Mom Waxes Her 3-Year-Old Daughter's Eyebrows To Stop Her From Getting Bullied
She has no regrets.
Ludaro | Shutterstock Leah Garcia found herself at the center of heated parenting debates after she shared a video on TikTok of her waxing her 3-year-old daughter's eyebrows. She argued it was to protect her daughter from bullying, but it raises questions about beauty ideals and creating insecurity in children from a young age.
Every parent wants to protect their children from hurt feelings, but was this mom's preventive measure truly the way to go? Instead of teaching young girls to fit into a beauty mold, wouldn't it be better to teach them to love themselves and grow up with a strong sense of self, rather than fear and insecurity?
A mom waxed her toddler daughter's eyebrows to prevent her from getting bullied.
“Idc! [I don’t care]” Garcia wrote in the text on the video. “I’d rather y’all call me a bad mom before I let my 3-year-old walk around with a unibrow like my parents did.”
In the video, she quickly waxed a patch of hair between her daughter’s brows, and while the child briefly winces, she seems otherwise unaffected.
No one would argue that this mom doesn't love her daughter and doesn't have her best interests at heart, but the bigger question is whether the lesson was the best way to teach her about loving herself. Unsurprisingly, that was the sentiment from most commenters online as well. No one was harsh, and many applauded her choice, but others gently pointed out that there might be a better lesson here.
Teaching a child self-love and respect is an important parenting lesson.
Comments were divided about the mom’s decision. Some users expressed their regret that their parents never did this for them, while others were critical.
“Girl! [You're] saving her from years of trauma and teasing,” noted one user. “As soon as a parent points out a flaw it will stick with them forever,” countered another. “Even if they are thankful, they’ll remember not being perfect for mom.”
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Each side of the argument raises a fair point. Parents want to protect their kids from the cruelty of the world by anticipating what their kids could be bullied for and correcting it, and it's true, Garcia may have prevented future trauma. But at what cost? Teaching a child to love all their “flaws” might be more valuable.
Pediatric psychologist Alicia Wheelington, Ph.D., explained that a child's perception of their body image has a huge impact on their mental health. When a child can appreciate and love the features and traits that make them unique, it builds their confidence and resilience. Dr. Wheelington said, "We can't always change the experiences kids have in the world, but we can help them manage their responses to those situations and help them build resilience." She added, "In the face of negative behavior like teasing or bullying, a child with healthy self-esteem will remember they have positive traits and be able to rise above that current, negative situation."
Garcia may have prevented her daughter from future bullying about a unibrow, but what happens if she's bullied about something that can't be remedied with a spa day? That's what Dr. Wheelington is trying to convey. If there is a foundation that centers on a strong sense of self, it doesn't matter what the bullies say, and that's the most important lesson of all.
The mom has been defending herself and her decision to wax her toddler's eyebrows.
In one response video, Garcia addressed a commenter who stated, “Conforming to beauty standards teaches them to care what others think.” Garcia shared a video of her daughter saying that she is beautiful with or without her unibrow.
As the uproar continued, however, Garcia shared another lengthy response video. “I would take the hate and the ridicule from millions of people, like I am now. I would take that right on the chin before I ever allowed my children to be hurt by somebody else’s words for something that I could fix,” she said.
She pointed out that the vitriol she received is one of the reasons she wanted to wax her daughter’s eyebrow — there is too much hate in the world to risk her daughter being mocked. “I take pride in the way that I raise my children and the type of mom that I am,” she concluded. “So if you don’t agree, that’s fine. I’m not your mom.”
Garcia is undoubtedly a wonderful mom, and she's right, this is entirely her choice. Sadly, we live in a world where parents worry that their child will be hurt by trivial things like how bushy their eyebrows are. Perhaps Garcia is walking that fine line of teaching her daughter that she is beautiful no matter what, and preventing what may or may not happen if she goes to school with a unibrow once kindergarten starts. What's jarring is that the lesson seems to have to start so young.
Alice Kelly is a writer with a passion for lifestyle, entertainment, and trending topics.
