Is it just me??

[Granny square]

I wish they would do a natural pagent. No thrills just kids being kids.

Then the mommies couldn't get off on all the shopping, running and attention.

 

[meggiebeth]

The world of child beauty pageants is quite foreign to me. Here in the UK, they just don't happen. I think whilst glitz pageants are wrong, natural ones are fine- all about personality and natural beauty.

http://media.bonnint.net/seattle/7/747/74763.jpg

This one works. I am assuming the picture with the blond hair is her without the makeup and such. Very pretty little girl.

I have watched a few episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras and have seen the episode with the brown haired girl in. The two girls in that picture are different- here is a photo of the brown haired girl without all the makeup- http://blackkd.edublogs.org/files/2011/10/MaKenize_INTOUCH_shoot-21lxwzu.png

Depending on how much makeup a girl is wearing for a pageant, they can look pretty and fairly natural. I also saw an episode with this little girl- here is a before and after picture. http://thelaughingstork.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mercedes-smiling.jpg

I guess what I'm trying to say is that as long as the child enjoys it, is not pushed into it, looks like themself and doesn't look like a fake doll then pageants maybe aren't so bad.

cool. what level team is she on?

She doesn't happen to cheer for Cheer Time Revolution, does she?

Haha! I just watched an episode of this yesterday! Well... Half an episode was enough for me. The show wasn't about the children, it was about the mothers. And they behaved like school children themselves. I felt terrible for the kids who were treated badly by their mothers, because they didn't do as well as their parents wanted. It's all rather hypocritical really, them screaming at their children to work harder as they sit (most of them heavily overweight) and gossip together.

Meg~ Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[chuckabone]

My dd 12 did pageants for years. We started when she was 5ish and she loved it. Once in a while we did a glitz pageant, but mostly just natural ones that include a talent, a speaking introduction, a modeling part, and most important an interview portion. It was the best thing for her. She still wants to do them, and she is not vain or spoiled or rude. It took her 4 years to take overall supreme at one competition and losing the first few years made her work harder. She was the one on the practice stage, she was the one practicing in the mirror (when she was a bit older). Pageants gave her the chance to earn $ for the future, gaver her the opportunity to meet and work with a talent scout/coach in NYC. She has won vacations too. I hate when people who have had nothing to do with pageants bash them when all they know is what they see on TV. Whenever we did a glitz pageant, it was like a job for her and when she was off stage the makeup was off and she was just a little girl. If my parents had anything to say about it, they knew better. It's my child not thiers. I personally think the people talking about male judges etc.. should just get thier mind out of the gutter. How about just letting her do natural ones?

 

[dimimi]

I'm not 100% sure if DD fully enjoys them, but she is very happy when she wins. She sends me mixed feeling. Screams and kicks like a 5 year old before practice but shows up on pageant say and rocks it! I don't know. She has basically been raised in pageants...

I guess I am confused. I am assuming the child in pagents is 10? Why would you not know if she is enjoying them? If she doesn't like practicing, why wouldn't you try to have her find a hobby she likes? For example, if a child plays soccer, they typically like the practice? I am not trying to be judgemental, I am just responding to your comments.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

If your DD is having a good time and you are having a good time and you can afford all that stuff, do it and tell the others to pound salt about it.

 

[luvsJack]

Very well said - I agree completely. Oh well, maybe if all these young girls that are being sent conflicting messages by authority figures and parents get "purity rings", in re previous thread, all will be well.

Oh for Pete's sakes one has nothing to do with the other. Personally I think it takes a dirty mind to see a girl in make up and think sex.

I agree with the pp about sexual moves in some dances. I feel really blessed that Dd's show director is adamant about staying away from that. He refuse to allow some of the moves that are done by popular singers/dancers. But i also think that some people think every time a child moves her hips its sexual when it is in fact a dance move.

Seeing a kid in make up and perhaps doing a dance move and assuming she is being sexual is a problem in the mind of the adult not the child. It has nothing to do with mixed messages or what the child is taught.

 

[Granny square]

Sexualuzed. Not sexual. When they are presented as sexy adult women that is inappropriate. It isn't about a little bit of make up. It is about tons of makeup, fake lashes, teeth. And clothes that are adult sexy. And songs, music and movements that mimic adult flirtatious.

And there are plenty of sick minds out there.

 

[Turn the Page]

Yeah, I was thinking of the OP's child's age.

