She’s five, dancing to Tina Turner in a hot pink outfit, hair flying and having fun.

And I’ve made the decision that tonight, under those stage lights for her dance recital, she won’t be wearing makeup. Not stage makeup, anyway. Call me mean, call me a prude… I don’t really care. I see the ritualistic face-painting not as some way to ‘enhance’ her performance under the lights but to make her look older, more grown-up, and obviously ‘dolled’ up.

…and that creeps me out.

I’ve told her she can paint her nails and toes and wear a little lip gloss. That’s it. Anything else just feels wrong for a five-year old girl having fun in a dance for her family and friends. She doesn’t need to be tarted up to give a good performance or look beautiful up on the stage. She doesn’t need makeup to make her face stand out under the lights or to make sure we see her cheekbones from three rows back. The only reason she would need makeup is to enhance the ‘pretty’- and at five, she’s got ‘pretty’ in spades.

I fully expect half her class to be in sparkly, blue-eyeshadow’d, red rouge, red lipstick regalia. I don’t want her to feel left out or not let her have fun and ‘pretend’ or ‘dress up’ … but there are limits. Limits to what a five-year old on stage can do vs. an eight-year old and so on and so forth. And I’ll deal with each year as it comes and decide what seems appropriate. This isn’t some professional production of a Broadway show…this is a local dance class with parents and grandparents and siblings cheering them on.

As the little girl who just graduated pre-school and is experiencing her first recital, she needs to know she’s beautiful on that stage, she’s comfortable, and she’s FIVE. She’s not a tween, she’s not a teen, she’s not a woman…yet. She’s a little girl having fun hopping around to a classic tune and smiling and dancing her heart out.

The makeup removes a level of innocence. Tarting her up like a pop-star removes a level of innocence and adds a level of sex appeal. And that’s it exactly…there’s letting her play dress up, get in a costume, and then there is letting her think beautiful = dolled up whore.

I’m not letting her start that path at five. She’ll learn it soon enough and it’s all around her already…we’re not adding to that tonight.

**update #2- Glenn Beck has issued an apology. See that… that’s a Mamma Grizzly at work.

There’s nothing that gets my ‘Mamma Grizzly’ paws up quicker than an attack on a child.

Glenn Beck, the man who speaks at Liberty University, the man who calls himself a good man of God, the man who many in my own family think is ‘awesome’ … mocked the 11-year old daughter of the President.

Obama remarked yesterday during his press conference that Malia asked him of the Gulf oil spill: “Did you Plug The Hole Yet, Daddy?” Beck, taking off on this, mockingly affected Malia’s voice, asking “Daddy” why he “hates black people so much.” Then Beck attacked Malia’s intelligence, saying: “That’s the level of their education, that they’re coming to – they’re coming to daddy and saying ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’ ”
This routine continued for several minutes, as Beck and his co-hosts touched on a variety of topics and laughed the entire time, all of it at the expense of an 11-year-old girl.

That’s right, Mr. Family Values, Mr. don’t pick on Sarah Palin’s kids, etc. etc. etc. made fun of an 11-year old girl.

I’d like to see Mrs. Mamma Grizzly herself, Sarah Palin, tell Beck he’s out of line. I’d like to see all those Right-Wingers who think Beck is just so great to see him for what he really is… an evil ratings whore.

You want to see the might and power of these women and mother’s Palin keeps talking about (as though she just discovered them, even though we were around to defeat her during the election)? Demand an apology from Beck. Either he practices what he preaches or he doesn’t.

Obviously this man is as Christian as Palin is a feminist.

*update – we are tweeting @GlennBeck and demanding he apologize to Malia. Join us.