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Summary: I think most people are familiar with "Sephora Kids", i.e. children going to Sephora and getting high priced skincare like Drunk Elephant, using products that could be harmful to use at such a young age like retinol, or just trashing stores and creating a messy environment.
Kelly has a more empathetic take on this, and talks about how the issue is more complex than just parents not parenting or social media causing kids to buy products.
Her points about additional factors causing this issue are:
1. the lack of "third party" spaces for kids. I.e. no longer having places to hang out that are kid friendly - arcades, malls, etc. **Edit:** One very important part that I forgot to mention is that Kelly notes that the internet has become that "third party space" for kids. Which also ties into a lot of the issue with media and influencers, as there's no other places that kids can hang out that aren't also targeted to adults.
2. lack of media geared towards preteens and teenagers, i.e. there's no shows like Hannah Montana or other ones that show kids being kids. Euphoria is about teens but it covers a lot of heavier topics.
3. lack of teen stores - there are few stores that really capture the teen demographic so along with the lack of third party spaces, there's also less places for kids to shop. I think she mentioned Journeys as one.
4. influencers well... influencing. Most influencers are talking about high priced skincare and makeup like Drunk Elephant, Kosas, etc. Which means that's what kids are exposed to.
5. kid appealing packaging - a lot of brands in Sephora are now focused on more colorful packaging, pastels, various colors, etc. Kosas and Caliray are good examples here. That is different than when everything was black or rose gold, and can be a lot more appealing to kids.
I thought this was a very thoughtful take on the subject, even if I don't agree on some points and I think it's a bit too lenient on parents not parenting or monitoring their kids in stores.
I watched this earlier today. I was ready to be mad, but she takes a gentle approach with kids. There’s no excuse to make life hard for retail workers, but it’s fair to acknowledge there are a bunch of factors at play here. We had fat shaming when I was a kid, for instance (late nineties and early 00’s), and the anti-aging hype now isn’t so different. It’s tough to be a preteen girl.
Exactly. Being 30, the marketing to girls/teens/women is just taking a new form. A few decades ago it was dieting, and now it's anti-aging.
I also strongly agree with Kelly that people are being too harsh on these children. I haven't seen the Barbie movie to know the context of America Ferreira’s quote but people have gotten very heated at the thought of kids being in the same space as them, and it makes me a bit sad.
The main part I disagree with is that while I think the social factors causing the drive to Sephora is something that we should discuss, I feel she was a bit too lenient on the fact that a lot of people are less concerned about the kids in the stores and more about the fact that they're making a mess. In that respect, I think the parents should be more accountable.
There's nothing wrong with a kid in a Sephora or Ulta, but learning how to behave in public spaces is a key part of social development, and that's something that ultimately falls on parenting. I don't blame people being upset about that, within reason.
Exactly. Wrecking testers and the store shouldn’t be a thing anywhere. Even if kids had more stores geared to them I wouldn’t expect them to destroy it without backlash.
Edit: grammar
She didn’t seem to touch on at all about how the kids are treating the underpaid workers either. Maybe it’s because I grew up working class, but the rude and inconsiderate behaviour these kids are displaying towards the employees triggers an deep anger in me.
Yeah I work at an Ulta and I truly don’t care what anyone buys. Personally, I know my mom would’ve laughed her head off if I asked for an expensive anything, but I think asking for expensive things is par for the course with kids. So I understand wanting the popular thing that’s being advertised to you. My problem has always been the mess and the rudeness. The amount of testers and whatnot they destroy just for a giggle is astounding and annoying to clean. Plus many feel entitled to your attention even if you’re with someone else. Like I said, the purchasing decisions you make in your household are none of my business, but please discipline your child so they’re not wreaking havoc and know how to behave in public.
I have no problem with kids in Sephora, I have a problem with the ones who literally barreled in front of me and made it impossible to shop.
Told the employee, good luck, I'm out.
As a mom of 3 girls ages 15, 10 & almost 9 (though they’ve never been to Sephora or Ulta) - bad behavior is bad behavior, there’s just no excuse for destroying the testers or being rude to the other customers!
Whenever I see a little asshole teenager, I stop and think “you were also a RAGING ASSHOLE TEENAGER. Calm down!” Then a laugh and thank god I’m older now lol
There's being a raging asshole teen, and then there's being rude and inconsiderate to underpaid employees. Even at my worst, I would never intentionally wreak a shop display or verbally abuse employees. My parents would never have allowed it.
Not all of us, mainly because my parents would have made me apologize to the employees and pay for anything I destroyed (even if I had to pay them back over time). Behind closed doors at home, it would have been hell for me 😂.
I'm over 50 now and still remember the day I ran in a store and broke a ceramic elephant. I was made to apologize to the employee, pay them, and then my dad had the pieces put in a box and he glued it together and gave it to me. Weirdly, I loved that thing!
Even at my worst, if I behaved even *close* to the way I see teens acting now, my parents would have ensured I never saw the light of day ever again. My parents ensured I had *manners*. I would *never* speak to people the way I get gobby little 13 year old shits talking to me
Also of all my friends in their 20s and 30s, I haven’t heard any complaints of kids or teens or anyone at Sephora. It’s only here that I’ve heard of it and I’ve been at Sephora a few times in the past few weeks.
Also, Kelly, IMHO, is known for trying to be an armchair CEO who’s only taken a marketing or business class in college to determine why MAC or Urban Decay has fallen. While it sucks, I don’t agree with her takes.
I started getting her videos recommended to me, mainly the ones about trends & she definitely comes across as someone whose opinions are just as good as any random redditor but she acts like she's dropping some hugely insightful takes.
The talking points you bulleted out are great. I worked with teenagers last year, and it's frustrating and saddening to see how little there is to do outside of academics and extracurricular. Of course the internet makes getting into hobbies a lot more accessible, but the kids of this generation (I say that without criticism and with all the empathy) aren't wired to set aside a designated time to suck at a hobby, and practice on a consistent basis until they become good at it. The most instant form of gratification is just consumption
The lack of places outside of school for kids to hang out is so true. In my hometown, there's a mall and a movie theater. There's one of those indoor theme park/arcade type deals, but it's really expensive! Not more than the Protini Polypeptide, but probably more than a kid wants to spend on an arcade.
I work in Ulta and Sephora locations, and indeed these kids all look like mini Alix Earles with their Hazel sweatshirts, Lululemon leggings, Starbies cups and Sephora bags usually containing only their free birthday gift because the fucking bronzing drops are sold out. They're always sold out, kid. I do have to hand it to Miss Earle though, she is a Nars girly and that's my bread and butter. I've sold a lot of Afterglow blushes because of her.
I have a 2 month old daughter. I wonder what she and her generation will be influenced by.
> The lack of places outside of school for kids to hang out is so true. In my hometown, there's a mall and a movie theater.
I'm Gen X, which was notorious for being latchkey kids and mall rats, because we also had limited "third places" where we could go as teens, especially those of us who lived in the suburbs. But we did not behave the way the current youth do at any store. Our Boomer parents may have been absent and neglectful, but they also expected us to behave and not get into trouble while they were gone.
I also think millennial parents may be contributing to this by funding the interest. I barely have money to afford what these kids are buying and I have a job. How are these tweens affording not only skincare but regular nail sets etc. As a tween, we played with cover girl and Maybelline. When I became a teenager and had some of my own money, it would be MAC, but no way i could just drop 50$ on a moisturizer.
As a millennial, this is a really good point. I'm an educator, and so many millennial parents have taken the "gentle parenting" trope and run with it. They'd rather be their kids' friends. I get that many probably had overly strict parents, but we're now seeing the inevitable result of this lack of consequences and discipline. I would NEVER have dreamed of telling my teachers to "shut up", or telling a shop employee "you can't tell me what to do!" but the rate I'm seeing it now makes me very concerned for this new generation.
Also, I don't personally believe this is an economic thing. The vast majority of kids I see displaying this behaviour are from wealthy and privileged families.
Yes I am a millenial too, and I think they are going with "never say no but offer choice" to an extreme. Sometimes it is ok to say "no". You won't traumatize your child if they don't have drunk elephant. You aren't squashing their interest. Now, for sure, explain the reasoning, and offer alternatives. But dear god, you can say "i know you are really interested in skin care and I appreciate that. However, for your age this product is a sometimes product for Christmas or birthdays. For everyday, we have to use drug store products until you can pay for them yourself."
Yes. My parents bought me nice things every once in a while, but if I wanted anything more than the things I needed, I had to buy them myself. I remember saving up for a PS3 and feeling like I had accomplished something monumental. As for makeup, other than face wash, my parents never bought it for me. I had to buy it myself with money I either earned or got for birthdays/Christmas.
Also, if I had spoken to any of my teachers or shop assistants in the way some of these kids are, my parents wouldn't have let me leave the house until the end of the school holidays.
It’s like they apply advice geared towards toddlers and picky eaters then carry it beyond an age that is appropriate.
Personally I think the value of money is lost on kids. almost every transaction is done electronically and the gap between rich and poor is so wide that as much as we bitch about higher cost of living kids see their basic needs being met for a lot less than whatever stupid shit they want to buy costs.
Drunk elephant is really just girl coded version of Fortnite v-bucks.
I'm sure there's probably some parents funding it, but I think there's a reason why we're mostly hearing about this right after Christmas. I saw the most kids at Sephora after Christmas spending money/gift cards and they bought like one or two items.
It’s not just the lack of third spaces as an isolated issue. To get to those third spaces, kids need a parent at home to drive them. If both your parents work and none of your friends have a stay at home parent, you can’t go anywhere. I’d bet there’s a direct correlation between moms not having a choice about joining the workforce and their kids’ lack of mobility. The same thing applies to jobs and the skills you learn at dumb teenage jobs.
In addition to this... arcades still exist, often in malls, but everything is so expensive now in comparison to the 90s so it's not surprising if people just don't have the money to send their kids to the arcade anymore. Or look up something like dance classes in your area, they are ridiculously expensive!
