A big sister’s nailpolish and eyeshadow. Mom’s high heels. Rites of passage–and good fun–for many young girls.

But these days, girls are digging deep into their piggybanks and hitting the malls. Glitter products, pedicures, mini-makeovers.

These tweens, as they’re called, are now spending $51 billion of their own pocket money. And marketers, sponsoring birthday parties and sleepovers, are eager to know what a girl wants — at age 10 and 8, even as young as 6.

This hour, On Point: When little girls become beauty consumers, and how young is too young.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Camille Sweeney, contributor to The New York Times, her article “Never Too Young for That First Pedicure” appeared on February 28.

Samantha Skey, senior vice president of strategic marketing at Alloy Media and Marketing in New York.

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, professor of child development and education at Columbia University, and director of the National Center for Children and Families.

Joan Jacobs Brumberg, professor emerita at Cornell University and author of “The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls.”

Tags: beauty, children, economics, girls, youth