By Hannah Kremer, Staff Writer

Many college students, like me, may have fond memories of their first experiences with makeup. I remember walking timidly into Claire’s for the first time, holding on to the cash I had saved up in my allowance and picking out a lip gloss palette in the shape of a plastic cell phone. At age 10, I couldn’t even fathom going into Sephora and dropping hundreds of dollars on makeup and skincare products. However, the new year has unleashed a new brand of pre-teens. They are armed with their millennial mom’s metal American Express cards and a hunger for lip oils and perfumes that must be satiated lest workers face their wrath. 

Now, plastered all over TikTok, users can observe children overhauling displays, searching for the next Drunk Elephant or Rare Beauty product. Story-time style videos relate to the terror customers experience when elementary schoolers want the same retinol serum they came in for and snatch it in an air of entitlement. The whole situation is absurd, to say the least. 

The honest debate, though, is who is at fault? Parents, of course, are blamed for being too lenient with their children: not disciplining them on proper conduct when talking to employees, providing them with an unlimited budget to purchase whatever they want and allowing them to buy things that could harm their skin. Since when does a 12-year-old need to be concerned with the effects of aging? Use some damn sunscreen. 

Others suggest that the root cause is influencers constantly promoting “trendy products.” The epidemic of children prematurely being exposed to social media could be breeding unnecessary insecurities amongst  kids, fueling the necessity to purchase from skin-perfecting brands. Influencers are equally responsible for paying attention to their audiences, especially if their fan base is impressionable. There is great short-term profitability for the influencers and long-term profitability for the beauty industry, which likes to “start them young.” 

However, if we rewind to just a few months ago, the answer to this ongoing problem comes back to the parents. Does anyone else remember iPad kids, who could be found playing games, surfing the internet etc., all while lying or sitting in obscure positions? While I hate to sound like my parents, perhaps the problem stems from introducing kids to technology at a young age. When talking with my friends, most agreed they got phones for the first time in middle school. Now, Generation Alpha is receiving iPhones or iPads well before we (Generation Z) ever did, resulting in being more receptive to advertising and branding on social media. They were not taught to understand the manipulation behind some marketing tactics and, therefore, are also unaware that some products are not made for their age range or budget. 

What we are seeing are the results of these combined phenomena. Rather than playing and doing what kids do, they are anxious about matching beauty standards and emulating their mentors. The result is angry little girls convinced that they must treat fine lines and wrinkles despite their remarkable absence on their faces. Children are growing up too quickly, and we blame social media as if the situation is entirely out of our control. 

There is some truth to that. You can’t stop influencers from influencing, brands from marketing and consumers from consuming. However, as a parent, you can choose what your child sees. Of course, it is more than okay for any kid to enjoy doing art with makeup and exploring a new interest, but not if it is based on concealing their

insecurities rather than enjoying their youth in the present moment, let alone spending upwards of $500 dollars on it. 

The question isn’t if beauty stores should impose an age limit, as most TikTok complainers suggest, but rather, what have we done as a disservice to future generations? We owe kids the joy of receiving Coca-Cola-flavored Lip Smackers, Bath and Body Works mists and expandable (though admittedly sh*tty) eyeshadow palettes, not imposing insecurities on them.