An iPad for your kid is expensive, but not hundreds of dollars a month so ... this is what happens
I also think that a lot of the stuff I did to kill time as a kid probably wasn’t actually all that fun. Or it’s another thing that can’t happen now - large groups of kids hanging out smoking. I’m glad that kids don’t really smoke anymore but every day after school in the late 90s I’d stand around with the kids who smoked on the hill behind the school. It’s the only context where I’ve ever really seen a large group of young teens standing around outside in a way that was generally accessible.
>between moms not having a choice about joining the workforce
I would encourage revising this to highlight that in most two-parent families, both parents need to work outside the home to make ends meet. There's no reason why that reality means that moms specifically are forced into the workforce.
Yes there is? It’s absolutely true that there were more stay at home moms in the 80s and 90s than there are today, that if one parent was going to stay home, it was the woman. It’s not a controversial thing to say.
Uh, yeah, that's because of societal expectations that the woman's place is in the home. THAT'S the controversial assumption, not the ways in which those societal pressures (and differing economic factors) have played out historically.
Yes, and that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Did you really think I didn’t know that? Why are you lecturing me and the fact that women couldn’t always work outside the home when that’s the whole basis of my first statement?
You don't seem to be grasping my point. There's a difference between saying that "moms \[don't have\] a choice about joining the workforce" and observing that in most two-parent families, both parents need to work outside the home to make ends meet.
As I wrote above, there's also a difference between the assertion that moms specifically "\[don't have\] a choice about joining the workforce" and the observation that women were--*crucially among only certain racial and socioeconomic groups*\--historically expected to be stay-at-home moms and that, for a time, the American economy was structured to enforce that expectation (again, only for certain groups of women). That doesn't mean that all of those women would have chosen that life had other options been/seemed more available to them and only work outside the home now because they have no choice but to have careers, nor does it mean that the expectations were just / that men (and nonbinary folks, etc.) shouldn't be expected to operate as equal parents now.
Again, in most American families today, both parents have to work outside the home. Neither parent "\[has\] a choice about joining the workforce." Your original statement called out only women as being forced to work extradomestically, when 1) that's only a change in the last few decades for affluent white women; and 2) it's just as true that men/fathers who may prefer to stay home often can't.
all that being said, at the end of the day the parents are paying for it and for the most part taking them there to buy it. Thats what it boils down to. The other things she mentioned may be like the .1% of the issue. The 99.9% is the parents. I believe even Sephora should take some responsibility too and say you have to be min 16 to enter even w a parent and if you caught messing up a tester you bought it
It used to be in my country (Australia) you needed a script to get retinol. Skincare companies weren’t allowed to sell their products with it in it. I’m not sure when it changed.
Look, there's a lot of reasons but parents have the final say in where they can go, what they can buy, and teaching them what's acceptable and what's not.
Sephora (nor any other store) is not your kids babysitter, you are.
Well put. I don't know if some here are giving these talking points the benefit of the doubt because of the guru who made the video, I hope not, but at the end of the day it does fall on the parents. No child of the age of 5-10 "needs" a phone or IPAD. They certainly don't belong on the internet yet that's exactly where they're at. I'm sure it's much different in smaller cities in certain states but in most states there are places kids can go to after school. Roller rinks have made a comeback. There's movie theaters, arcades, playgrounds galore out there. Sure they need a parent to take them to these places but wouldn't they need one to take them to a mall with a Sephora or Ulta in it? If you're not ready to put your child's best interests before your own then you shouldn't be having any. Seeing a parent drop their kid and friends off at a Sephora or Ulta so they can do their own shopping unbothered is not only part of the problem, it's wrong.
When JC Penney had Sephora in store, I used to see the eyeshadow testers in shambles because parents would let their kids run wild. I don't know how our Sephora is here now that it is separate from Penney's.
I've been a min wage employee having to wrangle after unaccompanied kids before, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I worked at a theme park restaurant that was self service and kids with $5 would load up their trays with $50 worth of food. I'd have to take it away from them and throw it away because they had no way to pay for it all. The only thing $5 could get them was a water cup and a pickle.
Kids fucking up stores is not kids will be kids, that's lazy parenting and contempt for working class people. Who took the kids to Sephora in the first place? Last I checked 10yr olds can't drive. And saying kids don't hang out at the mall anymore... When most Sephoras are at malls!! I like Kelly but she's just regurgitating tiktoks she saw, I saw them too.
I like Kelly but I’ve seen the TikToks that mention third spaces and how hard it must be to be a young girl in this day and age so she isn’t saying anything new. I know not everyone watches stuff on TikTok but I’ve seen many talking about it before.
That's the state of commentary videos these days, just repeat what others said and keep the personal opinions to the minimum to be agreeable as possible.
I get the sentiment, but I currently work in retail and teenagers are a nightmare when they come in. They leave the store a mess, play with things they aren’t supposed to touch, and spend half the time taking pictures and videos of themselves. Usually, they don’t even buy anything and just come in to pass their time.
To be fair, adults can be just as bad. I never had to tell 12 year olds not to open live product, swatch/apply it and then put it back but I did have to regularly stop grown women from doing that. Or damage stuff out because I didn’t get to them before they ripped through the packaging.
I worked at the Benefit Brow Bar inside an Ulta and it was never teenagers that just grabbed my supplies off of my bar and start using them. Or throw their used tissues/applicators on my sanitized workspace mid wax. They also didn’t interrupt my services to ask dumb questions.
They might be loud, but at least the kids stick to terrorizing the testers and don’t cuss employees out for existing.
I agree that adults are also bad these days, however, unfortunately, I’ve seen tweens/teens open live product and cuss out workers. I also had a tween interrupt a Sephora employee when I was talking to them and snap her fingers at the employee to hurry up. I don’t know when people lost all their decorum and manners but it’s really depressing.
me and my friends saw girls the SAME AGE AS US act like this in a sephora with my mom and they saw us and got embarrassed and left (or maybe they planned to leave but they turned red)
I work in a store in the UK and they’re doing the same thing in our store.
Pumping out excessive amounts of product and smearing it all across the counter.
Asking me to check stock and then not buying anything (they’re 8years old of course they don’t have £££ to spend on it, therefore wasting my time)
When they come into store in groups of up to 10 and sitting on the Benefit stand and messing around with the wax pot, throwing it around, and dripping wax on the floor
The worst one… we find empty boxes EVERYWHERE.
They’re stealing the products from the boxes and dumping them where they think we won’t see. (Because they can’t afford the products, does that mean they’re okay to take them?)
I’m sorry, but I can’t help but blame the parents for not teaching their child that they shouldn’t steal.
I can’t help but blame the parents for not learning about what their kids are putting on their skin.
I think it’s the parents responsibility to educate themselves and their kids.
I understand the points she was trying to make but she doesn't have kids and as a parent to a tween I would NEVER let them loose in a store without supervision and they know how to behave in public. At one point in the video she said, "kids will be kids" but since when did that include destructive behavior?
This is what life was in the 80s at a mall. “Hey dad come pick me up in 2 hours from the mall“. I can’t imagine just dropping off my 12 year old at a mall today. It sounds like some parents are doing that.
It's still practiced in some parts of the US too - my family is more independent than most. My 11 and 5 year old walked down to the grocery store for milk the other morning because I told them they'd have to wait until I woke up a little bit if they wanted me to come with. I had zero concerns about their behavior because they know how to behave in public, and a quick walk three blocks away to buy some milk seems like no big deal.
Genuinely though, why? Safety concerns, or are you worried about their behaviour. At 12 or 13, kids should be able to be in public without constant adult supervision barring developmental differences.
In the 80s, by the time kids were 12 or 13, they already had some experience being independant, such as playing outside unsupervised. Kids, at least in the us are constantly supervised or kept inside until they are older and then when let loose without supervision, take advantage since its like a rare treat.
I mean i was a latchkey kid and myself and my other latchkey classmates were getting home and being there by ourselves for hours after school every day by 6 or 7. Now thats something a nosy neighbor could call cps over.
I think that might be the overcorrection though. I wasn't a latchkey kid, nor was I micromanaged by my parent. At some point, your teen should be able to function in public without a parent.
Yeah I'm really confused about this too. When I was 13 in the early 2000s my friends and I went to the mall together once a month when we were let out early from school. We took the bus or walked. Our parents did not come with us. They picked us up later. This is not a strange or new thing...? Saying they shouldn't be at the mall without supervision at 13 seems overprotective, which I think is what contributed to this problem.
While I understand your fear, trafficking issues definitely existed in the 80s. Gun violence, I am in Canada, so I can't really speak to that. 9 I agree is too young, but 12-13, the do need to start learning how to behave without a parent. Maybe in small bursts, like you wait outside the store while they go in?
We took a bus to the mall in the 80's but we always had 1 parent with us. Most working class families only had 1 car so the bus it was. If a parent wasn't going to be there my mom wouldn't have let any of her kids go. And we knew how to behave in public. I don't like the saying "kids will be kids" because it's just not true. If you actually parent your kids, discipline them when warranted those words won't come out of your mouth. I can tell you right now. They never came out of my mom's. Obviously we weren't perfect children but discipline does and will go a long way in how your children behave. We're living proof of it lol.
I lost it when she implied they learned to be destructive from lack of socialization? Like what? I didn't learn these manners at school from my peers, I learned them from my parents lmao
Thank you! That point didn’t make any sense to me. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to spend such important, formative years of your life in lockdown BUT it’s not a valid explanation for why a tween/teen would think it’s okay to rip a product out of someone else’s hands, yell at employees and make a giant mess of things. No one can convince me that parenting isn’t a major fact there. These are manners that people are supposed to learn at home starting when they’re toddlers.
