"Congratulations , you are our new Miss Teen Mini Miss", exactly what every young girl wishes to hear, or is it? Many girls grow up with the dream of modeling, being in beauty pageants and looking like the girls in the magazines and on TV. For most girls this is only a pipe dream and they eventually grow out of it. Others, have their dreams come true but soon realize that it wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. When people watch pageants they only see nice smiles and pretty faces. They don't understand what goes on behind the scenes and what it takes for the girls to get where they are. Only recently has it been brought into the light, what girls go through when they participate in pageant life. Stress from the pageant and pressure from stage mothers go hand in hand. But has it gone too far, to the point where it is completely unhealthy? At ages as young as four and five, mothers have their daughters in beauty pageants. It has recently been displayed in shows like Little Miss Perfect, Little Beauties: The Ultimate Kiddie Queen Showdown, and Toddlers & Tiaras, the grueling efforts that these children have to go through. Before the pageant even starts, girls have to go through training, practice dance routines, and buy numerous costumes. Thousands of dollars, money that could be going towards college tuition, being spent on material things that serve no purpose. Then once the pageant begins, the conditions get even worse. The girls are woken up at 5 in the morning in order to prepare for a day that will last until at least 11. They beg and cry to go back to sleep but the mothers won't allow it. To get the girls to cooperate, the moms bribe them by saying that if they win they can get a pony. First their hair has to be teased, curled and sprayed down. Then they have to get spray tanned. After that its twenty pounds of make-up, fake eyelashes and ruby red lipstick. To top it all off, the girls put in fake teeth called "flippers". Something as normal and childlike as losing teeth is seen as ugly and bad. The girls have to prance around on stage in "barely there"clothes so that they can feel "pretty". After that the girls have to come to terms with the fact that only one of them is going to win. The let down to all of the girls that lose is unfair at any age, that young especially. So whats the message being put out by all of this? And who's to blame?
Less than seven percent of girls that start out in pageantry, make it somewhere in life where their previous activities in pageants actually matter. The real world isn't like a pageant. You cant wear pretty dresses, bat your eyelashes, and hope for the best. So with all of this in mind, should child pageants be banned?
Child Pageants should be banned. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen but someone should be looking out for these young girls. At such a young age these kids are still developing cognitively and should be abel to have normal child-like experiences. By putting these girls through the rigorous pageant process parents are taking away their childhood. at such young ages girls should not have to worry if they have enough spray in the hair, their teeth are white enough, how their fake tan looks! the pageant world is presenting these girls with artificial beauty, they are allowing them to believe that beauty and success lies in physical appearances. instead of encouraging these young girl to become engineers, scientist, doctor, or business women the pageant world is encouraging them to be pretty an perky. Beauty can only take you so far, you needs brains to actually make it far. The pageant world also negatively influences these young girls characters. Being put under constant pressure and overworked daily, these girls frustrated adnd upset pretty easily. What do their parents to? They promise to buy them nice things, they bribe them. By doing so, these parents are making their kids think that material things can solve any problem along with making them spoiled. Why parents put their children through all of this? i honesty don't know nor do i think i would even understand why they take away their child childhood like this.
ReplyDeleteAlthough all this information is true, I do not think pageants should be banned. This is because pageantry can be looked at as a sport for these young girls. In all sports, we see competitive parents that work their child to be the best and even put some pressure on them. Other sports such as hockey or lacrosse also costs thousands of dollars to play, just like these pageants do. I have watched Toddlers & Tiaras numerous times, and although there are some competitive parents out there, there are also some that only do pageants because their child loves them. Doing pageants can also teach a little girl how to act like a lady, and can teach her to become less shy. For some of these families pageants are their whole lives, and unfortunatley I do not think pageantry can take you very far in life, but for others doing pageants is for fun, and is something their child loves to do, just like any other sport. For this reason, I do not think it would be fair to young girls if the one thing they love to do, was banned.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that Child Pageants should be banned. The effects that these pageants can have on these children is nowhere close to good. Kids as young as four should not be dealing with situation that could cause them to have low self-esteem issues in the future. It is a given that some of these children who end up not winning these pageants will go on to think that they are not good enough. These parents don't know what danger they are putting their children into. Many kids that had a normal childhood will go on to having self-esteem issues because of what they see in their everyday life; imagine these kids that are told by their mothers that they are going to win these pagents and in the end they don't. Four year olds are nowhere close to being mature enough to understand that loosing doesn't mean they're not good enough. There are enough reasons for kids to have a low self-esteem, we don't need to add one more.
