Kids Beauty Salons? Has the Industry Gone Too Far?

Kids Beauty Salons?

This is one of the biggest questions currently on the minds of many people in Scotland as the first beauty salon catering exclusively to children has just opened for business in that country.

I must say that my feelings concerning this new development are really mixed.

As always, I'm happy to see the beauty industry advance in any way that it can. But on the other hand, does this beauty salon for youngsters encourage children to grow up too quickly?

This is precisely what many Scottish politicians opposed to the development are now saying. And it probably doesn't help that the salon also serves drinks to the children in cocktail-style glasses, which look a little too uncomfortably like alcoholic beverages (which, of course, they are not).

Here's What I Think

With all of the commotion over this, it kind of seems like the root of the problem is that many people feel uncomfortable seeing children treated like adults. Basically, this salon treats them like clients. They are pampered, they get to talk to people their own age while they wait, and they get to have a good time at the salon. This is a big change from just taking your children to the hairdresser and telling them to obey. In one case, they are treated like equals, in the other they are treated like children.

Which is the proper way to treat them?

Honestly, I think that it's somewhere in between. True, children are children, but they are also adults in training. So treating them like adults, in some circumstances, could help them “train” for that part of their lives.

But with this “salon for children,” are the children no longer aware that they are being trained? Do they start to actually think that they “are” adults? And is this a “bad” thing?

What do you think?