Parents know one of the best things you can do, and should start doing for your child at an early age, is to teach kids that beauty is on the inside and that looks are not everything. One aspiring makeup artist and mother apparently did not ascribe to that anti-superficiality philosophy.
Her husband took to Reddit’s AITA forum to describe his wife’s use of makeup on his 2-year-old child. The latest incident left his daughter “whimpering” in her bedroom after she broke out into a painful rash. Despite his wife’s assurances that makeup would never again be put on their young daughter, the father feels like he can’t trust her.
AITA for Calling My Wife Irresponsible? The Poster Asked On the Forum Before He Described His Wife’s Repeated Use of Makeup on Their Toddler.
The poster who used the name AITAMUA, began by informing readers that he and his wife are in their mid-twenties and they refer to their 2-year-old daughter as “Z.”
“My wife loves cosmetics,” the post continued. “She’ll practice a lot and says she’s even thinking about starting [an] MUA business.”
The father continued by saying that he was “cautious” about letting his wife apply makeup to their “baby girl” and he eventually agreed to allow it if his wife was only practicing on certain parts of the face and not giving the little one a full face of makeup everyday. They both agreed to those terms and the aspiring makeup artist began practicing her skills on her daughter’s face.
He knew something was wrong the very next day after he overheard his kid “whimpering in her room.” As any parent would, he investigated the situation only to discover that his daughter’s skin “had a really bad rash” and that there was “blistering in her face, her left eye was swollen, her skin was very irritated, and she kept scratching making it more irritated.”
The dad described what he did next, seek medical care. “I quickly got us both dressed and rushed to the doctor’s office and it ended up being ‘contact dermatitis.'” he said of the diagnosis. “1 hour after the appointment my wife came home excited saying she can’t wait to do another makeover on Z and that she bought new products for her to try.”
As you might expect, this angered the dad who felt the need to confront his wife. He “demanded” his wife to explain “what she put on Z’s face.”
“She admits to me that it was a full face of makeup while I was at work and that they even went out to the park so others can see her talent,” the dad explained to readers.
“I called her crazy,” the dad admits. He also said he told his wife she was “irresponsible because now our daughter has contact dermatitis and that she broke our agreement.”
“She got upset with me calling her irresponsible and lashed out at me saying she was only trying to make her look pretty and that she wanted Z to have a passion for makeup like she does since she doesn’t even pay attention to it,” the dad shared.
Finally, he asked readers of the post: “So now I’m wondering if AITA for calling my wife irresponsible?”
There’s a lot to unpack here but we will look to the comments on this post which overwhelmingly sided with the dad in this situation.
“‘She only wanted to make her daughter look pretty.’ Hello future self-esteem issues!” one person replied, insinuating that the mom’s type of thinking fosters insecurity in children. “This is wildly inappropriate, inconsiderate and irresponsible. I know so many makeup artists who refuse to put much makeup on a child’s face because of what it could do to the child’s skin.”
“Let’s not let OP off the hook here,” another commenter wrote of the dad. “He agreed to her putting makeup on the baby. Granted he didn’t agree to that much, but he shouldn’t have agreed to any. They’re both irresponsible.”
“NTA your wife is treating your daughter like an accessory, OP!!” one person emphatically wrote. “Little girls are beautiful without makeup and all your wife is going to do is give your daughter a complex in which she doesn’t think she’s beautiful unless she’s in a full face of makeup!!!”
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With a lot of people weighing on the subject, the dad has been vindicated by readers of the post who claim he is “NTA.”
Parents always want to share their passions with their kids, however, when it comes at the expense of a little one’s physical or mental health. Additionally, calling into question the trust you have built with your partner makes this even more unworth it. We are sure there are plenty of adults who would love to have their makeup done for free by a budding MUA. Inviting her daughter to watch her apply makeup to willing adults might be the better way of sharing this particular passion.
Further, we would parents to consider the implications of the language she uses about appearance with her child. We are 100% positive that the toddler, who had the allergic reaction, does not need cosmetics to “make her look pretty.”