Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

When former "Teen Mom" star Farrah Abraham proudly blogged about waxing and tweezing her 3-year-old daughter Sophia's eyebrows this week, readers wasted no time in online shaming her.

"Are you developmentally challenged?" "This is sad!!!! She is a little girl!!!!" "You are insane," "That poor baby" and "Shame on you!!!!" were among the comments in response to Abraham's blog post on the social network, Sulia.

In it, the 20-year-old mom, who recently underwent $16,000 worth of plastic surgery to alter her breasts, chin and nose, wrote about how she decided to wax 3-year-old Sophia's "unibrow" because she felt bad for her. When Sophia protested mid-wax, Abraham finished the job by using tweezers on her sleeping child. "I feel like a good mom," she wrote. "Other moms tell me your ideas!"

And that's when the online browbeating began.

"It's very easy to vilify this young mom, and what I think we might focus on instead is how to provide support to all moms about what's appropriate at different stages of development," Child Mind Institute psychologist Rachel Busman told Yahoo! Shine. "I understand a parent's desire to have their child look good and fit in. So I try to look at the best intentions."

On the other hand, she added, "There seems to be more of a focus on children's appearances at a younger and younger age, and I think that is concerning."

Busman also noted that Abraham is not an aesthetician, and that young Sophia's skin could have been burned by the wax. "It can be a painful experience," she said, "especially for a child who doesn't know what's happening."

Pageant mom Lisa VanHooser concurred, telling Yahoo! Shine."I've been a licensed cosmetologist for 8 years, and I've never waxed a 3-year-old." VanHooser, who co-owns, with her husband, the Alabama-based Tutu Glitz on Tour Pageant System, said the youngest girl she has waxed was a still-young 10. But, she added, "Sometimes people use eyebrow razors that are not harmful, and a much better alternative to waxing."

Such early-in-life beauty obsessions, experts told us, can cause plenty of negative repercussions.

One consequence is that it teaches young girls "to value themselves based on how they look instead of who they are," explained Diane Levin, early childhood education professor at Boston's Wheelock College and co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and How Parents Can Protect Their Kids. "This plugs right into how young children think; they focus on what they can see and not what lies underneath."

Another problem, she added, is that, by waxing Sophia's eyebrows, Abraham is essentially saying to her daughter, "You're not pretty." In addition, the young mom is teaching her to blindly accept the popular culture's definition of what pretty is.

Levin says being taught to focus on beauty can lead to a lifetime of psychological and social problems. "If your mother values you based on how you look, then appearance becomes the focus of what you care about, instead of the emotional attachment," she explained. That, in turn, can cause an inability to understand how to have caring, connective relationships. "When children are objectified, it undermines the development of relationships and the ability to develop a positive self image."

Another possible effect can be something Levin calls "compassion deficit disorder," which is often a factor in "mean girl" playground situations. That's because, she explains, being taught that a particular appearance trumps all other qualities can push little ones to bully peers who don't measure up to their learned standards.

The other side of that is when a young child comes home upset about an aspect of his or her appearance, and wants to change it. In that case, both Levin and Busman agree that the best approach is to initiate a thoughtful discussion.

"Three-year-olds don't usually come home and say 'I have a uni-brow,' but older kids might," Busman said. "And we want to support them by helping them to make sense of their own feelings and to help them make an appropriate decision. I'm not the one who can say what that right decision is." It could actually be a perfect teaching moment, she says, "about really embracing kids and people who are different."



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Message edited 1/9/2013 9:26:18 AM.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

This chick is so messed up in the head!

I just can't - who DOES that to their 3 year old? So sad that she is teaching her daughter to have such low self esteem and that beauty is on the outside only.

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

wtf, this woman is seriously psycho.. waxing your 3 year old???

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

IDIOT!

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Complete moron.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Wow-I’ve never had my eyebrows waxed, but I’m sure it’s painful. I cringe whenever I tweeze mine and I’m 38. That poor little baby!! What pain she must’ve been in.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

What a moron.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

She has serious self-esteem/body issues and it's sad that she is projecting them onto her three year old. This poor baby girl is probably going to grow up with a body dysmorphic disorder from her mom's crazy. her daughter didn't know a THING about her unibrow and it didn't bother her so why force your crap on this baby??? Unf*cking real.

People like Farrah should not be allowed to procreate at all. She is a complete d0uchebag.

Message edited 1/9/2013 10:16:46 AM.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Farrah did this because she did not like the way her daughter looked and that is sad. She is awful and selfish. I hate getting waxed and it hurts I cannot imagine how that little girl felt.

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Wow, this just makes me sad! Poor Sofia!

Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

She had $16,000 worth of plastic surgery?!? She really got ripped off!

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

That is child abuse. Think about how hot wax feels on us, and think of how a 3 year olds delicate skin cannot handle that.

Horrible. She needs help. For herself and her child. It would never never never occur to me to wax my child's eyebrows, lip, chin, anywhere. It's f&$kin hot wax for crying out loud! I can't even.....this is way way too much.

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Is this chick for real!! Someone needs a visit from CPS

When Sophia protested mid-wax, Abraham finished the job by using tweezers on her sleeping child. "I feel like a good mom," she wrote. "Other moms tell me your ideas!"


I have an idea for you!! You need to be punched in the throat!!

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

I've read this twice...I just don't even know how to respond. Baffled by peoples stupidity these days.

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

1. she's an idiot
2. she totally messed up her face...she looked better before

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

I was disgusted when I read that. Farrah would annoy me at times, but I felt bad for her and kinda liked her. This makes her seem crazy. She's going to give her daugher self-esteem issues. sad

Sophia is such a cutie!!

Re: Former Teen Mom Farrah waxes her 3yr old's eyebrows

That is freaking sick. To put hot wax on your toddler's skin and rip it off?? Disgusting.