Do you paint your toddler's fingernails?

[tessamami]

While on vacation my DD darted into a salon and one of the women working there painted 1 nail for her.

Boy, did we get mileage out of that one! DD was delighted with it. She fell asleep checking out her "pretty fingernail" and woke up looking at it, too.

So once in a while I paint a nail or two. She really digs it and blows on her nail. She still smudges a whole lot but sometimes one nail manages to stay done.

Do any of you paint your toddler's nails? Why or why not?

[sleepies]

i dont have girls

if i had a girl i would paint them (if she let me)
they are pretty squirmy.

i think it would be cute.

[beccaboo]

My brother's girlfriend painted my ds's nails once (they were going through her purse, as he is wont to do with any visitor's things) - must have been while they were babysitting. DS loved it, but I wasn't thrilled simply because I was reluctant to use chemical nail polish remover on him.

[khrisday]

My three year old saw a friend with painted fingernails and asked if she could have hers painted so I got her a formaldehyde free type at the natural food store.

[candiland]

Nope. Not because of any "feminist" issues, but because the paint on her nail(s) would end up all over the furniture the minute I let her hand go!

[amymarie]

yes i paint them for her as a very special treat...i do a very light coat and blow on them untill they are dry she gets a kick out of it since her older cousins always have theirs painted

[NewMa]

I had to vote "other" because while my dd is only 8 months old now and my answer is a resounding NO, I'm aware that my opinion could change drastically by the time she's old enough to want something like this. I'm pretty sure that when or if the time comes, I'll try to sway her in a less femme-y direction. I want her to be a kid for as long as she can be before she starts worrying about the way gender gets acted out and the standards of beauty imposed on women.

[amymarie]

I never paint my nails,too much trouble, but my daughter loves painting her daddys toe and finger nails. Who says men don't wera nail polish too?

[GruppieGirl]

Funny that you asked...my teeneage SIL just painted my dd's toes today. My dd really hasn't even noticed since the actual painting.

[dfoy]

I checked other. When dd #1 (who is now 17) was little, I would paint her nails on request. We used the kid's Tinkerbell kind. It dries very quickly.

DD#2 isn't old enough (she is 12 mo) to know what nail polish is, but she likes looking at my painted toenails and my dd#1's painted fingernails and toenails.

I suppose I will paint her's, too, when she asks.

[DeChRi]

My dd is 3 and we paint hers. We didn't until she asked herself, but I didn't have a problem with it. Fron the get go she has always had a facination with things on the body like nail polish, tatoos, peircings, jewlery, henna, anything. Not neccesarily girly things, just on the body things. Dh and I decided when she was born we would let her peirce her ears when she was old enough to ask, and really want them, etc. She started asking when she was 2!!

[anythingelse]

got to admit my youngest son loves the glitter nail polish on his toes

[lorrielink]

i was a heavy nail painter through the first year of high school (gothic black: )

then i turned ultra hippy /actvist and stopped useing it for the chemical reasons for about 6 years.

for the last 7 years i go through phases. sometimes its really really neat to do it, until it begins to feel like a chore, then i just quit for a while. but oops this was about kids

a few months ago when i was painting mine ds really wanted me to do his,hes three and a half. i hesitated, all this contradicting sexist thought going through my head "he cant, hes a boy""if it were a girl, i would DEfinatly not" and so on, untill i was like "sure ,why not?"

he loved it and loved blowing on his toes (couldnt bring myslef to do his fingers) and he even enjoys blowing on mine to help me out -mommas little helper -

but when daddy came home and saw it, he had to take a moment to reset his sexist ideals that he was raised with as well and just sort of grinned and beard it. -toung in cheek here-

then a few weeks later i painted dss fingers and he just loved it again. daddys made his peace with it by now and is totally cool about it (he went through his little goth phase too )but i will still embarrased when we went out and i forgot to take it off. o well,i think it might be a good thing, maybe he wont grow up being all intimadated by "girly" things?

i dunno, i dont think its a big deal, as long as it doesnt become on of those things that HAS to be done to feel good about oneself, just as an addition if you will.

i sometimes wonder if i would feel diferently if i had a girl,(and sometimes makes me wish i had one) it seems like such a different issue to address, or am i way off base?

theres a natural nail polish? cool, whats it called?

vanna's mom, my ds wont want to put it on unless its glitter too

[cattyb]

on request...

when I get the chance and the inclination to paint my nails my 2 year old son always wants to join in and loves showing them off to anyone who will look

[jazzymom]

My dd had her nails painted twice by babysitter. She LOVED it, but I wasn't too crazy about it. She's just 2.5 and sucks her fingers. Needless to say, I don't want her sucking the nail polish. Anyways, as she gets older, maybe I'll use that as an incentive to stop sucking her fingers when she gets a little older.

[lilyka]

All the time. It is a favorite pass time here. We use cheap nail polish so that it isn't nessecary to use remover. I have been doing the grls since they were babies. For madeline it started with Christmas cards and a gols paint pen. The temptation was too much With Lilyka I am sure it started at Birth because her big sister wanted to show all the really cool stuff about being a kid.

[HeatherSanders]

With dd1, it was one of those Friday night 'girlie' things that we did. We painted toe-nails.

Then, I started reading about all the gunk that is in the nailpolishes and threw them all out. We've been polish free about a year now.

If there is a great natural brand out there - post it. I miss the time and my daughter somewhat misses the polish, but I just didn't want her exposed to the chem.s in it.

[lilyka]

Sorry to be off topic but. . .

Hlsanders -

My dd nick name since she was about a year old has been punkinbutt. I am not sure how it got started but it has just always been. One year for halloween she went as a pumpkin and when opld ladies ask her what she was she would proudly proclaim "I am a punkinbutt!" Much to thier hooror (she was 2)

[marchmom19]

me me!

I grew up with my strict father who never let my sis and I wear any makeup or paint our nail (becuase of the strong smell).

He didnt agree with feminist stuff.

But to bribe my dd to let me cut her fingernail sine they hurt me when she kneads my breast during nursing I had to cut her nail. So I came up with the clever idea to paint her nail as a bribe for letting me cut them. It works.

But was worried about the chemical since she will suck on her finger or chew on her finger and the paint comes off. I will look into the one at the health food store like someone mentioned earlier. Thanks for the tips.

Great poll!

[symbiosis]

I didn't vote because I have only painted dd's toenails. I wouldn't feel comfortable painting her fingernails as her fingers end up in her mouth sometimes.

The whole reason I painted dd's toenails this summer was because her nails started to look dirty from playing barefoot all the time....even after washing. I wasn't about to take a sharp object to clean them out and her nails weren't long enough to trim, so I decided to paint 'em. She loved it...especially since older sis and mommy have their toes painted too.