like we did.. so maybe that's it? I haven't seen the cover but now I really want to as I'm curious!

Kris

[starrynight]

I will have to dig my copy out of the mag basket again. I honetly don't notice the covers much isn't that funny?

What bugged me was once we were waiting our turn in sears to get portraits done and I saw a mom putting coverup and foundation etc on her about 1 year old daughter! She was telling her to sit still that she(the baby) looked "blotchy' I thought she looked beautiful. It wasn't my business so I held my tongue but I just found something wrong there. Girls don't have enough self and image issues from the media already? but then from her mom?

[kristine_elen]

re: "and I saw a mom putting coverup and foundation etc on her about 1 year old daughter! She was telling her to sit still that she(the baby) looked "blotchy' " OH MY GOD, THAT BREAKS MY HEART. What is the matter with people?

[jojo2324]

Oh, that's so sad. I have an awful story to tell about my retail days. A woman was trying to get her 7-yr old daughter to agree to a bikini. Admittedly, bathing suits run small, and this company was on the smaller side of that...But one of the mom's persuasion tactics was to say, "Don't you want to be sexy, like Mommy?" The girls I was working with and I almost fell to the floor, we were so dumbfounded. Of course, the flipside to this is that we were even selling a swimsuit that could be construed as sexy. (It was a children's clothing store.) But it was really very upsetting to hear something like that in reference to a child, and from her own mom!

[kristine_elen]

It just makes me sick that you need a license to drive and to go fishing, etc., but any idiot can create a child.

[ddmarsh]

Oh that is so sad. That reminds me of the time my sister and I were at the mall where she lives. She lives in Boca Raton and to say that people watching there is entertaining is putting it mildly! We noticed a young girl sitting on a bench who was very pretty but was covered in makeup - lipstick, eyes. I also noticed as she turned that she was carrying a really expensive designer bag. We were sitting nearby and I commented to her mom what a pretty girl she was and asked how old she was - 8. I found it to be just heartbreaking.

[Calmegja2]

I've actually seen issues with letters to the editor before, where they complain about this, and the magazine's official stance is that they do not use makeup on any of their child models. I've read it more than once, so it must come up often.

My first daughter always had rosy lips, and they were always wet (usually with drool- LOL), and I was accused more than once in public of putting makeup on her. SOmetimes it can just be a natural variation. I'm looking at the magazine cover right now, and I do not think that child is wearing makeup.

But that's just my opinion! ;-)

[jennifer13]

Those stories are horrifying!!! And so sad. We've got bigger problems than that stupid magazine cover. :) What a challenge to raise emotionally healthy children in this world.

I may not write a letter. It sounds like they've heard it before, and besides I've got to go start all that baking, cooking, exercise and crafts they want me to do... :)


Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03

[brubeck]

Okay maybe I will be lynched, but....

I will admit to having used cover stick on Amy for a photo shoot. It takes forever to get a Saturday appointment at Sears and she had just bumped (and bruised) her face the day before! NOT something I wanted immortalized in pictures...

[suribear]

I don't think that's the same as using makeup! You used the cover stick to cover a bruise.

One year dd fell on her nose on the driveway a few *minutes* before her holiday photo shoot. sigh... it was a huge scar and went away after a few weeks, so I waited. I had no choice, b/c it was pretty bad :(

Kris

[jennifer13]

Ha! That is certainly not the same thing as putting makeup on baby girls to look "prettier" or that one youngster whose mom wanted her to be sexy. I would have done the same thing!


Jennifer
Mom to Norah 5/23/03

[starrynight]

Helen, that is totally different. I would have done the same thing. I hope I didn't make you feel bad about what you did or offend you in any way.

The baby I mentioned didn't have bruises etc and she didn't even look blotchy to me as her mother said. And I got a good look at her because she toddled over to me to babble to Daria who was in my lap at the time.

As for the mom with the sexy bathing suit, that is horrible!!! At such a young age her mom wanted her to look sexy? My mom said I couldn't have a bikini until I was 16, even though I was the only girl in my class that didn't have one at 15. I was mad at her but now that I'm a mother to girls I understand why she did it. (but I'll never admit that to her ;) )

And 8 wearing makep and the purse etc geesh :(. I can see letting a girl of that age have some clear lip balm or a little change purse if she wanted to pretend like mom but nothing else! *sigh* Hopefully at 8 or 9 my girls still want to play pretend and not "all grown up".

[jojo2324]

Helen, *I* should carry a stick of cover up for all of Gannon's bruises!! Normally, he's right on schedule and gets a good wallop in just before we have to go to the ped's. This last time, he managed to bump his head THERE, and when the doctor walked in he had a big purple splotch on his forehead. :(