You don't think it does enough training for modeling or you don't think its worth worrying about whether it helps to do modeling?

I was just looking at the pictures from the link someone posted and they are most definitely photogenic. I would think that most of those girls could do some modeling. (not cat-walk/fashion show but ads and such)

All of the above. I don't consider modeling a skill, especially at that age. I wouldn't think that pageants would give girls enough modeling training to be able to start a modeling career just off pageant experience and even if they did I wouldn't consider the modeling training worth all the damage pageants do.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Blame the Jon benet murder. Watching that sweet girl be encouraged to act like a vamp was horrible.

Actually, yes, that's where it all started, really. Before that, I didn't even know they had pageants for little girls.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Sorry, former dance mom here. Dance is a HUGE offender in the arena of objectifying very young girls in sexy outfits.

My daughter was in dance until around 5th grade, and we noticed this in our studio with the teens, but not the younger students. Still, we didn't like it.

 

[Becky2005]

I wouldn't worry about it. I know it is hard and pageants do have a bad rap. There are some people that have the same reaction if you were to say have your child be a cheerleader. I haven't read all the responses but I can guess if it is typical.

You know your child best & if she is enjoying pageants, you like to have her do them, go for it. My DD is the one that is happiest if she has a ton of things going on. I know I was always told I was over scheduling her but she likes that. I know my boys, not so much. They do better less stuff, so that is what we do for them.

Here's my background. My daughter was a gymnast for at least 11 years...she ended up with spinal fusion surgery (not from gymnastics) & that was pulled out from underneath her. She literally told me she felt like she had no talent since she had been doing that for so long. She also ice skated & danced for a bit. Now everyone tells me those are different than pageants but to me, they pretty much are all the same! You are being judged on your looks, performance and the make-up is VERY heavy in dance/ice skating. We went through way more bottles of hair spray for gymnastics than we even remotely touched for a pageant.

My daughter did her first pageant at 15 only 6 months after her surgery. Now it wasn't glitz but let me tell you if we could afford it she would love to do one. She wanted to do it after watching Toddlers & Tiaras. We had 7 week straight of watching Spongebob & Toddlers & Tiaras.

We were looking for something small & ended up finding one close to our house but found out when we got there, only 160 girls in her division! YIKES! Did she place? Nope. Did she have a good time? Yes. Guess what? She is 18 and doing the pageant again THIS year...it's her final year as they go by your age of Jan. 1, so she will be 19 at pageant time, so won't qualify next year. Remember first year I was told "I have no talent" from my child after surgery to this year she plans to compete in the talent portion of the pageant! That is amazing to me. Pageants were not something I ever thought of doing previously but it was right for her. I wasn't against them just never really gave it a thought to enter into one.

She liked it so much she asked if we could create one as a fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals for Children...so we do one every year.

She was telling me just a few weeks ago how she doesn't really know where her life would have taken her without the pageant. It was a low time in her life and it helped her out (I have no idea how exactly, I'm just going by what she told me that the pageant made a huge difference for HER). She is going to college with the intention of getting a theatre degree now. I don't think it was just the pageant, there were other things too but it pushed her when she probably would have just curled up.

People still look at her strangely when they find out she does pageants as she isn't your stereotypical pageant girl but really, all the other girls are just regular girls too.

 

[Becky2005]

Well, she has never openly told me "Mom, take me out of pageants", and I am very clear with her that if she ever feels as if it is necessary that she should stop pageants, she can come to me. Again, she rarely says "I love pageants I want to be Miss Universe!!". That's why I get mixed feelings.

In this case, here is what I would do. I would just stop entering into the pageants. If she likes them and wants to continue -- she will ask you "when am I going to do another pageant?". If she doesn't seem to miss it, then you will have your answer that she enjoyed them but didn't really care one way or another.

 

[luvsJack]

Sexualuzed. Not sexual. When they are presented as sexy adult women that is inappropriate. It isn't about a little bit of make up. It is about tons of makeup, fake lashes, teeth. And clothes that are adult sexy. And songs, music and movements that mimic adult flirtatious.

And there are plenty of sick minds out there.

And those sick minds are an issue for the adults not the child. I have a 14 year old. Is she not to wear a bikini at the beach because there might be some perv there?

If the child wanted to do the pageant and was happy and well adjusted,there is nothing wrong with allowing her to continue

The Ops child wants to quit so she should let her quit. End of story.

 

[luvmy3]

And those sick minds are an issue for the adults not the child. I have a 14 year old. Is she not to wear a bikini at the beach because there might be some perv there?

If the child wanted to do the pageant and was happy and well adjusted,there is nothing wrong with allowing her to continue

The Ops child wants to quit so she should let her quit. End of story.

Well adjusted? Sorry I guess I don't see where caking on the make up, wearing huge wigs and false teeth and make them parade around for judgment makes for well adjusted children

Those pics remind me of the harlot character who calls the men in the bar to come on upstairs, in old western movies. Moms of these girls should be so proud of what they are doing.

 

[Granny square]

And those sick minds are an issue for the adults not the child. I have a 14 year old. Is she not to wear a bikini at the beach because there might be some perv there?

If the child wanted to do the pageant and was happy and well adjusted,there is nothing wrong with allowing her to continue

The Ops child wants to quit so she should let her quit. End of story.

True. It is not The child's fault they've been made to look like a sexy adult woman. That is the parent's fault. And it isn't the child's fault that there are adults that see them as fantasies. In the end that doesn't matter. Society and perversion see some traits as sexy an those are the ones being rewarded in these perverse programs.

 

[luvsJack]

Well adjusted? Sorry I guess I don't see where caking on the make up, wearing huge wigs and false teeth and make them parade around for judgment makes for well adjusted children

Those pics remind me of the harlot character who calls the men in the bar to come on upstairs, in old western movies. Moms of these girls should be so proud of what they are doing.

The same way a kid does anything else and is well adjusted. when they leave that pageant, they go back to being a regular kid. Make up does not make a chIld ill adjusted. Its the way they are raised.

Do you have a child in pageants? If not,how do you judge its effects on a child?

If that's what you think of them that's on you. personally I don't look at a child and think something that disgusting. But thats just me.

 

[luvmy3]

The same way a kid does anything else and is well adjusted. when they leave that pageant, they go back to being a regular kid. Make up does not make a chIld ill adjusted. Its the way they are raised.
Do you have a child in pageants? If not,how do you judge its effects on a child?

If that's what you think of them that's on you. personally I don't look at a child and think something that disgusting. But thats just me.

Yup, its the way they are raised. My dd is being raised to not dress like a harlot and parade around on stage to be judged on how she looks. My dd is being raised to know that her beauty is inside and shines on the outside, and she doesn't need big poofy hair, tons of make up and false perfect teeth to be beautiful to others. I could go on and on but I'm sure you get the picture.

I do think those girls look like harlots the way they are all made up, and the fact that you think they look beautiful that way IS disgusting

 

[dizcrazee]

Oh for Pete's sakes one has nothing to do with the other. ..It has nothing to do with mixed messages or what the child is taught.

I don't mean to be rude, but don't you think there is a bit of a disconnect between encouraging a girl to make a vow to God that she won't have sex before marriage (again in re previous "purity ring" thread), then dressing her up in a skimpy outfit and heavy make-up, and having her do hoochie mama dance routines in public? I'm sorry to say that I see a huge conflict and a mixed message there.

 

[luvsJack]

Yup, its the way they are raised. My dd is being raised to not dress like a harlot and parade around on stage to be judged on how she looks. My dd is being raised to know that her beauty is inside and shines on the outside, and she doesn't need big poofy hair, tons of make up and false perfect teeth to be beautiful to others. I could go on and on but I'm sure you get the picture.

I do think those girls look like harlots the way they are all made up, and the fact that you think they look beautiful that way IS disgusting

I think any little girl is beautiful . You know every little girl on that stage may be a child with serious issues OR every child may get off that stage and be a happy well adjusted child. And it may be somewhere in between.

Some parents push too hard at anything. I have seen dance parents, choir parents and sports parents that act like crazy people. They make it all about winning at any costs. Those kids are going to have problems. But thats not all of them.

I just think its wrong to judge something you know nothing about other than a tv show.

 

[luvsJack]

I don't mean to be rude, but don't you think there is a bit of a disconnect between encouraging a girl to make a vow to God that she won't have sex before marriage (again in re previous "purity ring" thread), then dressing her up in a skimpy outfit and heavy make-up, and having her do hoochie mama dance routines in public? I'm sorry to say that I see a huge conflict and a mixed message there.

Are you talking about dance or pageants?