Do you allow your kids to get their face painted ?

blue_monkey_2

I have to admit that I did laugh out loud at some of the answers on here. Surely it is commong sense - although with the post from the facepainter I am not sure - if my child had a cold or sore skin then I would not let them have it done and yes, I would make sure their face was clean first.

The germs on the other hand are another thing - this is why my local doctors surgery has had to get rid of all their toys and when you are left wiating for an hour all the kids have to do is run around and scream because they are bored. The toys have all been taken because of the fear of (deap breath) germs being spread on the toys!

Now my kids mix with other kids, they all share biscuits, they all touch each other hands, toys, mud, the chairs and the hands go in the mouth, they are at the age where they will slope off to the loo and go and (gasp) not wash their hands. They play in the sand box outside that has had the lid left off and they play in muddy puddles. My son will even get sweets of the floor and they are in his mouth before I can even get the words 'no' out let alone get over to grab it from him. what about public loos, someone could have something on their hands - not wash their hands and then touch the door handle, and then you touch the door handle....... then they go to boots and open the door, soneone else will go to Boots and open the door..... get a grip!!

Kids are kids, they have to build up their immunity levels somehow and everyone is trying to keep everything so clean that the kids do not have the anti-bodies to fight off bugs and diseases. Every cleaner has anti bacterial this and that in it, the washing up liquids, plates are made with it in (how) as are fridges (eh?) and we wonder why our kids can't breathe fresh air without coming out in a rash!! Let your kids be kids, you don't have to grow up in squalor but you have to let them play in a garden and make their own choices and learn not to put that in their mouth. Didn't you ever eat snow, play down the fields and then worry about washing your hands in anti bacterial the minute after?? I am 36 and there was no such this as anti-bacterial liquid and I cringe at the stuff we ued to do, picking up slugs and snails and that - I would never give it a second thought. Remember when you could go and touch an animal on a farm such as a horse without being instructed to clean your hands at the next wash basin which are 15 cm's apart.

we are all so germ concious now, I admit I am the same a little with animal hair but because I am allergic to animal hair if I touch an aminal then I will wash my hands - do I get my kids to?? No, not that often I suppose. I don't think that makes me a bad person, just that I want my kids to have some immunity to everything they can, they haven't had foot and mouth yet thank god!! I have snakes the kids touch, we was on holiday and my son ran over to touch this lizard (if you were in the audience at Butlins that was my son!!) and the minute he had touched it he had to have his hands disenfected - see we would never do that. Everyone has to cover themselves - just in case.

Let them be kids and get their face painted - maybe you should be worried about going swimming because of the kids that are weeing in the pool or those that have not showered before going in. As long as the face paints get washed off at the end of the day then what is the harm. As for Public Liability - argh, this drives me nuts and what is the world coming to??

My little story about face paints though, a bit like the celtic swirls. In florida early this year there was a clown at breakfast time and my daughter was first in the queue for the face paints, on the first day she walked aorund the whole day proud as anything she had these face paints on, however, come to wash it off that night in the bath and she had these blue and purple stains all over her face where it would not come off, LOL, we had to take her back the next day to get something done in a lighter colour to disguise it!! I try to encourange my son to have his face painted and he like the idea and then stops, he spent the night waslking around Disney with a green/blue face because wanted to be a dragon - and then changed his mind after 30 seconds when the base coat went on. LOL!!

let your kids grow up and have a life without being worred they are going to catch everything going else they will have grown up not knowing what it is like to be a child, worried about germs and illnesses, children should not have to worry about this and they will be 12 before you realise that you have them wrapped up in cotton wool and have not had any sort of life and they have missed out. There are a million things to get germs from, if you were worrying about them all you'd never go out.

Facepainter_2

It's fine to paint for charity as long as you are covered with insurance - I cannot stress this point enough.

Also one sponge per child is not good enough. It's fine if you are of the camp that thinks "germs are good" but that is not your right to decide on that for other people's children. Impetigo and conjuctivitis etc are very nasty and highly contagious - you MUST have ONE SPONGE PER CHILD. They can be washed in your washing machine at home and reused for another event no problems but do not share sponges please.

Please do not drag down those who are trying to do this professionally by causing bad press please.

Facepainter_2

Blue Monkey - we are not just talking about snotty germs here - we are talking about nasty diseases. Would you willingly inflict that on your own child? To me that is just bad parenting - sorry.

If you went for a facial would you be happy about them using tissues from a previous client? If not why not? And if not then why is it ok for your children whose immune systems are not as strong as ours.

We are not saying don't paint your children or we would be out of a job! We are saying take a look at the painter first and see how clean their stuff is - ask about insurance etc before making your decision.

RadoJo

Blue Monkey - I do see your pont about common or garden germs, but lizards can transmit salmonella, which I think is a little more serious than catching a cold. I personally think that the answer is somewhere between not making any effort and overdoing it, but I agree that I wouldn't want a child to catch a cold sore form anywhere as the virus is chronic and can make teenage years, stressful times and special occasions horrific if they flare up.

another_facepainter

sooz wrote: »

We use the same sponge and brushes as we're only allowed 10 mins max per face...infact they rarely sit still that long :rotfl:

Most professional face painters will do faces in 5 mins or under and still only use one sponge per face. It is basic hygiene and although I believe that some germs are good (I have two boys myself so have all sorts coming into the house), common sense takes over in some circumstances such as face painting.

