I think most of us watched, at least one episode of "Toddlers & Tiaras". It's an American show about beauty contests for very young participants. Kids have to present themselves in different ways. There are many categories, such as talent shows or self-presentation. Usually contestants dance and sing on a stage. Judges give scores for well done routines and modeling.
There are many types of child beauty pageants, but the most shocking one is "Glitz contests". Especially interesting are groups for 2-3 and 4-6 year old kids. It is expected that girls will wear, full of little diamonds, ballerina doll dresses and have a heavy makeup on their faces. Professional make-up artists do everything for little girls, just before the pageant. Full fluid powder and eye makeup are obligatory. Many girls also have to put fake eyelashes and wigs, to make a better impression on judges. Kids sometimes cannot endure the pressure, they are tired of sitting and waiting till their makeup's done. Usually they cry a lot and refuse to stay until the end.
The real arrangements happen many weeks before the contest. First, a mother signs up her kid to dance classes. A child has to learn routines or other activities, which she will present on a stage. What's unusual, routines are composed of unnatural movements, sometimes described as "sassy walk" or "pretty feet". An especially popular facial expression is "duckface". While a kid learns choreography, her mother deals with the costume. Little girls dresses can cost up to ten thousand dollars. It depends on a mother if she wants to spend a fortune on a costume. Of course, dresses can be cheaper, but then chances of winning decrease. Sometimes parents spend over thirty thousand dollars on all the arrangements. Besides costumes, there are such expenses as spray tans, nail extensions and flippers (fake teeth). Sometimes parents also hire pageant coaches. In one word - a kid has to shine.
Parents of children are often criticized for making kids participate in pageants. They are accused of teaching children a bad behavior. Heavy makeup, full lips, flushed cheeks and high hills emphasize an adult woman. Little contestants have to be seductive and sexy to win the ultimate prize. I don't think it's a good idea to show this sinful side of life to a 6 year old kids.
What is your opinion about this topic?
Would you sign up your kid for a child beauty pageant?
Do you think this kind of activity should be illegal?
I would NEVER sign my child for something like that. Even, if she would beg me, I wouldn't do such a thing!
ReplyDeleteIt's just sad. They're taking away their childhood. It's just sad....
But it would be very hard to make it illegal. It's disgusting, but the child is not in a immidiate danger, so it wouldn't pass as something bad.... I hate politics... and law...
I think it (maybe) should be illegal in form it is right now. Any activity including mother and her child is always good for both but here it is the opposite. I don't mind if people do any competitions/pageants as long as it is moral and with good taste.
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely not interested in signing my future child to beauty peagants nor would I watch those shows, however, I have to point out that it's not such a nightmare as it is shown on TV. Of course from time to time there will be freaks like famous Honey Boo Boo Child ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzt7oCFN3ek ), but it's not exactly the fault of the beauty peagants, it's the parents only.
ReplyDeleteIf you check out any critique video concerning this subject on YouTube, there is a lot of praising in comments, for example "I participated in beauty peagants when I was a child and now I'm a perfectly normal, educated human being with beautiful memories". We, Polish people, can't possibly understand how deep are those shows rooted in American culture. Almost every little girl wants to be a princess or a model and some of them are given a chance to wear a beautiful dress (in toddler's eyes) and win a trophy. It's just like singing or sport contests for the small ones, only you don't have to do anything, so if you're child is less talented, then you always have this option, LOL. :)
What is shown on TV - win-or-die competition, rudeness, excessive tanning, creepily heavy make-ups - are not exactly normal things in beauty peagant world.
But for real, I'm just against banning anything, so I'm trying to find good sides :)
It's horrible. This kids look like dolls. But maybe for some child this is also great fun, so we need to be tolerant. For me this is so fake and empty. How they kids will be look like in the future ?
ReplyDeleteIdea of any beauty contest that involves sounds like bad joke. The worst part is that whole responsibility lays on the side of parents. No single child in age of 5 is able to asses if that kind of competition is something they really want to participate in. As preceding commentators noticed, there are mostly bad sides of idea of organizing something like this. If shows like child beauty pageant are treated as kind of a model to follow I'll lose my faith in humans.
ReplyDeleteThis is a torture! I think it should be banished and punished. One cannot treat little girls like they are some dolls. I think that it is very bad for the proper development of this kids. What kind of message do they get? The more preatty you look( in a fake way not this natural one) the better you are?
ReplyDeleteAnother alarming thing is that cray mother of this girls sometimes even decide to give theris doughters some kind of medicines to keep them active and full of energy. In the early age the girls are thought to help themselves with such medicaments.
It is sad that there are those sho commision such shows and those who watch it. I must admit that I have watched it onnce, out of curiosity I think. I will never do that again. What cought me the most is that those girls don't want to talke part in that shows, they want to play with their friends, have a normal childhood. But ther are not allowed. Instead theirs mothers forced them to take part in such events in order to fullfil their dreams, not their children dreams. Those moter are often obese and not well eductaed. They try to eran some extra money at the expense of their own children.