ReplyDeleteI love the show but i feel that it is an exploitation of the young ladies that partake in the sport. The fact that they have been desensitized to what is fun and what is not. This is setting them up for a life that makes them feel entitled to having expensive things and they will tend to wish that they had had a normal childhood without all the makeup and glitter. I dont want them to neccisarily be banned but that they have limits that porvide an age limit for the competitors.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do not think that Toddlers and Tiaras should be banned from television. However, I do agree with Mark on the basis that there should be age limitations on those who can compete. I believe that at such an early age, the toddlers cannot truly decide whether or not they would like to compete in these competitions. They parents have complete control over what their children wear, their make up, and talents they do. In some cases, the parents go to extremes to ensure their child's victory; this could have negative effects on the child. This constant pressure of winning surrounding the toddler is enough to even overwhelm myself. These children should have a choice as to whether or not they would like to be subject to this constant pressure. I believe that in order for this show to exist, that there should be an age requirement for children to compete in these pageants to ensure the well being of the toddlers.
ReplyDeleteI think child pageants should be banned because it is a little ridiculous to make your child feel like they aren't pretty enough to win and they have to get all dolled up to be liked. I understand that it might be good in life because they get used to being in front of people, which is a good thing, but some people live through their child and push them way to hard. I don't like it because even little kids that are so little can do it, I think it is wrong. It will keep on going on though.
ReplyDeleteI have watched the show toddlers and tiaras several times before. I remember when I first saw commercials for it, and I was in awe. I could not believe what these poor little girls, and sometimes boys, were being put through. I find the show very interesting, yet sometimes it disgusts me. I could not believe what mothers were putting their children through. Kids as young as three years old were stating that their dream was to become a beauty pageant queen. Putting the idea in a child's head at such a young age that what is most important is looking beautiful and having a perfect smile is ridiculous. I think that beauty pageants for children that young should be banned, but they should not be banned completely.
ReplyDeleteI believe that child pageants should be banned. I remember watching Toddlers and Tiaras for the first time. I could not believe what I was watching! The age of these children participating is too young. Often, you see the parent forcing their children to be all dolled up and to smile and walk a certain way so they can win. I would not be against these child pageants if they didn't promote winning as much as they do. Where is the fun behind these pageants, if parents are putting so much pressure on their three or four year olds to win?
ReplyDeleteI believe that child pageants should all be banned as most people have said in this blog. Child pageants are not really pageants that judges the child based on physical appearance and talent, but rather it is a pedestal that parents use to boost their personal self-esteem and pride. This way, they can boast and brag about how their child is the best out of every other contender. It gives parents an opportunity to show off "what they have" to others so that their feelings of self-worth and pride would be fulfilled. In these pageants, the children are often treated as "things" or "objects" rather than what they should be as "individuals". The parents force their child to dress up how they want them to dress up, or look the way they want, even instructing them how to act, talk, speak, walk, and other forms of convention. Some parents do this for the pride, while others do it for the money that is involved for the first place pageant winner. If money is often time a factor in this equation, then parents will go to extreme means to win at ALL costs. The child doesn't have a clue what is going on or what is the true objective that his or her parent is trying to achieve. They complain and state most of the time that they do not want to compete in such contests, while under the subjection of having to hear a "no, you are going to do this and you are going to like it" response. These pageants are a sharade as supporters of them claim that it will boost the self-esteem and self-worth of the children. In reality however, it only does so for the parents since their self-esteem is VERY low to begin with. In addition, the child will be scarred for life due to the effects, high pressure, stress, and demoralization that he or she has to face with these pageants on a day-to-day basis. Finally, another contributing factor onto why child pageants should be banned is that this is basically a reinterpretation or re-fulfilliment of what the parents once aspired to be. They had a dream of being a child pageant winner, but never did. So to make up for this loss, they force their child to do it for them for the eventually pride, glory, spotlight on the grand stage, and the cash that is rewarded to the winner. So I say that child pageants should once and for all be banned for the sake of the children and their rights to be treated as people rather than the objects of their parents.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the people that pageants should be banned. When I watch these shows it seems like it's the parents dream more then the children's. When the girls get fake tans and put in fake teeth they aren't being themselves. They cover up there inperfections, this is a bad message at such a young age. If they start being fake now, when they are older they will feel they can not be themselves.
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