I recently put away my son's high chair and it made me really sad. He's only 2 1/2 and he actually stopped using it several months ago–much, much earlier than his older sister. Since I'm not having any more kids, events like these remind me how quickly times goes and how our children are only little children–which means the age when they're super adorably huggable–for a very short period of time.
Well, according to a study, kids stop being "irresistibly" cute at 4 1/2 which means my almost 6-year-old stopped being cuddly more than a year ago, but I still have about two years of cuteness left with my son.
I, of course, like any other mother, will never stop thinking my children are adorable, but the study, published in the fall in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, says "certain crucial infantile facial cues"– such as babies' big eyes and big heads in relation to their smallish noses and mouths–are no longer very noticeable between preschool and kindergarten.
What do you think? I've definitely noticed that my daughter no longer has the little baby face she used to have. Her facial features have changed and she's no longer as chubby as she used to be as a toddler. I still think she's irresistibly cute, but in a different kind of way. My son has also changed from when he was a baby, but he's still definitely has all those features that make people stop us to tell me how cute he is, especially because of his big, big black eyes!
I know our relationship will continue to evolve as my kids get older, but it still makes me really sad that they will no longer be as cuddly–nor will they let me kiss them–as they are right now. In fact, I already miss the way my daughter used to pronounce certain words when she was a preschooler!
When do you think kids stop being cute?
Image via candrews/flickr