I would never allow my children to take part in a child beauty pageant.
Pawel Glebocki:
ReplyDeleteUsually children, who participate in that kind of contests, force their own kids to take part in beauty pageants.
They look different. Some of them are normal and the others look stupid. But maybe it's just for a show, to make more TV viewers.
You can see some of their faces here:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/01/article-2211247-154B4792000005DC-789_468x333.jpg
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/11/21/1226201/658871-eden-wood.jpg
http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/meanwhile-on-toddlers-tiaras-l-a5xfs3.jpeg
Grouse !
ReplyDeleteI agree with A.Rymuza. This should be illegal. I see it as exposing kids to hazard of paedophiles. What loving parent would do that to his own kid? And this conquest thing.. come on people ! Kids are not a models. They never meant to look sexy!. They are only kids. Parents are and should be criticise for what they do to they kids. The should learn to be more responsible and careful when presenting they kids to rest of the world. And the law should to protect kids regardless from what they parents think or expect from them.
topic is ok, but subject is so controversial.
ReplyDeleteI don't have kid fortunately still. For sure I wouldn't sign up my child to be a part of show that are reserved to adult. For me this is sad. Sick desires of adults are transferred to their children. Who's are not conscious about whats going on. Without watching it i see that sample is from season 6. That's mean, americans want to watch this kind of shows.
I think the worst is uses children as a puppet to making money. For sure they are not happy with appearance like that.
One of the many advantages of being a child, is a possibility of being myself. So why we accept them being as adult?
This is disgusting, awful and should be banned. Mascots are selling in the store, there is no need to modify the children... These kids are artificial and their parents thoughtless. The reason for this is probably not very beautiful mommy or daddy, who need to show the world "what the beautiful" they created. Fake eyelashes, extended hair, fake teeth, make-up - this sounds like a description of the cyborg. Recently there was an article about addiction, it should be one of its paragraphs, addiction of artificial children ...
ReplyDeleteYes I’ve seen few episodes about child beauty contests on TLC and National Geographic. I don’t think it’s normal for such small children that should be innocent and play around in the yard to start in any kind of competitions and especially competition which require them to act like adults or even worse modify them… Like Yoshi said the problem is not in the kids but in their parents, it seems like they want to prove something to them self’s or perhaps heal some mental problem that they might have. I would never send my children to those kinds of completions as they hurt children take their childhood away and can even destroy their “normal” future lives.
ReplyDeleteOMG!
ReplyDeleteI think sending a 5 year old girl to a beauty contest is a very bad idea! They hurt children by making them so popular. Children should be growing up with their peers and fight for status without parent interference. Besides, what values do such pageants teach? Terrible!
Not only Americans are so crazy to organize such competitions for little girls. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there are similar events in Poland…
I think that those kind of events are not harmful in theory, but the line to which it could be a playful participation was crossed by a mile. This kind of stressful environment has to leave a mark on the child’s mind. The costumes that those children wear and the things that they have to do also isn’t psychologically healthy for the child, and I could go as far as saying that it could be almost as harmful as a contact with a pedophile in some ways.
ReplyDeleteI think that those kinds of events as they look now should be illegal. Media made children grow too fast, made them thinking into adult matters, losing their childhood. I would never do that to my kid.
An interesting movie about child pageants is “Little Miss Sunshine”. Although the movie is quite funny, it clearly shows requirements that girls need to meet, sometimes ruining one’s self esteem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWyH_twcMl0
it's horible what mothers do to their children... They wanna fulfill dream about being pretty - mothers of course.
ReplyDeleteI would never sing my child for something like that, there is no beauty. There are children trying looks like adults... but they nothing more than just doll.
I can't tell it should be legal or illegal.
I think it’s terrible. I would never do such a thing to my child! Wearing make-up, having hair extensions or spray tan will have a negative impact on their health. I’m 21 and I have never tried a fake hair or an artificial tan. I wear make-up as rarely as possible, because I’m afraid of getting wrinkles. These “good” parents teach their baby girls that creating a fake impression is OK. For me, nothing can be worse, especially when they hate it like Gabby! I am positive that parents shouldn’t teach little girls that beauty is the most important advantage in life. Sure, it can help but it will not assure you a happy life.
ReplyDeleteI reckon that taking part in this kind of a beauty contest not only make the kids miserable but it can also lead to mental disorders, so yes, it should be illegal. I would even say it’s not far away from cruelty imposed on animals.
I have watched a few episodes of TV series on the TV and I am shocked, but who am I to judge such parents... I just wonder how these girls behave when they grow up. How such childhood affects their adult life.
ReplyDeleteAs long as it happens in America, I think I don't care if it's legal or not. We tend to find Japanese TV shows bizarre, but I think we don't judge them as much as American's ones. We say that Asian culture is just different from our and we should not judge it. Maybe such beauty competitions are just a part of (new?) American culture? Unfortunately, our popular culture takes a lot from American... Damn...