I put makeup & fake tan on my girl, 4 – I’m shamed by other petty mums, they’re just jealous of her fabulous glow

MUM-OF-ONE Rebecca Tidy, 35, from Truro in Cornwall, lets her daughter Mabel, four, wear fake tan and makeup. 

She’s not the only one. Recently there was a backlash against Katie Price after she released pictures of daughter Bunny, eight, in makeup.

One follower commented: "Don't let her grow up too fast Katie. Still a child!"

Another wrote: "Great so Katie can't let her daughter just be a little girl."

But freelance writer and yoga instructor Rebecca, who has been trolled herself, was unfazed by the comments. 

“I don’t care about it - Mabel loves being tanned and everyone, whatever age, has the right to a sunkissed glow,” she said.

Now single Rebecca speaks exclusively to Fabulous.

SEEING recent pictures of Katie Price’s daughters Bunny, eight, and Princess, 13,  wearing makeup and fake tan I laughed.

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Because - like them - I’ll happily let my four-year-old daughter Mabel wear fake tan. 

She’s only little but she’ll often slap it on for birthday parties and dance recitals.

And despite her small size and although she’s still young, she can even apply it perfectly herself.

I’m criticised but I don’t care. Why not let your kids glow up? It’s important to look and feel your best in life, whatever your age.

Mabel, who is in reception, spends hours putting on nail art, lip gloss and fake tan and it’s something I encourage. 

She can wear whatever make-up she wants, it’s simply a creative form of self-expression.

As a mum, I’m a firm believer in letting kids do what they want, within reason. It’s natural for girls to gravitate towards skincare, nails and hair. I’ve never understood this whole ‘make-up is only for adults’ thing.

So I was stunned to receive so much vicious online abuse after sharing a photo of Mabel getting her fake tan done on Instagram recently.

We were both getting ready for an exciting trip to the local theatre, so it was a great excuse to get glammed up. 

But cruel trolls were quick to cast disapproval over our fun makeover, branding me a bad parent for letting my daughter wear instant tanner. 

I was shocked to receive a barrage of abuse, just for allowing my child to experiment with her appearance.

There were accusations of attention-seeking and vanity. Someone said it was ‘child abuse’, while another woman claimed I ‘didn’t deserve to be a mum’ and threatened to call social services.

In the end, I just deleted the post and set my Instagram to private as it got so out of hand. Nobody needs that much hate in their life. But, honestly, I was fuming. 

Trolls need to stop mum shaming. It feels like there’s no hate like the hate reserved for mums on the internet.

Yes, I let my daughter wear fake tan. Does that make me a bad mother? Nope.

All the little girls at Mabel’s ballet class get their hair professionally-styled and wear make-up, sometimes even fake tan, for their exams. 

It’s amazing to see their happy, excited faces as they get to play at being a princess for the day.

Today, we’re going to the nail salon to get manicures after school. Instead of the complimentary glass of bubbles they’ll give me, Mabel will have a carton of oat milk. It is adorable and the girls who work there love her visits.

Everyone who meets my daughter comments on her happy, bubbly personality. She knows it’s inner beauty and kindness that counts. And it’s not her obsession with shiny lip glosses and glittery eyeshadows that defines her. 

In my opinion, a lot of the mums doing the criticising are actually the very people who let their kids get sun-tanned in the summer.

They post smug photos and videos of their families playing outside because it’s ‘natural’. But in reality, those natural UV rays cause deadly skin cancer.

I was diagnosed with stage one malignant melanoma in my late 20s, although I am healthy now. And I’m determined to make sure my child knows it’s okay to get a beautiful sun-kissed glow without risking her health or causing premature ageing.