How do you get a pre-school girl to sit still?

On By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life, In the lives of children

I found a nail salon does the trick.

I realize it’s a risky endeavor and it could have gone a completely different way. I was a brave future step mom to take that chance. This is where I use the tired old excuse; I only had one child to raise and with two in the mix – it’s difficult different.

For one, I was the youngest of four in my family and got excluded a lot. You are too little to go. This is for the big kids. Senior priority!

So, no, it’s not fun to be left behind and that is how it came to be that I took a pre-schooler to the nail salon.

Come to find out, giving your feet a bath is a lot of fun. I became a bit concerned when they did the six-year old’s feet first. In fact, I was almost finished with my feet and hands when a nice lady (finally) came to see Bridget. She sat bathing her little tootsies all that time. Was she completely still? No. But she hadn’t gotten up. She didn’t need to go potty or get a drink. In fact, she only asked once when it would be her turn. A minute later, there was a smiling face, completely charmed by her pudgy little toes and fingers.

Oh the girls were given top-notch pampering. Foot soak. Heel scrub. Lotion massage and lots of smiles.

“Do you want a flower?”

“Yeth.” Bridget nods watching every move she makes (and scarily) not twitching all over the place. I was turned from my chair towards her. She would glance at me and just beam her million-watt smile.

I was amazed and very proud of them both.

Truthfully, my first nail salon mani/pedi was about two years ago at 37 years of age. What an experience. I’ve been hooked ever since.

When all was said and done, the drying was the hardest part. It’s easy to be still watching water change colors in a foot spa, but to be still with hands flat under a blue (black?) light….well, that’s something else. But we did it. And yes, there are a few smudges. It’s not perfect and that is why salons charge waaaaay less for the little people.

We celebrated our salon success with ice cream. I lived to tell the tale. We are not even banned from the place. It killed an hour or so and was a GREAT afternoon.

Princess preparation part one – complete.


Bridget’s toes.


Bridget’s toes and hands.

And maybe just a little advice if you take a six-year old at the same time; a young pro on her second visit who can pick their colors and talk to the nail technician themselves. They might just pick tiger toes. Oh yaaaahh…

Happy Monday! Rawrrr!

35 thoughts on “How do you get a pre-school girl to sit still?”

  6. Yogasavy

    Very cute! I do not have girls so I never did do the mani/pedi stuff. I did the boys things like burping and who could stuff ourselves with pizza!

    Like

    Reply

  7. Brilliant! Now if anyone starts getting antsy or whiny, you can hold mani/pedi over their sweet little heads!

    Love the pix! Such sweet little fingers and toes. I put up a picture of Emaline’s baby toes yesterday.

    Like

    Reply

  9. I love little feet! Their toes look like little rows of peas. What a wonderful idea and experience. I don’t do the pedi thing. My feet look like I’ve been out plowing barefoot for years. Nope. Just use lots of Udder Balm on them. And a bit of polish to distract folks from looking at the rest of my foot. Such a shame for someone who loves to wear flip flops.
    Those girls and their dark hair are so gorgeous.

    Like

    Reply

  11. Nothing cuter than preschooler feet! I have seen little girls go with their moms for pedicures and am jealous!! Someday my poor boy will just have to drug along with me. Thanks for visiting my site! I am subscribing to you.

    Like

    Reply

  12. Fabulous! How wonderful and also very brave of you to take both girls with you and I am so very glad you had such a good time. Love the flower nails AND the tigers – maybe I shall have to take my three year old daughter some time soon. I had my first pedicure at the grand old age of 43 – in Europe you don’t find a nail salon on every street corner and although some people get their fingernails done very few get pedicures regularly. But when I became a Mom and went to some gym classes with my baby daughter I realized my time had come as everyone else had perfect looking summer feet!

    Like

    Reply

  13. What a great way to enjoy each other’s company. Those toes look fabulous, too. And, I can see that ice cream would most certainly be a necessity after just such an event. 🙂

    Great pictures.

    Heather

    Like

    Reply

  14. The things they can do on fingers and toes! Wow! Flowers and tiger stripes. Those girls are wild!

    I can see you’re going to get them hooked too! When the picture popped up I thought it was your other post coming up again somehow (the date one), but nope, you are a regular mani-pedi girl and so are they 😉

    Awesome!

    Like

    Reply

  15. Oh, I love those toesies! One of the “traditions” that has remained constant over all these years has been the pedis with Mom. We started when my girls were little, and now they’re almost grown. The fun never gets old!

    Like

    Reply

  16. I started doing pedi’s about two years ago and now I go every two weeks. Its addicting and one of the only “girly” things I do. lol

    What a great treat for the girls and I love that they obviously LOVED it! Their toes look soooooooo cute!!!

    Love it Ange!!

    Like

    Reply

  26. I love the finished look:) I actually took my little miss to get her nails done with me not too long ago….it’s great for little girls:) and mine was so good too….she was probably wondering what all this good stuff is….

    Like

    Reply

  27. I love the little daisies! I always enjoyed going to the hair salon with my mom but my girls still tend to have things like busted toenails and chipped polish…..me too.

    Like

    Reply

  32. My wife and daughter go together when I give them gift certificates to the local salon. They have such a good time. I’m kind of jealous.

    I want a foot massage and a pedicure too!

    You always come up with such fun and interesting posts.

    Like

    Reply

  33. Apparently I was the kid who couldn’t sit still… they used to bribe me to sit in one place for 5 minutes … a near impossible task! Good thing is that when they are grown up, their energy will be the envy of everyone else.

    Like

    Reply

  34. What a way to enjoy your kids. Sooner than you know, they will be on their own. So strike the iron while it’s still hot! I just learned how to manipulate my twitter and I found my way here. Hugs, sweetie!

    Like

    Reply

  35. Thanks for visiting my blog. I love reading your blog! And the girls look absolutely adorable with their cute nails.
    I only have boys so I only do ‘boy’ things with them & coming from another country that mani/pedi is not big, I’ve never have one either. Sad, isn’t it? 😉

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment