Moral Dilemma!! What would you do?

Hi All
My daughter's high school is celebrating Harmony Week this week - its to celebrate all the different countries and cultures that work together at the school. Anyway she kindly offered my help to face paint today and what could I say but Yes! I took my kit with me and got all my paints out and then the Art Teacher showed up. She had ice cream bucket lids to put the paint on, a water bucket, a pump bottle of Sorbolene Cream (a kind of barrier cream) and some tubes of paint.
Yes you guessed it - they were tubes of acrylic paint
At that moment we were swamped with kids and I was too busy to look at what she was doing but I was listening with one ear. She told the kids to rub the Sorbolene Cream into their skin where they wanted to be painted and then proceeded to paint them.
My dilemma is this: do I say anything to educate the teacher or let her go on doing this? My instinct is to let her know that it is not acceptable to paint children with acrylic paint. But because I am fairly new to face painting I don't want to come across as a know-it-all. I got the impression that she wasn't all that happy to have me there in the first place as the kids seemed happy with her work until they saw what I was doing. The whole thing had me wondering if it would have been better to say no in the first place. Any opinions will be gratefully accepted with thanks.

It sounds like you did fine to me if the kids preferred your work. I would suggest perhaps printing out the Snazaroo Safety page and just letting her know that there are safer options that do not require barrier creams. You could just leave it now that the event is over, but if it's your child's school, the situation is likely to arrive again and you might want to think about what you would be comfortable doing the next time.

Course they loved Kim's work more, she's awesome.

I would go with what Perry said, educate the educator.

Tell her your sorry & you didn't know she was going to paint also. It was a complete misunderstanding. Let her know you'd love to partner with her for these events & let her know there are safer products out there. Give her the Snaz safety sheet & maybe even a small Snaz Kit.
Also, ask yourself, Do you want to face paint for free for all their events? Once you offer up one, you'll be doing them all.

You did the right thing and it sounds like the kids made the better choice anyway (that is assuming you had your kit to paint from)
Good idea from Perry! The snazaroo saftey page sounds like a winner to me!
I had a similar situation with my church youth group using poster paint on one another - I flipped and then gave the youth leader my card and told him I would paint them anytime for free if he promised NEVER to let anyone be painted with anything other than FDA approved makeup!

I forgot to mention that the school have asked me to come back on friday for the final day. That is why I am trying to decide whether I should let let them know what they should be using instead of acrylics. In hindsight I guess it could be a case of "ignorance is bliss"! They may just not be aware of the problem.

I like the idea of donating a small Snaz palette to the school. You can pick one up from Michael's right away and they are not all that expensive. They may decide to reimburse you when they see that you are trying to make things a little safer for the kids and not just trying to push her out.

I would educate them before the next event. That way they have time to go out and buy a mini Snazaroo kit at the craft store.
Ignorance is bliss for sure.
But, if someone has a reaction, you will not know if it was you or her.
And no real way to know which painted that child. Better to be safe from your own business side of things.

I just faced the same issue with my church. I donated a kit for them to use and they appreciated being educated as the last thing they would want to do is harm one of the children.

After an event I volunteered at I talked to the art teacher and principal and they actually paid me to do a face painting class with the fine art class. They asked me to purchase and reimbursed me for a snaz jumbo kit and then showed me their art supply catalogue (for schools only) with the same kit for about 1/2 the price I paid (on the cheapest website I could find).
They now have the safe paint and have used it in art classes, for pep rallies and for drama productions. For big events now they make sure I am paid or find a sponsor who will pay for me.
It is important to tell them craft paint isn't for faces, people just don't know. She is trying to be safe with the barrier cream but needs to know she has to be safer.
D

Well, I agree with the purchase of small kit and safety sheet. I think it would be a nice gesture. Perry is right, this will come up again since it is your daughter's school.

Oh and for anyone considering donating a kit, the Wolfe novelty kit is super cheap and just enough to get them started. It's like $5 I think and works great. I have one to toss in my purse, for those "just in case" moments.

I was going to post a link, but the only thing the link does is send you right back to the home page. Go to www.wolfefx.com and click shop online, then novelties, then hydrocolor makeup cards and you will find it in there. If you attend a convention, it's a great thing to pick up a few and not have to pay the shipping.

wmeventservices wrote:I was going to post a link, but the only thing the link does is send you right back to the home page. Go to www.wolfefx.com and click shop online, then novelties, then hydrocolor makeup cards and you will find it in there. If you attend a convention, it's a great thing to pick up a few and not have to pay the shipping.

I think this one might work...
http://www.wolfefxmakeup.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tpl&product_id=306&category_id=19&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=20

Thanks so much for your input everyone! After reading all your opinions I decided to print out some safety information and reasons why acrylic paints are not good for face painting. When I typed it into google I found some amazing opinions on people who swear by it and have used it for years I am going to the school on Monday to speak to the vice principal to show him the info. I have decided to offer to paint at the school on a set day and ask for a gold coin donation to be painted. Then I am going to use the proceeds to buy a good starter kit for them. Hope they agree to this, I will let you know what the outcome is.
Thanks again, Kim.

Good Luck

Good plan Kim, let us know how it goes.