Spending on sparkles

WITH BBC1 offering wallto- wall sport, non-sports fans might be tempted to look elsewhere, particularly when an alternative is watching parents deciding that they must outdo everyone else by buying designer outfits for young Elvis or Mirana… not to mention crystalcovered dummies, hairpieces, piercings and spray tans.

A growing number of ordinary mothers and fathers are giving their toddlers a makeover, creating an industry that is worth £5bn a year.

Marie Fullerton, who has been making bespoke childrenswear for 25 years, is currently busier than she has ever been as customers ask her to add some bling to everything from potties to prams.

To keep up with demand, Marie is planning to open a high-street boutique and has recruited her family to help, including daughter Hayley, who says: “Once you go into blinging, you cannot go back.”

One of Marie’s customers is Sammy, a 26-year-old beautician from Doncaster, who started buying frilly dresses and crystals for one-year-old Halle May before she was even born.

Although money is tight, the little girl’s wardrobe is worth thousands, and Sammy scours online boutiques for new designer clothes, which she orders months in advance. The proud mum does not believe her attitude is that unusual, saying: “I think that every woman thinks of their daughter as a doll.”

Student and single mother Sophie says her own daughters, four-year-old Princess Bliss Tiana May and one-year-old Precious Bell Ruby Rosina, “are like little Barbie babies. If Barbie was real, they would be her children”.

The girls’ eye-catching look of frothy pink dresses, crystal-studded shoes and spray tans has attracted a lot of negative attention, both on the street and on social networking sites.

Sophie says: “There has been so much nastiness. People have said they want to put (Precious) into a blender. How can someone say that about a harmless little baby?” Her friends report that she has also had eggs thrown at her window, and that the stress of the situation is starting to take its toll.

Having been a tomboy, 33-year-old single mum Liane is keen for four-year-old daughter Scarlett and her six-year-old sister Bessie-Sue to take a different path, and is entering them into glitzy US-style pageants. “I suppose that’s what I’m influencing on to them, that they don’t do everything wrong that I did when growing up,” Liane explains.

But there is the small question of somehow persuading a relectant Scarlett to take to the catwalk at the Teenie Miss pageant. Suddenly going for Commonwealth gold seems a whole lot easier.

Children Of Syria
(BBC2, 9pm)

THE war in Syria is into its fourth year, with still no end in sight – and many of the casualties have been children.

Tens of thousands have been killed and wounded, but as this documentary reminds us, even those who have been physically unharmed have been deeply affected by growing up amid the conflict.

Many have been left traumatised, while others are learning to hate. In this programme, Lyse Doucet follows the lives of six youngsters over the course of six months. Filmed in Damascus, Homs and among the refugee community in Turkey, with unique access to the conflict frontlines, their stories offer an extraordinary insight into the conflict.

Long Lost Family
(ITV, 9pm)

SOAPS can take a backseat with this series, allowing audiences to sob on the sofa.

It is a little more serious this week as Richard, 57, who was adopted as a baby by Florence and William Cue, goes in search of his birth mother – to reassure her that she gave him a better life.

Meanwhile, 52-year-old Tania Barlett last heard from her Iranian father in 1981, when he sent her a letter asking her to write to him in Tehran – her reply was returned unopened. Now she is about to hear his story, and find out just why he was unable to contact her.