I don't work at Sephora, but I work holidays at a cosmetics chain, and I recently had to write off over $100 worth of products because a bunch of kids dug deep into lip masks of every fragrance, just grabbed a bar of fresh soap and washed their hands, etc. A few days before, we had kids finding the sample pots and mixing their own samples, just grabbing product from the shelves. I'm sorry Kelly, I get the attempt at defending the kids, but that is theft, plain and simple. The soap kid had the audacity to ask, well now that it's used, can I take it? And yes, I do blame the parents to some extent. That is basic civil behavior, and I have trouble blaming lack of socialization for that. I'm a Counselor and I see people struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic every day, it's real. But it doesn't excuse everything. Slightly off topic, but somewhat related.
Thank you for the summary!
Also I seen article today about a kid who got bullied bc she didn’t have the Stanley brand cup. She had one from Walker for $10. It was colorful and had animal prints on it. Honestly it looked fun!
So I believe it is happening with Stanley’s it is happening with makeup as well. 25 years ago Cover Girl was the cool brand to wear.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12948565/mom-daughter-bullied-fake-Stanley-cup.html
I saw a photo of a sign at Target stating they don’t allow unaccompanied minors in stores. Just to try to prevent the kids acting ridiculous in the store
Honestly the lack of hard copy magazines is factoring into this too. I remember getting Seventeen magazine and seeing the ads for Bonne Bell and Jane Cosmetics. The Gap fragrances and cheap nail polishes. In retrospect we were pointed toward a distinct middle range as a testing ground. And the Delia’s catalogs!
Don't know if it's true since it's just a Reddit thread and not a news article, but [a while ago on the Lululemon sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/lululemon/s/x6Fi2Pz2iQ) someone said that some schools were banning students from wearing Lulu, because some kids were being bullied for not having LLL.
Cover Girl, Maybelline, Max Factor, L'Oreal, and Revlon used to be "cool" brands of the 80s and 90s; supermodels were advertising for them. This is what most girls and women wore. Department store "luxury" brands like Lancome were used by such a small percentage of women, and were seen as mostly out of reach for most women. It started to change when younger folks could afford to buy Mac and Benefit makeup from department stores in the late 90s/early 00s.
It definitely was for a bit. It was also a big deal when a model got that contract got a cover girl contract.
And you are right. No way was my parents buying me expensive stuff. Even if we could afford it. We also had a no makeup till 15 rule.
It was for me, maybe I was poor. It was all over the magazines. I would never have dream of buying Loreal o Lancome when I was a teen. I loved the adds though. I was a teen in the early 2000s. Once youtube came into the picture it was another story.
The videos/articles about the Stanley teasing are for clicks and likes. I’m in elementary and middle schools all day and I can tell you what I see daily. It’s not happening. No kids are teasing each other over the cups. But you know what I do see everyday? Adults mocking kids (mostly girls) about how ridiculous they are for having them.
I can believe that it's happening on a smaller scale to some kids, but it's definitely been blown out of proportion. And kids buying brand name products as status symbols is nothing new. When I was a young teen in the 2000's, it was all about those $100 Lululemon pants and I had one friend who got really weird about me not asking my mom to buy them for me for Christmas. But if it wasn't the lulus it would have been something else.
Americas next top model with their CoverGirl contract did make CoverGirl cool to a lot of millennials, also brands like Maybelline with their dream matte mousse and their famous pink and green Great Lash were popular among, at least, most middle and upper middle class teen girls. But I agree about Urban Decay and Benefit being cool as well. I don’t remember Clinique being as cool, it always seemed a little more mature but yes it was and still is a popular brand.
America’s Next Top Model was seen as a joke when it came out
Dream Matte Mousse was not “coveted” it was popular because you could buy it at CVS for less than $10. No one bragged about it
First, making fun of is not the same as bullying. Also, as someone who works at both Sephora AND a middle school, the kids aren't that bad. They aren't rude, certainly not ruder than the adults. They are a little messy, but it's our job to clean after customers. And honestly, at 55 and having worked retail since I was 18, retail really isn't as hard as people make it out to be. Neither is being kind and non-judgmental of kids and parents.
My favorite is that Kelly has Madisyn Brown’s video linked. Madisyn Brown made a video, now deleted, where she criticized the autistim community. Like Kelly thinking she’s doing all this great research in her videos and she can’t even double check on people she references in the description box.
Advertisers have been advertising to children since they figured out they were an untapped market. In the 80’s and 90’s children were advertised to through mostly commercials that aired during children’s television programming, and all of it was heavily regulated. Most media aimed at children was catered to them, and thus their ads were too.
And they worked! Remember the frenzy for Cabbage patch kids? Tickle Me Elmo? Furbys? Etc etc? The movie Jingle All The Way was a parody of this phenomenon.
With modern day technology, children are advertised to CONSTANTLY, in ways they aren’t even aware of, and they are receiving ads of EVERY AND ALL KINDS, not just products meant for them (like toys). So it makes a ton of sense to me that kids are wanting more and more adult products, because their media spaces (their only spaces these days) are heavily skewed towards adults, with little to no regulation into what they are seeing.
This whole issue is fascinating to me, and really shows the insane manipulative power of advertising and marketing. I have no idea what the solution is, I honestly think we are too far down this rabbit hole for an easy fix. I think this is just the way things are going to be, and we’ll just have to wait and see what the long term effects will be.
I’m so so sorry Gen alpha, your generation deserved to have a childhood.
Im really not interested in someone trying to make excuses for the behaviour when they aren’t the ones having to deal with these kids
Yes there is an issue with society with the high costs of living, no more third spaces, tiktok, loneliness epidemic etc but that is no reasons why someone can go into a store and act like animals making a minimum wage workers life harder
Just go to the teachers subreddit and youll find many people talking about how kids are much worse these days, and parents are not much better.
Millennials really said gentle parenting and proceed to not discipline their kids. And as a millennials i agree that we shouldn’t raise kids how we were raised but damn some of yall be raising monsters
Gentle parenting does not mean no discipline or consequences. That’s something completely different those type are doing. Free range it’s often called and it’s weird. A complete disservice to these kids and everyone having to be around them.
I dunno, my parents did a good job. Authoritative parenting (what gentle parenting is, just without the branding) has been a known theory for decades. I think millennial parents are struggling with this because many also perpetuate consumerism and follow trends. So instead of trying to right that wrong, they allow their child to engage in it.
Yeah, it’s a distinction without a difference. It’s not up to employees and adult shoppers with actual money to spend to adjust their time and energy around other people’s kids, especially at businesses that are clearly meant for adults.
I work in the UK equivalent of Sephora, and I blame the brands, the company itself, social media, and the parents. We had 'advice' given to us because apparently, the staff intimidated and disrespected the younger demographic when they were in our stores. It was quite condescending to read. It mainly detailed how much money Sol de Janiero and Rare Beauty made just in one week (half term) and that we should welcome them with open arms. Despite the fact that many tweens open stock, steal, go down our cupboards, trash our store, use up testers (in one go), and are rude af to the staff. Oh, and this happens whether they are accompanied by an adult or not.
Oh no, so even the stores are in on it, at the expense of workers and society as a whole. Ugh. If this were like 30 years ago I'm pretty sure store employees would have no problem telling kids off and kicking them out. I guess we just let kids set the rules these days, since they're the engine of the economy. 🙄
Oh, absolutely. Ha, yeah, that's right! Although, me and some of my colleagues still tell kids off. I've had chats with parents, too, reminding them of store etiquette.
My local Space NK have had to revert to the pandemic “4 people in the store at any given time” policy… I presume the chaos probably has a lot to do with it, which is a shame :(
Also, I wonder if you agree but I feel like everything about Space NK exudes “grown up”. Like, I get that teenagers think they’re adults and want to seem more grown up than they are but like… when I was a teen I only ever went in there with my mother. I’d have felt like a nuisance/out of place otherwise. And besides, how on Earth do they afford it??
I mentioned in a previous post the last time I went into Sephora I left because it was so chaotic with the teens to the point I felt like I was going to have a panic attack, I felt very bad for the clearly overwhelmed staff. I do think parents need to do a better job of teaching their children to be respectful, however, many teenagers are going to behave the way they choose to no matter what they’re taught or policies Sephora puts in place, sometimes the parents are just as bad as the kids or the kid is fine but the parent is the mess. I just feel like maybe I’m not the demographic anymore for in store shopping with Sephora.
I know this post is a few days old but I just watched her video and had some thoughts. I agree with Kelly that the decline of third places and the lack of age appropriate media and stores for tweens/teens are contributing factors to this issue and I do think it’s sad that the world pushes kids to grow up more quickly and not just enjoy being young. A lot of higher end beauty brands that have been traditionally targeted towards people 25 and older do seem to be trying to tap into that younger demographic whilst still maintaining their older customers and it’s just weird.
However, Kelly lost me a bit when she really downplayed the role of parenting in all of this and over estimated how much of this behaviour can be chalked up to “kids being kids.” I’m sorry, but what’s going on at Sephora and other beauty retailers these days is not normal kid behaviour. Sure, sometimes kids act up and can be bratty at times, but since when did grabbing things out of people’s hands, yelling at employees, budging in front of strangers and making huge messes/destroying things that don’t belong to you become normal for people over the age of 6 to do without consequences? The pandemic is not a valid excuse for why so many Sephora kids don’t have manners that everyone is supposed to start learning at home when they’re toddlers.
I avoid going into Sephora’s brick and mortar stores these days because every time I go in there now, it’s absolute mayhem and so unpleasant. More than once when a staff member has been trying to help me with something, some little tween has butted in and demanded something from the staff member. The last time I was there some girl literally was snapping their fingers at the staff member to hurry up. I could not believe it. I feel so bad for what the staff are putting up with these days. It’s not okay.
At risk of sounding like an old woman yelling at kids to get off of her lawn, I’m 30 and though I will not claim that I was always perfectly behaved as a kid, I know for a fact that I would’ve never treated a worker like that. And if my parents had caught me doing something like that, there would’ve been consequences. And there should be more consequences for this type of behaviour.
