Why Zadie Smith Taught Her 7-Year-Old Daughter That Beauty Is a Waste of Time
Zadie Smith may have written a book called On Beauty, but that doesn't mean she wants her daughter obsessing over it.
The acclaimed author spoke at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday and revealed that she started imposing a "mirror time" limit on her 7-year-old, according to Grazia Daily U.K. She created the rule after noticing the difference between how much time it took her son and her daughter to leave their house each morning.
VIDEO: The Top Bestselling Fiction Novels of All Time
“I saw that she had just started spending a lot of time looking in mirrors. It was infuriating me. I decided to spontaneously decide on a principle: That if it takes longer than 15 minutes, don’t do it," Smith said.
“I explained it to her in these terms: you are wasting time, your brother is not going to waste any time doing this. Every day of his life he will put a shirt on, he’s out the door and he doesn’t give a sh— if you waste an hour and a half doing your makeup.”
RELATED: Check Out Amazon’s Top 10 Must-Reads of the Year
Thankfully, her daughter was totally receptive to the plan. Mirror time doesn't sound like a bad idea, TBH. Zadie, we're taking notes.
