Thanks to her luscious locks, little Mia Aflalo from Tel Aviv, Israel, is fast becoming an Instagram sensation.
This little girl’s hair is making her Insta-famous. (Photo: Getty Images)
But it’s something that is dividing parents.
With a following of more than 64,000, the tot’s Instagram feed often features her posing for the camera with pretty amazing hairstyles.
Sporting everything from bows made out of hair to the bounciest blow-dry you’ve ever seen, the child is undoubtedly serving up total #HairGoals.
But while some fans are loving her jaw-dropping ’dos, others have expressed concern about Mia’s being in the spotlight at such a young age.
“Why would a mother put her child out there like this?” one Instagrammer commented.
“Small girl dressed like a woman … strange parents,” added another.
“She looks like she is forced to do that s*** … let her play with Barbies or something,” another critic wrote. “She is not a doll.”
Others are concerned about the practicalities of several of Mia’s hairstyles and have wondered if the looks were achieved with hair extensions.
“Assuming it’s extensions because she has different amounts of hair in every pic — that’s not good for a little girl’s head/neck,” one user commented.
“This girl is gonna be mad when she grows up and her luscious hair is all damaged ’cause her mommy treated her like a doll,” another wrote.
“How the heck are you gonna get all the knots out from the teasing?” another commenter asked.
But a few users did come to the defense of Mia’s parents.
“Wow!! Beautiful hair and little girl. Why shouldn’t you be proud of her and sharing her pics!” one user wrote.
“None of this is any of our business,” agreed another follower. “She’s not our child so these comments and opinions don’t matter.”
So, how young is too young for children to be exposed to social media?
Gemma Taylor, editor of U.K. parenting resource Parent Zone, believes there are guidelines that need to be adhered to if parents are thinking of setting up social media profiles for their little ones.
“As Parent Zone’s research with Nominet showed, parents love sharing images of their kids on social media, with moms and dads posting on average of 11 to 20 images a month,” she said.
“It’s natural for parents to want share special moments with friends and family.”
But you do have to be careful, particularly once a child gets older.
“Our research showed that over a quarter of parents [28 percent] admitted they had never thought to check if their child minded them uploading images of them online,” Taylor noted. “I think this raises an interesting conversation around consent.
“We’ve already had a teenager in Austria suing her parents for sharing images on social media, and French lawyers have warned parents they could be violating that country’s privacy laws by doing the same.
“Adults need to be aware that as children grow up, they may not want their formative years exposed in such a public way. It’s also hard to control images once they are posted online, so, before uploading, it’s good to consider, ‘is this in the best interests of the child?’”