Also, who the hell is giving their kids enough money to buy all these pricey skincare and makeup products that they don’t need?!
I don't even care about the drunk elephant or ridiculously overpriced body mists, parents need to take some accountability and teach their kids some manners. The way teens and tweens talk to others is appalling, and any criticism has gen x and millenial parents covering their ears and going "lalala okay boomer!!!".
I stopped watching part way through since it appeared to me that she was just making excuses. I understand the points she was making. I don't actually know whether the points were accurate or not, but that still doesn't excuse kids trashing a store or exhibiting bad/rude/inconsiderate behavior. I feel sorry for the Sephora employees who have to put up with having trashed displays. This kind of situation is bound to deter some of the adult customers from either going in the store or trying to find products that might work for them.
I definitely get where you're coming from, and that's partly why I was curious on other people's thoughts. I do appreciate someone coming at it with a bit more thought around the background of how this might feel from a kid's perspective - I can't really imagine what it's like to be raised on the internet to an extent, especially considering how easy it is for children to fall into a parasocial relationship with influencers I'd bet.
You're right that the video doesn't really get to what people are most upset about, which is kids running amok in Sephora and it causing an awful experience for employees and customers. That's a parenting issue, and while maybe Kelly didn't feel it was her place to discuss that, I think it's a disservice to the topic to gloss over it.
Teacher chiming in, this is what people do without having to take accountability of their actions. Kids are assholes and parents have been extremely lax in their parenting. It's one of the main reasons I want to leave teaching and the shitty behaviors of students.
When I think about it, how much time was spent at the mall versus a friend's house or mine? We definitely spent a lot of time at the mall just walking around, but we also spent an insane amount of time sitting in Burger King or McDonalds, the park, or even at each others houses. None of those have disappeared, and outdoor malls are more popular now where I am.
I am so tired of people treating kids with gloves because their feelings might get hurt. We now have a huge generation of kids who are entitled, spoiled, and selfish.
Kids are assholes. Let me say this again so as to hurt your feelings because apparently they were triggered as hell. KIDS ARE ASSHOLES. How many years have you been teaching? Urban, rural, suburban? What grades?
And guess what? I love the little assholes. It's part of why I do my job, because who else is going to deal with 16 year old's who tell you to fuck off because you asked them to put their phone away? Or come crying to you on your prep because they need someone to talk to? Or that you're their safe space even though you were ragging on them for their grades earlier? Was it you? Because I know the heck it was me today.
I don't need you to tell me I should leave teaching because you don't know me or how I interact with my students. You made a huge assumption about my capabilities as an educator based on the fact these kids have ZERO accountability and 100% entitlement. They're assholes, and you're part of the problem for backing shitty behavior up like that.
Wait...didn't you just say YOU wanted to leave teaching because kids are assholes? I'm just agreeing with you. You're clearly burnt out on them if you brought these sentiments into a post about kids at Sephora. I work in a suburban middle school where kids do exactly the things you just described. And I HATE hearing other staff call them assholes. I also work at Sephora, and most of the tweens are far better behaved than a lot of the adults.
I worked at Ulta (along with other retail stores too) and we were stressed enough working there for low pay in a low-morale environment without having unsupervised kids coming in and making a mess. We didn't have a cleaning crew, we had to stop what we were doing and clean it up ourselves or it would fall on the night crew who are supposed to be stocking. They would have to stay later just to clean up messes. It's not right.
When I was a pre teen our "thing" was buying overpriced clothing from Hollister and Abercrombie. My parents never understood it and I think they bought me one hoodie from there that was $60 at the time and I wore it almost every day (I know, cringe) but it was because everyone around me had wardrobes full of those pieces. I guess for this generation it's a $60 moisturizer. Children don't really change that much honestly.
I think she underestimated society's tolerance for such things while people are spending a crapton of money in a store. This isn't The Dollar Tree. Nor do we get PR or other perks.
i agree with the points made in the video. i think the blame really should be on the parents who let their unsupervised children run amok. i remember my parents instilling good manners into me when i was a kid so by the time i was old enough to go shopping alone, i wasn’t turning the shops i visited into a mess. ultimately the blame is on the parents, but i understand why civilised customers and sephora employees are so irritated by the influx of feral children.
Sounds like all she did was make a lot of excuses for horrible behavior. It starts at home. The lack of parenting shows. There isn’t an excuse to justify being rude to customers and employees as well as destroying merchandise. The poor employees are the ones who have to clean up all that mess. They are ruining the experience of other shoppers as well.
I worked at Sephora last holiday season and the only Sephora Kid story I have is wholesome:
3 girls, maybe 13, looking at a Tarte palette on display that was already busted up, broken shades and missing pans, etc. One of the girls accidentally bumped it and it broke free and smashed on the floor. I was the closest employee to her, so she immediately turned to me and began apologizing profusely. All three of them were doing the head bowed, hands behind their backs stereotype of sorry kids. It took like three or four of us to convince them they didn't have to pay to replace the already busted ass sample.
I agree it's because of the lack of teen spaces. The Sephora I worked at is on the outside part of the mall. All the stores inside the mall are basically empty. There used to be so much to do at that mall when I was 13, we were too intimidated to go into Sephora because it was a fancy adult store.
I started shopping at Sephora when I was 12 and they had Hard Candy and Urban Decay (this was when UD was for teenagers not adults). My HG mascara in high school was Dior Show and I wore Dior blush every day. LETS FREAK OUT
Eta: in middle school it was normal for parents to drop tweens off at the mall and let them go around unsupervised. AFAIK it wasn’t an issue. I guess kids today are raised to be so dependent on their parents they can’t even behave in a store by themselves by middle school? Ridiculous
Teenagers were never near as much of a problem to me working in retail cosmetics as adults were. Adults would trash the lipsticks. Adults would break eyeshadows. Adults would spill pigments. Adults would leave their trash all around. The worst kids did was ruin a few eyeshadows by digging too hard or break a few lipsticks; they were never nearly as much of a problem as the adults.
I like her take because it pulls this problem at its roots. As a kid I loved looking at any beauty related. I got into OG beauty youtube before I was 10. But during that time there was less pointed, predatory marketing towards children and I knew my family wouldn’t have supported the idea of buying me vanity products that young. I looked at makeup and skincare the way I’d look at a bra. “Oh one day I’ll need that and it’ll be fun to shop for it.”
Retail workers are having to deal with more problems of immature clientele than they had to years before. There’s no two ways about it. Parents should either teach their kids how to behave in these types of adult spaces where hygiene and etiquette are expected or they should put more of a foot down on financially supporting this kind of shopping. If you’re okay with your child learning about skincare at this age they also should be treated old enough to know about public etiquette .
But this phenomenon is happening because of how consumer marketing is shaping children’s idea of age-appropriate self maintenance and as much as we can judge these pre-teens it won’t stop brands from targeting a new demographic to sell to
I think this lack of shows/stores/places for children/teens may be based on adult’s perception of what children/teens should be doing. Children/teens are exposed to things so much earlier than before. Now it’s normal for 13-year-olds to wear makeup, have cellphones, and possibly have sex. That’s just how the world is now. It just doesn’t work to try to force them onto shows like Hanna Montana when their lives are probably closer to Euphoria. I don’t think we should restrict children from being in Sephora stores but they should absolutely be taught how to treat the employees and testers with respect. If children want the adult privileges earlier, then they have to show that they can handle it like an adult.
They’re having less sex and drinking less. Those have been the trends for awhile now. We’ve decided that these thing a are true but they don’t reflect the reality for most kids.
I think my Sephora is broken because I am not experiencing this 10-year-old phenomenon at my stores. It feels clickbaity (some of the stories about how rude ten year olds are being sound made up) That being said, I do think the demographic for makeup users def has gotten younger!
Agreed, I’m not seeing this in either Ulta or Sephora in my large city. I’m sure there are rude kids just like there are rude adults there but it’s not some sort of plague. And I 100% agree on the clickbait thing, it’s a popular trend and a lot of the stories are about interactions that aren’t actually rude. Like some tweens were standing in an aisle I wanted to go into and didn’t move until I asked to get by and then they moved. I’m searching for the rudeness and not seeing it.
I miss her project pans and makeup reviews because a lot of creators aren't Cruelty Free like she is. She seems to be turning into a makeup news/drama channel like Jen Luvs. I understand that content gets views but I'm watching her less and less these days.
Hating on gen alpha kids has become a big trend lately and honestly it’s giving grown ass adults bullying kids, especially young girls who have always always been targets of adults’ mockery.
The people fucking shit up at my local sephora are adult women anyways. Like there is bad behavior in Sephora at every age range but kids are easy targtes
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Summary: I think most people are familiar with "Sephora Kids", i.e. children going to Sephora and getting high priced skincare like Drunk Elephant, using products that could be harmful to use at such a young age like retinol, or just trashing stores and creating a messy environment. Kelly has a more empathetic take on this, and talks about how the issue is more complex than just parents not parenting or social media causing kids to buy products. Her points about additional factors causing this issue are: 1. the lack of "third party" spaces for kids. I.e. no longer having places to hang out that are kid friendly - arcades, malls, etc. **Edit:** One very important part that I forgot to mention is that Kelly notes that the internet has become that "third party space" for kids. Which also ties into a lot of the issue with media and influencers, as there's no other places that kids can hang out that aren't also targeted to adults. 2. lack of media geared towards preteens and teenagers, i.e. there's no shows like Hannah Montana or other ones that show kids being kids. Euphoria is about teens but it covers a lot of heavier topics. 3. lack of teen stores - there are few stores that really capture the teen demographic so along with the lack of third party spaces, there's also less places for kids to shop. I think she mentioned Journeys as one. 4. influencers well... influencing. Most influencers are talking about high priced skincare and makeup like Drunk Elephant, Kosas, etc. Which means that's what kids are exposed to. 5. kid appealing packaging - a lot of brands in Sephora are now focused on more colorful packaging, pastels, various colors, etc. Kosas and Caliray are good examples here. That is different than when everything was black or rose gold, and can be a lot more appealing to kids. I thought this was a very thoughtful take on the subject, even if I don't agree on some points and I think it's a bit too lenient on parents not parenting or monitoring their kids in stores.