If you use a sponge on someones face and they have any bug or infection, then it will be passed onto another child. It takes no more time to pick up a clean sponge than it does to pick up a dirty one. If you use the round face painting sponges then they can be cut into halves or quarters and you can store them in one of those washing machine bags and take a spare one along, then just pop the dirty ones in one bag and take a clean one out of another bag. After the job they can be put into the washing machine on a high wash to clean them ready for the next job. It's not difficult.

It would also be much more time consuming should a parent decide to sue if their child was to end up with conjunctivitis or something worse for the sake of common sense. My niece suffers with a nut allergy, so say for instance I was to paint someones face who had unbeknown to me just eaten something with nuts in and their were traces of it on their skin, I use one sponge on them and then go on to do my nieces face with the same sponge, traces of the nuts would be on that sponge and automatically she would have a severe reaction requiring medical attention. This is a VERY extreme circumstance but it is one that could happen. It is not about wrapping them up in cotton wool, it is just common sense.

Please, please take the time to visit the FPI website as mentioned in previous posts for ideas on health and hygiene.

Artist

I think a few of you on here have yourselves a bit confused as to what is happening when you get your kids faces painted. While I agree kids have to have thier peck of dirt etc... if you are paying for a service that service should be safe and professional - it is required to be so by law (see HSA website) If you ate in a resteraunt or cafe that had poor hygeine and made you ill that would not be acceptable and you could end up with some nasty disease like e-coli. The same is so with facepainting, you could easily end up with a nasty infection which was transmitted through the poor hygeine, in some csaes this could lead to long term health problems.

Its one thing a parent letting thier kids "have thier peck of dirt" its another when you pay for the priviledge of someone else doing it! I'd higly recommend the fpi-org.co.uk site to anyone considereing facepainting either for business or for fun - and would recommend if you want to hire a facepainter to go for a professional who is a the very least covered by public liability insurance, who changes thier water regularly, uses one sponge per child not one per colour and preferabley one who is endorsed by a professional body such as FACE.

pixiegirl

Im a qualified face painter and always ensure my water gets changed after each child. Use disposable cups. wash my brushes with steralizing solution and water, put my sponges in the washing machine. Only ever use safe non toxic face paints and always ask the parents if they want to do a 2 "test patch" I also give out a leaflet which says the best ways to clean off the face paints, not to leave them on over night etc etc

oh and i always have plenty of wet wipes (sensitive ones) just incase the child has a chocolate covered snotty face!

Just depends on who you get to paint your childs face!! :rolleyes:

pixie x

lesleystrawson

Does anyone know what chemicals in these paints can cause allergic reactions?

My 5 year old has had her face painted twice by 2 different painters.
Next day each time (after washing it off before bedtime) she has had reactions, the first time just some red blotches, but the second time her whole face was swollen, (although it didn't seem to worry her at all) and it was a full 24 hours until she looked right again. Piriton helped a little.

Could this be the fact that different chemicals/paints were used, or is it likely that if she has it done again (which I am reluctant to be honest), she may start getting difficulties breathing etc??

I appreciate that medical advice shouldn't really be given, but maybe soemone else out there has had this happen to them?? She isn't allergic to anything else as far as I am aware.

Lesley

hardpressed

Something very similar happened to my son when he had hypo-alergenic stage make-up on for a school play, his face became red and swollen and he felt really ill and had to take 2 days off school, needed a trip to the doctors and anti-hystermine. So definatly no face paints for him.

sooz

another_facepainter wrote: »

Most professional face painters will do faces in 5 mins or under and still only use one sponge per face. It is basic hygiene and although I believe that some germs are good (I have two boys myself so have all sorts coming into the house), common sense takes over in some circumstances such as face painting.

If you use a sponge on someones face and they have any bug or infection, then it will be passed onto another child. It takes no more time to pick up a clean sponge than it does to pick up a dirty one. If you use the round face painting sponges then they can be cut into halves or quarters and you can store them in one of those washing machine bags and take a spare one along, then just pop the dirty ones in one bag and take a clean one out of another bag. After the job they can be put into the washing machine on a high wash to clean them ready for the next job. It's not difficult.

It would also be much more time consuming should a parent decide to sue if their child was to end up with conjunctivitis or something worse for the sake of common sense. My niece suffers with a nut allergy, so say for instance I was to paint someones face who had unbeknown to me just eaten something with nuts in and their were traces of it on their skin, I use one sponge on them and then go on to do my nieces face with the same sponge, traces of the nuts would be on that sponge and automatically she would have a severe reaction requiring medical attention. This is a VERY extreme circumstance but it is one that could happen. It is not about wrapping them up in cotton wool, it is just common sense.

Please, please take the time to visit the FPI website as mentioned in previous posts for ideas on health and hygiene.

Ok, I will pass all your information onto the charity. i must stress i am not a professional face painter, nor do I charge. I, along with lots of other mums, are asked to help out on fete/fundraising days. We offer our time for free.

I guess I'll just have to tell them next time that I can't help. Better offer to man the bouncy castle. Oh no...probably be in trouble for that too :mad: