Friday, March 20, 2009

toddlers and tiaras?



Kent and I found ourselves watching this show the other day and while I was somewhat appalled at the mini glitz, I was glued to the program. Little girls in fancy dresses with hair pieces and caked on make up--who does that to their child at age 3? I know girls like to play dress up, but this might be overboard. Can beauty pageants at 5 years old be healthy?

Here's the thing, I really don't have a problem with pageants. If a girl wants to become Miss America, good for her. Everyone wants to accomplish something and if that's #1 on a young girl's list, great. At least she wants to do something with her life, and I actually think there are some positive aspects to pageants like developing good stage presence and confidence in the public eye. That being said, I think there are some severe drawbacks as well. The constant competition and all-consuming thoughts about body image. Not good. When a girl is older she can choose to be in a pageant, but these little girls are put there by their parents, more specifically their moms. My thoughts here, if the girl is having fun and enjoying what she is doing, that's fine, but when a 4 year old girl is stressed about receiving the next "Supreme Queen" or whatever it's called, that is wrong and mom needs to put her in ballet or on the local soccer team, normal little girl activities.

Anyway, I found this show interesting and I hope those girls realize pageants are just for fun. While crowns are rewarding, they're not everything.

7 comments:

Melly Mel said...

So terrible. I could never imagine putting a girl through this. As if a girl isn't self-centered or self-consious enough this will prepare them for a harder life. Wow.... vanity.

Interesting post. I liked it!

Cheltsie Spils said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cheltsie Spils said...

Omg! I couldn't have said it better myself. Greg and I watched an episode where one stage Mom made her daughter where a temporary snap in denture for competitions she had custom made to cover up her baby teeth. Let's just say it was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. Something about a permanent cheesy smile with those fake teeth made me shiver like I was watching a horror movie.

Katie said...

So what you're saying is I shouldn't put Mia in pagaents? LOL! ;-) Yeah, I totally agree, those moms are sick in the head!

Paige said...

I haven't seen it yet, just the previews. It does seem like a lot of the moms want it more than their daughters.

Bentley +1 said...

We watched this too. Classic stage moms living through their daughters. Have you checked out some of these mothers too? They have the same overall look about them. Frightening.

alexandra said...

I agree. The sexualization of these little preschoolers is just awful, too.