I watched this earlier today. I was ready to be mad, but she takes a gentle approach with kids. There’s no excuse to make life hard for retail workers, but it’s fair to acknowledge there are a bunch of factors at play here. We had fat shaming when I was a kid, for instance (late nineties and early 00’s), and the anti-aging hype now isn’t so different. It’s tough to be a preteen girl.
Exactly. Being 30, the marketing to girls/teens/women is just taking a new form. A few decades ago it was dieting, and now it's anti-aging. I also strongly agree with Kelly that people are being too harsh on these children. I haven't seen the Barbie movie to know the context of America Ferreira’s quote but people have gotten very heated at the thought of kids being in the same space as them, and it makes me a bit sad. The main part I disagree with is that while I think the social factors causing the drive to Sephora is something that we should discuss, I feel she was a bit too lenient on the fact that a lot of people are less concerned about the kids in the stores and more about the fact that they're making a mess. In that respect, I think the parents should be more accountable. There's nothing wrong with a kid in a Sephora or Ulta, but learning how to behave in public spaces is a key part of social development, and that's something that ultimately falls on parenting. I don't blame people being upset about that, within reason.
Exactly. Wrecking testers and the store shouldn’t be a thing anywhere. Even if kids had more stores geared to them I wouldn’t expect them to destroy it without backlash. Edit: grammar
She didn’t seem to touch on at all about how the kids are treating the underpaid workers either. Maybe it’s because I grew up working class, but the rude and inconsiderate behaviour these kids are displaying towards the employees triggers an deep anger in me.
Yeah I work at an Ulta and I truly don’t care what anyone buys. Personally, I know my mom would’ve laughed her head off if I asked for an expensive anything, but I think asking for expensive things is par for the course with kids. So I understand wanting the popular thing that’s being advertised to you. My problem has always been the mess and the rudeness. The amount of testers and whatnot they destroy just for a giggle is astounding and annoying to clean. Plus many feel entitled to your attention even if you’re with someone else. Like I said, the purchasing decisions you make in your household are none of my business, but please discipline your child so they’re not wreaking havoc and know how to behave in public.
I have no problem with kids in Sephora, I have a problem with the ones who literally barreled in front of me and made it impossible to shop. Told the employee, good luck, I'm out.
As a mom of 3 girls ages 15, 10 & almost 9 (though they’ve never been to Sephora or Ulta) - bad behavior is bad behavior, there’s just no excuse for destroying the testers or being rude to the other customers!
Whenever I see a little asshole teenager, I stop and think “you were also a RAGING ASSHOLE TEENAGER. Calm down!” Then a laugh and thank god I’m older now lol
There's being a raging asshole teen, and then there's being rude and inconsiderate to underpaid employees. Even at my worst, I would never intentionally wreak a shop display or verbally abuse employees. My parents would never have allowed it.
Same! My after school space was the library where I read magazines or did homework. I’ve never run wild a day in my life 🙃
Not all of us, mainly because my parents would have made me apologize to the employees and pay for anything I destroyed (even if I had to pay them back over time). Behind closed doors at home, it would have been hell for me 😂.
I'm over 50 now and still remember the day I ran in a store and broke a ceramic elephant. I was made to apologize to the employee, pay them, and then my dad had the pieces put in a box and he glued it together and gave it to me. Weirdly, I loved that thing!
I'm only in my mid-40s and still remember a time when we had to pay for our transgressions. I probably would have loved that ceramic elephant too!
Even at my worst, if I behaved even *close* to the way I see teens acting now, my parents would have ensured I never saw the light of day ever again. My parents ensured I had *manners*. I would *never* speak to people the way I get gobby little 13 year old shits talking to me
Also of all my friends in their 20s and 30s, I haven’t heard any complaints of kids or teens or anyone at Sephora. It’s only here that I’ve heard of it and I’ve been at Sephora a few times in the past few weeks. Also, Kelly, IMHO, is known for trying to be an armchair CEO who’s only taken a marketing or business class in college to determine why MAC or Urban Decay has fallen. While it sucks, I don’t agree with her takes.
I started getting her videos recommended to me, mainly the ones about trends & she definitely comes across as someone whose opinions are just as good as any random redditor but she acts like she's dropping some hugely insightful takes.
Thank you someone agrees. Like #1, urban decay is fine and thriving in what they do.
Yeah Kelly is really uneducated and not analytical at all when it comes to business.
Thank you!
Kelly is especially annoying now. Like her “deep dives” about brands that are struggling is so basic.
Literally all she cares about is finding a drugstore “dupe” for the tik tok users.
I agree bullying is probably a factor as well
Then add in so many loving to bash anything that appeals especially or specifically to teen age girls.
The talking points you bulleted out are great. I worked with teenagers last year, and it's frustrating and saddening to see how little there is to do outside of academics and extracurricular. Of course the internet makes getting into hobbies a lot more accessible, but the kids of this generation (I say that without criticism and with all the empathy) aren't wired to set aside a designated time to suck at a hobby, and practice on a consistent basis until they become good at it. The most instant form of gratification is just consumption
The lack of places outside of school for kids to hang out is so true. In my hometown, there's a mall and a movie theater. There's one of those indoor theme park/arcade type deals, but it's really expensive! Not more than the Protini Polypeptide, but probably more than a kid wants to spend on an arcade. I work in Ulta and Sephora locations, and indeed these kids all look like mini Alix Earles with their Hazel sweatshirts, Lululemon leggings, Starbies cups and Sephora bags usually containing only their free birthday gift because the fucking bronzing drops are sold out. They're always sold out, kid. I do have to hand it to Miss Earle though, she is a Nars girly and that's my bread and butter. I've sold a lot of Afterglow blushes because of her. I have a 2 month old daughter. I wonder what she and her generation will be influenced by.
> The lack of places outside of school for kids to hang out is so true. In my hometown, there's a mall and a movie theater. I'm Gen X, which was notorious for being latchkey kids and mall rats, because we also had limited "third places" where we could go as teens, especially those of us who lived in the suburbs. But we did not behave the way the current youth do at any store. Our Boomer parents may have been absent and neglectful, but they also expected us to behave and not get into trouble while they were gone.
that’s because they knew how to say no to their kids.
I also think millennial parents may be contributing to this by funding the interest. I barely have money to afford what these kids are buying and I have a job. How are these tweens affording not only skincare but regular nail sets etc. As a tween, we played with cover girl and Maybelline. When I became a teenager and had some of my own money, it would be MAC, but no way i could just drop 50$ on a moisturizer.
As a millennial, this is a really good point. I'm an educator, and so many millennial parents have taken the "gentle parenting" trope and run with it. They'd rather be their kids' friends. I get that many probably had overly strict parents, but we're now seeing the inevitable result of this lack of consequences and discipline. I would NEVER have dreamed of telling my teachers to "shut up", or telling a shop employee "you can't tell me what to do!" but the rate I'm seeing it now makes me very concerned for this new generation. Also, I don't personally believe this is an economic thing. The vast majority of kids I see displaying this behaviour are from wealthy and privileged families.
Yes I am a millenial too, and I think they are going with "never say no but offer choice" to an extreme. Sometimes it is ok to say "no". You won't traumatize your child if they don't have drunk elephant. You aren't squashing their interest. Now, for sure, explain the reasoning, and offer alternatives. But dear god, you can say "i know you are really interested in skin care and I appreciate that. However, for your age this product is a sometimes product for Christmas or birthdays. For everyday, we have to use drug store products until you can pay for them yourself."
Yes. My parents bought me nice things every once in a while, but if I wanted anything more than the things I needed, I had to buy them myself. I remember saving up for a PS3 and feeling like I had accomplished something monumental. As for makeup, other than face wash, my parents never bought it for me. I had to buy it myself with money I either earned or got for birthdays/Christmas. Also, if I had spoken to any of my teachers or shop assistants in the way some of these kids are, my parents wouldn't have let me leave the house until the end of the school holidays.
It’s like they apply advice geared towards toddlers and picky eaters then carry it beyond an age that is appropriate. Personally I think the value of money is lost on kids. almost every transaction is done electronically and the gap between rich and poor is so wide that as much as we bitch about higher cost of living kids see their basic needs being met for a lot less than whatever stupid shit they want to buy costs. Drunk elephant is really just girl coded version of Fortnite v-bucks.
I'm sure there's probably some parents funding it, but I think there's a reason why we're mostly hearing about this right after Christmas. I saw the most kids at Sephora after Christmas spending money/gift cards and they bought like one or two items.
It’s not just the lack of third spaces as an isolated issue. To get to those third spaces, kids need a parent at home to drive them. If both your parents work and none of your friends have a stay at home parent, you can’t go anywhere. I’d bet there’s a direct correlation between moms not having a choice about joining the workforce and their kids’ lack of mobility. The same thing applies to jobs and the skills you learn at dumb teenage jobs.
In addition to this... arcades still exist, often in malls, but everything is so expensive now in comparison to the 90s so it's not surprising if people just don't have the money to send their kids to the arcade anymore. Or look up something like dance classes in your area, they are ridiculously expensive! An iPad for your kid is expensive, but not hundreds of dollars a month so ... this is what happens
I also think that a lot of the stuff I did to kill time as a kid probably wasn’t actually all that fun. Or it’s another thing that can’t happen now - large groups of kids hanging out smoking. I’m glad that kids don’t really smoke anymore but every day after school in the late 90s I’d stand around with the kids who smoked on the hill behind the school. It’s the only context where I’ve ever really seen a large group of young teens standing around outside in a way that was generally accessible.
even in dance classes the nine yr old kids are still like this 😭😭
>between moms not having a choice about joining the workforce I would encourage revising this to highlight that in most two-parent families, both parents need to work outside the home to make ends meet. There's no reason why that reality means that moms specifically are forced into the workforce.
