Facial & body hair on children...

My 5 yr old daughter seems to have obvious upper lip hair & on her back & legs. It has never bothered her before but now kids at school seem to be making fun of her face saying you have mustache & she is getting a bit sensitive about it & to top it off her older sister also have confirmed this to her but I told my older one not to make it a big issue. I am not sure what I can say or do really as she is so young for me to use anything to remove it! Any advise would be great...THANX!!

HOw sad it is that our society has become so shallow and our parents and schools cant instill values in our children that promote treating others with respect and to value diversity. My approach would be first and foremost helping in every way to teach your daughter about diversity and celebrating differences. Try and work with her teacher/school about this topic. It is not an easy one to approach and will take a dedicated and intelligent teacher to read up on diversity and developmentally appropriate practices. Saying, "DOnt say that, that is mean" to a chld who points out your beautiful daughters different hair will actually make the situation worse. IT will make it BAD, and will not answer the children's questions about your daughter.


Children of this age do not really notice difference, and when they do, it is usually not intentional to hurt the otehr person. It is usually just a 'question'. ie...why is her skin brown? why is her hair orange? why does that lady have no arm? Telling them, "dont say that" wont stop them wondering will it? Some of the children in the class will have been exposed to a lot of shallow experiences surrounding body image, with parents and media being to blame. Flawless beauty with hairless white images of skinny women and the stereoptypical male dominate every advert you see here in HK. Of course a hairy body may be seen as different if children are only exposed to that. Taking this angle, your class, or you as a family need to look at exposing each other, in a respectful way, to people of different types. DOnt be scared to talk abotu the differences. CELEBRATE THEM! ALways tell your children they are perfect to you. Explain to them that maybe, some people have not seen different looking people. Let your child know that maybe she can tell her friends that she has some hair, but thats ok because i am happy and love to play just like you! Celebrate the similarities. Good luck! (by the way, if you shave/wax, it may be even harder to try and help your child with this...just a thought)

If I were you, I would tell my kid that other is jealous with you. You are very special unlike other just ordinary! Teach her be proud of herself and do not care about other saying.

thanx guys! As desperate I feel at times I am going to leave it alone & explain to her so that she understands. It's obviously a long shot as she is so little she might not totally understand other than the fact that she has hair & others don't. Thanx again for the advice.