Should Kim Kardashian Really Be Letting 5-Year-Old North Wear Makeup?

Kim Kardashian’s daughter North West has discovered makeup — the only problem is, she’s five.

The 37-year-old reality star recently shared a couple of videos on Instagram stories of North applying layers of makeup in the mirror. “Contour Queen,” Kim captioned the clip.

Later, Kim shared a video of North wearing bright red lipstick from Kim’s KKW Beauty. “Are you wearing my new lipstick? Thanks for being the best model for me,” Kim tells her, adding, “North wearing shade #6 in the new Classic Blossom Collection…Relax Mom Shamers it’s coming off in a few mins. I needed a bribe to get out of the door…you feel me?!?!?!”

Yes, we do … but should a 5-year-old be wearing makeup ever? Does it really matter? 

Lyss Stern, CEO of Divamoms, (and mom of three, including a 4-year-old daughter) is the best selling author of Motherhood Is a Bitch: 10 Steps to Regaining Your Sanity, Sexiness, and Inner Diva. She weighs in on the topic to Personal Space.

“I can’t understand why North West won’t leave home without makeup. Makeup (pretend makeup) is ok and fun for little girls when playing dress up. However no 5-year-old should be putting on a full face of makeup before leaving the house,” she says, bribe or no bribe.

“My 4-year-old daughter likes me to put sparkles sometimes on her nails (that’s age appropriate) and sometimes a drop of sparkly lipgloss if she’s playing dress up. That’s the extent of it,” Stern adds.

And while it’s understandable makeup mogul Kim needs to look her best when she leaves the house, her daughter is picking up on her cues.

“Her young daughter idolizes her and perhaps she should go makeup free from time to time,” Stern says. “When I am home and not working my hair is in a ponytail and I wash off my makeup. I want my daughter to know that makeup does not make you ‘beautiful.’ We as mothers to little girls need to teach them that beauty comes from the inside out.”

She advises: “If North wants to play around with makeup from time to time that’s all fun and games. However, if she’s really not leaving home without putting makeup on then Kim has some work to do.”

One mom asked Parents magazine if her 10-year-old daughter was too young for makeup. They explain that by age 10, “children hold half of the control over their lives, while parents hold the remaining 50 percent.”

“As children continue to mature intellectually, physically, emotionally, and socially beyond age 10, they grasp in bits and pieces more and more responsibility and accountability for their actions and decisions,” says the report. “This fact, however, does not preclude parents from continuing to exert their influence, offer advice, and say ‘no,’ particularly when issues involve the child's health, safety, and the family's values.”

While there are no hard-and-fast rules to makeup and clothing, “each parent-and-child pair needs to settle on certain parameters without resorting to heated arguments, which will only hurt the parent/child relationship, most likely making the issue bigger than it is.”

“There is something about girls in elementary school wearing makeup that just doesn't sit well with most parents,” the report adds. “Go ahead and tell your daughter that you understand and appreciate her interest in makeup and dress-up, and that when she's at home she can experiment with outrageous outfits and exotic makeup all she wants. But outside the home— school, social events, and extracurricular activities — you cannot allow her to wear lipstick or makeup. Tell her it's inappropriate while she's in elementary school, and besides, she's beautiful without it. She might be appeased with tinted lip balm that gives a little gloss and color to her lips, but doesn't give the look of full-blown lipstick. Let her know that when she's in junior high or middle school, then you will bless her interest in wearing makeup outside the house. When that time arrives, take her to a department store where a person who sells makeup can show her how to apply it in a way that enhances her looks but doesn't make her look like a painted Kewpie doll.”