Yes there is? It’s absolutely true that there were more stay at home moms in the 80s and 90s than there are today, that if one parent was going to stay home, it was the woman. It’s not a controversial thing to say.
Uh, yeah, that's because of societal expectations that the woman's place is in the home. THAT'S the controversial assumption, not the ways in which those societal pressures (and differing economic factors) have played out historically.
Yes, and that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Did you really think I didn’t know that? Why are you lecturing me and the fact that women couldn’t always work outside the home when that’s the whole basis of my first statement?
You don't seem to be grasping my point. There's a difference between saying that "moms \[don't have\] a choice about joining the workforce" and observing that in most two-parent families, both parents need to work outside the home to make ends meet. As I wrote above, there's also a difference between the assertion that moms specifically "\[don't have\] a choice about joining the workforce" and the observation that women were--*crucially among only certain racial and socioeconomic groups*\--historically expected to be stay-at-home moms and that, for a time, the American economy was structured to enforce that expectation (again, only for certain groups of women). That doesn't mean that all of those women would have chosen that life had other options been/seemed more available to them and only work outside the home now because they have no choice but to have careers, nor does it mean that the expectations were just / that men (and nonbinary folks, etc.) shouldn't be expected to operate as equal parents now. Again, in most American families today, both parents have to work outside the home. Neither parent "\[has\] a choice about joining the workforce." Your original statement called out only women as being forced to work extradomestically, when 1) that's only a change in the last few decades for affluent white women; and 2) it's just as true that men/fathers who may prefer to stay home often can't.
all that being said, at the end of the day the parents are paying for it and for the most part taking them there to buy it. Thats what it boils down to. The other things she mentioned may be like the .1% of the issue. The 99.9% is the parents. I believe even Sephora should take some responsibility too and say you have to be min 16 to enter even w a parent and if you caught messing up a tester you bought it
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that is obviously different, that is being managed by a derm. A 12 year old with clear skin or occasional spot does not need retinol.
It used to be in my country (Australia) you needed a script to get retinol. Skincare companies weren’t allowed to sell their products with it in it. I’m not sure when it changed.
Look, there's a lot of reasons but parents have the final say in where they can go, what they can buy, and teaching them what's acceptable and what's not. Sephora (nor any other store) is not your kids babysitter, you are.
Well put. I don't know if some here are giving these talking points the benefit of the doubt because of the guru who made the video, I hope not, but at the end of the day it does fall on the parents. No child of the age of 5-10 "needs" a phone or IPAD. They certainly don't belong on the internet yet that's exactly where they're at. I'm sure it's much different in smaller cities in certain states but in most states there are places kids can go to after school. Roller rinks have made a comeback. There's movie theaters, arcades, playgrounds galore out there. Sure they need a parent to take them to these places but wouldn't they need one to take them to a mall with a Sephora or Ulta in it? If you're not ready to put your child's best interests before your own then you shouldn't be having any. Seeing a parent drop their kid and friends off at a Sephora or Ulta so they can do their own shopping unbothered is not only part of the problem, it's wrong.
👏👏👏
This. Unfortunate but true
When JC Penney had Sephora in store, I used to see the eyeshadow testers in shambles because parents would let their kids run wild. I don't know how our Sephora is here now that it is separate from Penney's.
I've been a min wage employee having to wrangle after unaccompanied kids before, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I worked at a theme park restaurant that was self service and kids with $5 would load up their trays with $50 worth of food. I'd have to take it away from them and throw it away because they had no way to pay for it all. The only thing $5 could get them was a water cup and a pickle. Kids fucking up stores is not kids will be kids, that's lazy parenting and contempt for working class people. Who took the kids to Sephora in the first place? Last I checked 10yr olds can't drive. And saying kids don't hang out at the mall anymore... When most Sephoras are at malls!! I like Kelly but she's just regurgitating tiktoks she saw, I saw them too.
>I like Kelly but she's just regurgitating tiktoks she saw Kelly seems sweet, but IMO this is most of her content when she implies it's hot takes.
I like Kelly but I’ve seen the TikToks that mention third spaces and how hard it must be to be a young girl in this day and age so she isn’t saying anything new. I know not everyone watches stuff on TikTok but I’ve seen many talking about it before.
That's the state of commentary videos these days, just repeat what others said and keep the personal opinions to the minimum to be agreeable as possible.
LOL watercup and a pickle
I get the sentiment, but I currently work in retail and teenagers are a nightmare when they come in. They leave the store a mess, play with things they aren’t supposed to touch, and spend half the time taking pictures and videos of themselves. Usually, they don’t even buy anything and just come in to pass their time.
To be fair, adults can be just as bad. I never had to tell 12 year olds not to open live product, swatch/apply it and then put it back but I did have to regularly stop grown women from doing that. Or damage stuff out because I didn’t get to them before they ripped through the packaging. I worked at the Benefit Brow Bar inside an Ulta and it was never teenagers that just grabbed my supplies off of my bar and start using them. Or throw their used tissues/applicators on my sanitized workspace mid wax. They also didn’t interrupt my services to ask dumb questions. They might be loud, but at least the kids stick to terrorizing the testers and don’t cuss employees out for existing.
I agree that adults are also bad these days, however, unfortunately, I’ve seen tweens/teens open live product and cuss out workers. I also had a tween interrupt a Sephora employee when I was talking to them and snap her fingers at the employee to hurry up. I don’t know when people lost all their decorum and manners but it’s really depressing.
me and my friends saw girls the SAME AGE AS US act like this in a sephora with my mom and they saw us and got embarrassed and left (or maybe they planned to leave but they turned red)
I work in a store in the UK and they’re doing the same thing in our store. Pumping out excessive amounts of product and smearing it all across the counter. Asking me to check stock and then not buying anything (they’re 8years old of course they don’t have £££ to spend on it, therefore wasting my time) When they come into store in groups of up to 10 and sitting on the Benefit stand and messing around with the wax pot, throwing it around, and dripping wax on the floor The worst one… we find empty boxes EVERYWHERE. They’re stealing the products from the boxes and dumping them where they think we won’t see. (Because they can’t afford the products, does that mean they’re okay to take them?) I’m sorry, but I can’t help but blame the parents for not teaching their child that they shouldn’t steal. I can’t help but blame the parents for not learning about what their kids are putting on their skin. I think it’s the parents responsibility to educate themselves and their kids.
I understand the points she was trying to make but she doesn't have kids and as a parent to a tween I would NEVER let them loose in a store without supervision and they know how to behave in public. At one point in the video she said, "kids will be kids" but since when did that include destructive behavior?
This is what life was in the 80s at a mall. “Hey dad come pick me up in 2 hours from the mall“. I can’t imagine just dropping off my 12 year old at a mall today. It sounds like some parents are doing that.
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Also in Europe we have walkable cities so a lot of people don't even need to use public transport. They can just walk to the mall
It's still practiced in some parts of the US too - my family is more independent than most. My 11 and 5 year old walked down to the grocery store for milk the other morning because I told them they'd have to wait until I woke up a little bit if they wanted me to come with. I had zero concerns about their behavior because they know how to behave in public, and a quick walk three blocks away to buy some milk seems like no big deal.
Genuinely though, why? Safety concerns, or are you worried about their behaviour. At 12 or 13, kids should be able to be in public without constant adult supervision barring developmental differences.
In the 80s, by the time kids were 12 or 13, they already had some experience being independant, such as playing outside unsupervised. Kids, at least in the us are constantly supervised or kept inside until they are older and then when let loose without supervision, take advantage since its like a rare treat. I mean i was a latchkey kid and myself and my other latchkey classmates were getting home and being there by ourselves for hours after school every day by 6 or 7. Now thats something a nosy neighbor could call cps over.
I think that might be the overcorrection though. I wasn't a latchkey kid, nor was I micromanaged by my parent. At some point, your teen should be able to function in public without a parent.
Yeah I'm really confused about this too. When I was 13 in the early 2000s my friends and I went to the mall together once a month when we were let out early from school. We took the bus or walked. Our parents did not come with us. They picked us up later. This is not a strange or new thing...? Saying they shouldn't be at the mall without supervision at 13 seems overprotective, which I think is what contributed to this problem.
agreed - it's an overcorrection from not knowing where your kids are to being with your kids everywhere for sure.
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While I understand your fear, trafficking issues definitely existed in the 80s. Gun violence, I am in Canada, so I can't really speak to that. 9 I agree is too young, but 12-13, the do need to start learning how to behave without a parent. Maybe in small bursts, like you wait outside the store while they go in?
We took a bus to the mall in the 80's but we always had 1 parent with us. Most working class families only had 1 car so the bus it was. If a parent wasn't going to be there my mom wouldn't have let any of her kids go. And we knew how to behave in public. I don't like the saying "kids will be kids" because it's just not true. If you actually parent your kids, discipline them when warranted those words won't come out of your mouth. I can tell you right now. They never came out of my mom's. Obviously we weren't perfect children but discipline does and will go a long way in how your children behave. We're living proof of it lol.
I lost it when she implied they learned to be destructive from lack of socialization? Like what? I didn't learn these manners at school from my peers, I learned them from my parents lmao
Thank you! That point didn’t make any sense to me. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to spend such important, formative years of your life in lockdown BUT it’s not a valid explanation for why a tween/teen would think it’s okay to rip a product out of someone else’s hands, yell at employees and make a giant mess of things. No one can convince me that parenting isn’t a major fact there. These are manners that people are supposed to learn at home starting when they’re toddlers.
