MANY parents believe spending too much on their kids will turn them into monsters – but not this mum.
Laura-Jane Popsey, 31, lives alone with her daughter, Lily, now 11, and loves nothing more than spoiling her daughter with lavish gifts such as Dior and Charlotte Tilbury.
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The 31-year-old mum from Surrey, works as a beautician and influencer so it’s no wonder her daughter has followed in her footsteps.
At just 11 years old, the young tot already knows how to do a full face of make-up, even getting dolled up with her mum on a recent holiday.
Her mum decided she was the right age to splurge on make-up and skincare for her pre-teen, but when she shared her daughter’s £1,000 birthday haul online, not everyone agreed.
Laura says: “It was a bit of a mixed reaction. I feel like the people that had something bad to say about it are literally just haters.
“Why would you care? Why do you care what someone has, I don’t care what you’re buying your kids. you know what I mean? Life’s short.”
However, Laura-Jane exclusively tells Fabulous she was pleasantly surprised most of the reactions which praised her for the lavish haul which included Dior blusher, Charlotte Tilbury makeup and Lulu Lemon accessories.
In total, it cost the mum £1,000.
While many claimed it was crazy to buy her daughter such expensive make-up, Laura says it was a win win for them both.
She adds: “If I didn’t have a child and what I saw that I bought Lily for her birthday I would be like ‘oh my gosh that is so extravagant.’
“But when you have children and you understand that 11, 12, 13-year-olds, this is what they’re into.”
“The thing is, she’s always nicking my makeup. So I just thought you know what, just get her her own because my bronzer is so dark compared to her one and she kept putting it on looking like a Oompa Loompa,” she adds.
Laura understands that many are baffled by the expensive taste her daughter has, but she says that she isn’t the only one.
With the help of social media, her daughter is constantly exposed to pricier make-up and while we enjoyed Barbie dolls at that age, the younger generation are into designer trainers and pricey skincare.
The mum says: “I know some people will be like oh why do you let her on social media?”
“Whether people like it or not it is the way of the world nowadays. There’s only so long you can shelter your children from it, yes I let Lily watch TikTok videos and stuff like that.”
Average kid’s birthday cost for parents
According to a new study from the UK’s leading money-saving brand, Voucher Cloud, has revealed that over two thirds of British parents throw their children a birthday party every single year – and the costs can be high.
- Average spend on party – £320.50
- Average spend on presents – £175.80
Not only does social media play a role, but so does lily’s dance club where the girls are constantly dressing up and playing around with their looks.
Laura adds that keeping them from social media will just cause problems down the road, as no matter what they will get exposed to it at some point, and this way, she can have an open conversation with Lily on the negative sides of it.
“Lily and I are so close, like so close,” she explains.
“She’ll talk to me about absolutely anything. I remember being so scared I didn’t even tell my mum when I started my period until I was like two or three months in, Lily will never be like that.”
Despite some claiming she’s too young for make-up, Laura remembers the good old days where free make-up was in almost every girls magazine.
“The make-up free in the magazines that I remember.
“Blue eyeshadow was such a thing and like I used to walk around looking like a clown, at the end of the day contouring and stuff like that was never a thing, and it is nowadays,” she adds.
“I would rather buy her stuff that she wants than stuff that she doesn’t that’s just gonna sit there and collect dust.”
While the mum usually spends around £300 on her daughter for Christmas and birthdays this year she seriously splurged and spent around £1,000.
But Laura explains she only did so because her dad recently passed away and wanted to make up for that with Lily.
She says she often buys gifts throughout the year as well so that she can offered to get her daughter whatever she wants, rather than panic buying near Christmas or her birthday.
Lily is also used to seeing her mum work hard for her money, and Laura has instilled the same work ethic in her daughter.
She regularly does chores around the house to earn money Laura explains, and she doesn’t see the harm in spending it on designer goods.
“She could do worse things like. I know people’s kids that have said to me they’ve caught them with a vape and stuff like that at her age.,” Laura continues.
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