When is Enough... Enough with Child Beauty Pageants?

I'm sure that I am going to get a lot of crap from this article but you know what? I was raised to speak my mind, tell it like it is, voice my opinion and I certainly do march to the beat of my own drum so here it goes. How wrong do I think it is to enter your child in a beauty pageant at a young age? This is strictly my own personal opinion, but I am sure that others will stand up to defend me. I think it is 150% wrong, unethical and down right horrible. Child pageants get a lot of bad press, and most of it is warranted in my own personal opinion. The day of the pageant, the child has to spend time in a chair for hair and makeup. Tanning is often involved...hello skin cancer? Listen, these are kids, not to mention the cost that comes along in the wardrobe for something like this. Childen's pageants can be very expensive, and the entry fee is just the tip of the iceberg. Parents say that a pageant girl usually learns to be comfortable in front of strangers, giving her self-confidence a big boost. How about you the parent lift her up day in and day out and give her confidence? Many of these children state that they feel like princesses when they're in their pageant attire and are at the center of attention. Isn't that our job as parents to give our children all the attention necessary to boost their confidence level and to always make them feel like our little princesses? Give me a break.

A few weeks ago I was flipping channels. I sat down and watched an interesting show on the Oxygen Network.  Usually I don’t watch that station as I am a HGTV and Food Network gal, but this caught my eye; it was a beauty pageant with children between the ages of 4-to 8-years-old.

My eyes instantly became glued to this show, not because of the beauty; instead, by the deep insanity of it all.  Shocked and sickened, is the best way to describe how I felt watching this show.  I mean, mothers were spending their life savings to get these girls into these pageants and turning into slave drivers. I watched as these flawless children, got dolled up in gobs of make-up to cover up their imperfections. Seriously, how many imperfections can a four-year-old have? Make-up, hair extensions, teased hairstyles, clouds of hairspray, flippers (fake teeth), sophisticated costumes, screaming crowds (mostly the mothers), weird postures, twitched face expressions, tiaras, trophies, money and more or less talent are the ingredients for the usual children beauty pageants, along with exercised smiles and hysterical crying and outbursts.

  In today’s society, especially with women, looks and beauty seem to be a major concern for them.  It isn’t uncommon to hear a story where a woman develops an eating disorder because she wants to be skinny and beautiful as the women are in the magazines.  Now, force a child to be beautiful at the influential age of four.  As they grow up and change, they may not have the same looks they did when they won the pageants back when they were little girls.  They may have gained weight or a feature has changed dramatically, at least to them.  When they look in the mirror they may not like what they see, despite the fact they are still absolutely gorgeous.  This is all due to the strict guidelines they had to follow while growing up.

Do these pageants bring out the “witch” in these children?  Well, hearing these mother’s talk to their children, you would swear that everyone else is dirt and their child or recipient of the praise is perfect.  This does not help a child’s demeanor one bit.  It helps with the attitude to make their child feel like they are a winner and be proud, but that message stays in their heads and can easily continue to run even when they aren’t on stage.  That means that sense of “I’m the best” will transpose itself into their school and other social gathering places.  In my opinion, this will do one or two things.  For one, it will turn them into the popular, stuck-up girl on campus that all the other girls want to be and will do anything to be friends with.  Or, it will do the complete opposite and drive people away from them, which can lead to other major mental issues down the line.

Listen, I'm not in any way trying to act like the 'perfect' mother. I've made my share of mistakes, we all do. Forgive me here for a moment as I do run lingerie business and I do very much support elegance and beauty.... but I support it in women who want to enter these pageants at a legal age. I do not support 2 and 4 and 8 year old boys and girls and ages on up to be taunted and pushed by who else but their parents to win, win win! Really? Is this about them learning to fail or succeed or is the paycheck going into your account to satisfy YOUR needs and the hell with what they need?

What is your problem people? These are little kids here. Let them ride their bikes and play barbies for God sakes. Take them to Disney World not across the country to be humiliated by hundreds and thousands of people who feel the same way that I do. What are you doing? Is this all about the child learning to be positive and independent and allowing them to make their own way? My guess is NO. My guess is that you are living your pathetic childhood through none other than your child/children because you don't like how your life turned out and you have insecurities. The hard core facts here are that most mothers of these children are usually trying to live their own dreams through their young daughters. I am talking about dreams that they either could not accomplish or have accomplished in such way that they’ve become a way of life. Playing dress-up with your daughter can be great, but why are you transforming it into a full-time job that really only benefits you?

Your children are just kids, and they need to do all of the fun things that kids do, and by that I do not mean waking up at the crack of dawn to learn the dance moves to a song that talks about sex and erotic behavior. Some of these little girls danced like they belonged in a strip club. These children don't know the true meanings of these lyrics and by the looks of it, obviously,... neither do you...and you call yourself a parent? While watching this show I saw beautiful little girls with more makeup on their faces than I wear in a year. Poise, beauty, elegance? Let them dress up like I used to by wearing my mothers jewelry and stilettos around the house and having tea parties with their dolls. As for these crazy pageants...let them do this in their later teens as they mature into young adults, not now. Don't you see that you are stripping them of their adolescence? Do you even care? Let your children be children, and let them grown up and follow their dreams not YOURS!

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