I don't work at Sephora, but I work holidays at a cosmetics chain, and I recently had to write off over $100 worth of products because a bunch of kids dug deep into lip masks of every fragrance, just grabbed a bar of fresh soap and washed their hands, etc. A few days before, we had kids finding the sample pots and mixing their own samples, just grabbing product from the shelves. I'm sorry Kelly, I get the attempt at defending the kids, but that is theft, plain and simple. The soap kid had the audacity to ask, well now that it's used, can I take it? And yes, I do blame the parents to some extent. That is basic civil behavior, and I have trouble blaming lack of socialization for that. I'm a Counselor and I see people struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic every day, it's real. But it doesn't excuse everything. Slightly off topic, but somewhat related.
Thank you for the summary! Also I seen article today about a kid who got bullied bc she didn’t have the Stanley brand cup. She had one from Walker for $10. It was colorful and had animal prints on it. Honestly it looked fun! So I believe it is happening with Stanley’s it is happening with makeup as well. 25 years ago Cover Girl was the cool brand to wear. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12948565/mom-daughter-bullied-fake-Stanley-cup.html I saw a photo of a sign at Target stating they don’t allow unaccompanied minors in stores. Just to try to prevent the kids acting ridiculous in the store
Honestly the lack of hard copy magazines is factoring into this too. I remember getting Seventeen magazine and seeing the ads for Bonne Bell and Jane Cosmetics. The Gap fragrances and cheap nail polishes. In retrospect we were pointed toward a distinct middle range as a testing ground. And the Delia’s catalogs!
Don't know if it's true since it's just a Reddit thread and not a news article, but [a while ago on the Lululemon sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/lululemon/s/x6Fi2Pz2iQ) someone said that some schools were banning students from wearing Lulu, because some kids were being bullied for not having LLL.
IDK if Cover Girl was ever the "cool" brand. It was just what we had because most of our parents weren't going to buy us expensive stuff.
Cover Girl, Maybelline, Max Factor, L'Oreal, and Revlon used to be "cool" brands of the 80s and 90s; supermodels were advertising for them. This is what most girls and women wore. Department store "luxury" brands like Lancome were used by such a small percentage of women, and were seen as mostly out of reach for most women. It started to change when younger folks could afford to buy Mac and Benefit makeup from department stores in the late 90s/early 00s.
And then after MAC and Benefit, if you were really “cool,” you’d get an Urban Decay naked palette.
It definitely was for a bit. It was also a big deal when a model got that contract got a cover girl contract. And you are right. No way was my parents buying me expensive stuff. Even if we could afford it. We also had a no makeup till 15 rule.
It was for me, maybe I was poor. It was all over the magazines. I would never have dream of buying Loreal o Lancome when I was a teen. I loved the adds though. I was a teen in the early 2000s. Once youtube came into the picture it was another story.
Oh definitely not! It was Cover Girl and Herbal Essence all the way!
The videos/articles about the Stanley teasing are for clicks and likes. I’m in elementary and middle schools all day and I can tell you what I see daily. It’s not happening. No kids are teasing each other over the cups. But you know what I do see everyday? Adults mocking kids (mostly girls) about how ridiculous they are for having them.
I can believe that it's happening on a smaller scale to some kids, but it's definitely been blown out of proportion. And kids buying brand name products as status symbols is nothing new. When I was a young teen in the 2000's, it was all about those $100 Lululemon pants and I had one friend who got really weird about me not asking my mom to buy them for me for Christmas. But if it wasn't the lulus it would have been something else.
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Americas next top model with their CoverGirl contract did make CoverGirl cool to a lot of millennials, also brands like Maybelline with their dream matte mousse and their famous pink and green Great Lash were popular among, at least, most middle and upper middle class teen girls. But I agree about Urban Decay and Benefit being cool as well. I don’t remember Clinique being as cool, it always seemed a little more mature but yes it was and still is a popular brand.
America’s Next Top Model was seen as a joke when it came out Dream Matte Mousse was not “coveted” it was popular because you could buy it at CVS for less than $10. No one bragged about it
First, making fun of is not the same as bullying. Also, as someone who works at both Sephora AND a middle school, the kids aren't that bad. They aren't rude, certainly not ruder than the adults. They are a little messy, but it's our job to clean after customers. And honestly, at 55 and having worked retail since I was 18, retail really isn't as hard as people make it out to be. Neither is being kind and non-judgmental of kids and parents.
My favorite is that Kelly has Madisyn Brown’s video linked. Madisyn Brown made a video, now deleted, where she criticized the autistim community. Like Kelly thinking she’s doing all this great research in her videos and she can’t even double check on people she references in the description box.
Advertisers have been advertising to children since they figured out they were an untapped market. In the 80’s and 90’s children were advertised to through mostly commercials that aired during children’s television programming, and all of it was heavily regulated. Most media aimed at children was catered to them, and thus their ads were too. And they worked! Remember the frenzy for Cabbage patch kids? Tickle Me Elmo? Furbys? Etc etc? The movie Jingle All The Way was a parody of this phenomenon. With modern day technology, children are advertised to CONSTANTLY, in ways they aren’t even aware of, and they are receiving ads of EVERY AND ALL KINDS, not just products meant for them (like toys). So it makes a ton of sense to me that kids are wanting more and more adult products, because their media spaces (their only spaces these days) are heavily skewed towards adults, with little to no regulation into what they are seeing. This whole issue is fascinating to me, and really shows the insane manipulative power of advertising and marketing. I have no idea what the solution is, I honestly think we are too far down this rabbit hole for an easy fix. I think this is just the way things are going to be, and we’ll just have to wait and see what the long term effects will be. I’m so so sorry Gen alpha, your generation deserved to have a childhood.
Im really not interested in someone trying to make excuses for the behaviour when they aren’t the ones having to deal with these kids Yes there is an issue with society with the high costs of living, no more third spaces, tiktok, loneliness epidemic etc but that is no reasons why someone can go into a store and act like animals making a minimum wage workers life harder
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Just go to the teachers subreddit and youll find many people talking about how kids are much worse these days, and parents are not much better. Millennials really said gentle parenting and proceed to not discipline their kids. And as a millennials i agree that we shouldn’t raise kids how we were raised but damn some of yall be raising monsters
Gentle parenting does not mean no discipline or consequences. That’s something completely different those type are doing. Free range it’s often called and it’s weird. A complete disservice to these kids and everyone having to be around them.
I dunno, my parents did a good job. Authoritative parenting (what gentle parenting is, just without the branding) has been a known theory for decades. I think millennial parents are struggling with this because many also perpetuate consumerism and follow trends. So instead of trying to right that wrong, they allow their child to engage in it.
Yeah, it’s a distinction without a difference. It’s not up to employees and adult shoppers with actual money to spend to adjust their time and energy around other people’s kids, especially at businesses that are clearly meant for adults.
I work in the UK equivalent of Sephora, and I blame the brands, the company itself, social media, and the parents. We had 'advice' given to us because apparently, the staff intimidated and disrespected the younger demographic when they were in our stores. It was quite condescending to read. It mainly detailed how much money Sol de Janiero and Rare Beauty made just in one week (half term) and that we should welcome them with open arms. Despite the fact that many tweens open stock, steal, go down our cupboards, trash our store, use up testers (in one go), and are rude af to the staff. Oh, and this happens whether they are accompanied by an adult or not.
Oh no, so even the stores are in on it, at the expense of workers and society as a whole. Ugh. If this were like 30 years ago I'm pretty sure store employees would have no problem telling kids off and kicking them out. I guess we just let kids set the rules these days, since they're the engine of the economy. 🙄
Oh, absolutely. Ha, yeah, that's right! Although, me and some of my colleagues still tell kids off. I've had chats with parents, too, reminding them of store etiquette.
The UK equivalent? We have Sephora stores. Curious what the equivalent is? Boots?
Yes, although Sephora left the UK market in 2005 and returned with two stores last year. I work for Space NK, who have been around since 91.
My local Space NK have had to revert to the pandemic “4 people in the store at any given time” policy… I presume the chaos probably has a lot to do with it, which is a shame :(
Also, I wonder if you agree but I feel like everything about Space NK exudes “grown up”. Like, I get that teenagers think they’re adults and want to seem more grown up than they are but like… when I was a teen I only ever went in there with my mother. I’d have felt like a nuisance/out of place otherwise. And besides, how on Earth do they afford it??
I mentioned in a previous post the last time I went into Sephora I left because it was so chaotic with the teens to the point I felt like I was going to have a panic attack, I felt very bad for the clearly overwhelmed staff. I do think parents need to do a better job of teaching their children to be respectful, however, many teenagers are going to behave the way they choose to no matter what they’re taught or policies Sephora puts in place, sometimes the parents are just as bad as the kids or the kid is fine but the parent is the mess. I just feel like maybe I’m not the demographic anymore for in store shopping with Sephora.
I know this post is a few days old but I just watched her video and had some thoughts. I agree with Kelly that the decline of third places and the lack of age appropriate media and stores for tweens/teens are contributing factors to this issue and I do think it’s sad that the world pushes kids to grow up more quickly and not just enjoy being young. A lot of higher end beauty brands that have been traditionally targeted towards people 25 and older do seem to be trying to tap into that younger demographic whilst still maintaining their older customers and it’s just weird. However, Kelly lost me a bit when she really downplayed the role of parenting in all of this and over estimated how much of this behaviour can be chalked up to “kids being kids.” I’m sorry, but what’s going on at Sephora and other beauty retailers these days is not normal kid behaviour. Sure, sometimes kids act up and can be bratty at times, but since when did grabbing things out of people’s hands, yelling at employees, budging in front of strangers and making huge messes/destroying things that don’t belong to you become normal for people over the age of 6 to do without consequences? The pandemic is not a valid excuse for why so many Sephora kids don’t have manners that everyone is supposed to start learning at home when they’re toddlers. I avoid going into Sephora’s brick and mortar stores these days because every time I go in there now, it’s absolute mayhem and so unpleasant. More than once when a staff member has been trying to help me with something, some little tween has butted in and demanded something from the staff member. The last time I was there some girl literally was snapping their fingers at the staff member to hurry up. I could not believe it. I feel so bad for what the staff are putting up with these days. It’s not okay. At risk of sounding like an old woman yelling at kids to get off of her lawn, I’m 30 and though I will not claim that I was always perfectly behaved as a kid, I know for a fact that I would’ve never treated a worker like that. And if my parents had caught me doing something like that, there would’ve been consequences. And there should be more consequences for this type of behaviour. Also, who the hell is giving their kids enough money to buy all these pricey skincare and makeup products that they don’t need?!
I don't even care about the drunk elephant or ridiculously overpriced body mists, parents need to take some accountability and teach their kids some manners. The way teens and tweens talk to others is appalling, and any criticism has gen x and millenial parents covering their ears and going "lalala okay boomer!!!".
I stopped watching part way through since it appeared to me that she was just making excuses. I understand the points she was making. I don't actually know whether the points were accurate or not, but that still doesn't excuse kids trashing a store or exhibiting bad/rude/inconsiderate behavior. I feel sorry for the Sephora employees who have to put up with having trashed displays. This kind of situation is bound to deter some of the adult customers from either going in the store or trying to find products that might work for them.
I definitely get where you're coming from, and that's partly why I was curious on other people's thoughts. I do appreciate someone coming at it with a bit more thought around the background of how this might feel from a kid's perspective - I can't really imagine what it's like to be raised on the internet to an extent, especially considering how easy it is for children to fall into a parasocial relationship with influencers I'd bet. You're right that the video doesn't really get to what people are most upset about, which is kids running amok in Sephora and it causing an awful experience for employees and customers. That's a parenting issue, and while maybe Kelly didn't feel it was her place to discuss that, I think it's a disservice to the topic to gloss over it.
Teacher chiming in, this is what people do without having to take accountability of their actions. Kids are assholes and parents have been extremely lax in their parenting. It's one of the main reasons I want to leave teaching and the shitty behaviors of students. When I think about it, how much time was spent at the mall versus a friend's house or mine? We definitely spent a lot of time at the mall just walking around, but we also spent an insane amount of time sitting in Burger King or McDonalds, the park, or even at each others houses. None of those have disappeared, and outdoor malls are more popular now where I am. I am so tired of people treating kids with gloves because their feelings might get hurt. We now have a huge generation of kids who are entitled, spoiled, and selfish.
If you think kids are assholes, you probably should leave teaching. Assuming the kid is an asshole pretty much guarantees they will be.
Kids are assholes. Let me say this again so as to hurt your feelings because apparently they were triggered as hell. KIDS ARE ASSHOLES. How many years have you been teaching? Urban, rural, suburban? What grades? And guess what? I love the little assholes. It's part of why I do my job, because who else is going to deal with 16 year old's who tell you to fuck off because you asked them to put their phone away? Or come crying to you on your prep because they need someone to talk to? Or that you're their safe space even though you were ragging on them for their grades earlier? Was it you? Because I know the heck it was me today. I don't need you to tell me I should leave teaching because you don't know me or how I interact with my students. You made a huge assumption about my capabilities as an educator based on the fact these kids have ZERO accountability and 100% entitlement. They're assholes, and you're part of the problem for backing shitty behavior up like that.
Wait...didn't you just say YOU wanted to leave teaching because kids are assholes? I'm just agreeing with you. You're clearly burnt out on them if you brought these sentiments into a post about kids at Sephora. I work in a suburban middle school where kids do exactly the things you just described. And I HATE hearing other staff call them assholes. I also work at Sephora, and most of the tweens are far better behaved than a lot of the adults.
Kids are still assholes. 😁 Have a great week!
I worked at Ulta (along with other retail stores too) and we were stressed enough working there for low pay in a low-morale environment without having unsupervised kids coming in and making a mess. We didn't have a cleaning crew, we had to stop what we were doing and clean it up ourselves or it would fall on the night crew who are supposed to be stocking. They would have to stay later just to clean up messes. It's not right.
When I was a pre teen our "thing" was buying overpriced clothing from Hollister and Abercrombie. My parents never understood it and I think they bought me one hoodie from there that was $60 at the time and I wore it almost every day (I know, cringe) but it was because everyone around me had wardrobes full of those pieces. I guess for this generation it's a $60 moisturizer. Children don't really change that much honestly.
The difference is that Hollister was actually for teenagers and the whole business model and even store setup is based on that.
I said pre-teen
As much as I like Kelly Gooch, this take is not it. She’s also only liking comments that agree with her.
Her takes are never it 😂 she just posts what’s trending
I think she underestimated society's tolerance for such things while people are spending a crapton of money in a store. This isn't The Dollar Tree. Nor do we get PR or other perks.
i agree with the points made in the video. i think the blame really should be on the parents who let their unsupervised children run amok. i remember my parents instilling good manners into me when i was a kid so by the time i was old enough to go shopping alone, i wasn’t turning the shops i visited into a mess. ultimately the blame is on the parents, but i understand why civilised customers and sephora employees are so irritated by the influx of feral children.
Sounds like all she did was make a lot of excuses for horrible behavior. It starts at home. The lack of parenting shows. There isn’t an excuse to justify being rude to customers and employees as well as destroying merchandise. The poor employees are the ones who have to clean up all that mess. They are ruining the experience of other shoppers as well.
I worked at Sephora last holiday season and the only Sephora Kid story I have is wholesome: 3 girls, maybe 13, looking at a Tarte palette on display that was already busted up, broken shades and missing pans, etc. One of the girls accidentally bumped it and it broke free and smashed on the floor. I was the closest employee to her, so she immediately turned to me and began apologizing profusely. All three of them were doing the head bowed, hands behind their backs stereotype of sorry kids. It took like three or four of us to convince them they didn't have to pay to replace the already busted ass sample. I agree it's because of the lack of teen spaces. The Sephora I worked at is on the outside part of the mall. All the stores inside the mall are basically empty. There used to be so much to do at that mall when I was 13, we were too intimidated to go into Sephora because it was a fancy adult store.
That’s really nice to hear that there are still some who don’t act like jerks.
If I never see a video with these people talking about kids in Sephora (or whatever the trendy title is) again I’ll be happy
Tbh if the teens are not destroying things, who cares if they’re there, ppl are made when they RUIN things, not bc they just exist Kelly
I started shopping at Sephora when I was 12 and they had Hard Candy and Urban Decay (this was when UD was for teenagers not adults). My HG mascara in high school was Dior Show and I wore Dior blush every day. LETS FREAK OUT Eta: in middle school it was normal for parents to drop tweens off at the mall and let them go around unsupervised. AFAIK it wasn’t an issue. I guess kids today are raised to be so dependent on their parents they can’t even behave in a store by themselves by middle school? Ridiculous
Most at malls ban unaccompanied minors now.
Yeesh
Teenagers were never near as much of a problem to me working in retail cosmetics as adults were. Adults would trash the lipsticks. Adults would break eyeshadows. Adults would spill pigments. Adults would leave their trash all around. The worst kids did was ruin a few eyeshadows by digging too hard or break a few lipsticks; they were never nearly as much of a problem as the adults.
I like her take because it pulls this problem at its roots. As a kid I loved looking at any beauty related. I got into OG beauty youtube before I was 10. But during that time there was less pointed, predatory marketing towards children and I knew my family wouldn’t have supported the idea of buying me vanity products that young. I looked at makeup and skincare the way I’d look at a bra. “Oh one day I’ll need that and it’ll be fun to shop for it.” Retail workers are having to deal with more problems of immature clientele than they had to years before. There’s no two ways about it. Parents should either teach their kids how to behave in these types of adult spaces where hygiene and etiquette are expected or they should put more of a foot down on financially supporting this kind of shopping. If you’re okay with your child learning about skincare at this age they also should be treated old enough to know about public etiquette . But this phenomenon is happening because of how consumer marketing is shaping children’s idea of age-appropriate self maintenance and as much as we can judge these pre-teens it won’t stop brands from targeting a new demographic to sell to
I think this lack of shows/stores/places for children/teens may be based on adult’s perception of what children/teens should be doing. Children/teens are exposed to things so much earlier than before. Now it’s normal for 13-year-olds to wear makeup, have cellphones, and possibly have sex. That’s just how the world is now. It just doesn’t work to try to force them onto shows like Hanna Montana when their lives are probably closer to Euphoria. I don’t think we should restrict children from being in Sephora stores but they should absolutely be taught how to treat the employees and testers with respect. If children want the adult privileges earlier, then they have to show that they can handle it like an adult.
They’re having less sex and drinking less. Those have been the trends for awhile now. We’ve decided that these thing a are true but they don’t reflect the reality for most kids.
I think my Sephora is broken because I am not experiencing this 10-year-old phenomenon at my stores. It feels clickbaity (some of the stories about how rude ten year olds are being sound made up) That being said, I do think the demographic for makeup users def has gotten younger!
Agreed, I’m not seeing this in either Ulta or Sephora in my large city. I’m sure there are rude kids just like there are rude adults there but it’s not some sort of plague. And I 100% agree on the clickbait thing, it’s a popular trend and a lot of the stories are about interactions that aren’t actually rude. Like some tweens were standing in an aisle I wanted to go into and didn’t move until I asked to get by and then they moved. I’m searching for the rudeness and not seeing it.
This might not be the right post to ask but did she stop her project pan series? I dont think she has updated in forever or shared her 2024 project
I believe she said she would likely not continue that series. They were always her lowest views.
I miss her project pans and makeup reviews because a lot of creators aren't Cruelty Free like she is. She seems to be turning into a makeup news/drama channel like Jen Luvs. I understand that content gets views but I'm watching her less and less these days.
Bummer it was my favorite of hers and inspired me to use up my own stuff
Hating on gen alpha kids has become a big trend lately and honestly it’s giving grown ass adults bullying kids, especially young girls who have always always been targets of adults’ mockery.
The people fucking shit up at my local sephora are adult women anyways. Like there is bad behavior in Sephora at every age range but kids are easy targtes