Beauty Pagents

I think its sad to teach kids at such a young and impressionable age that beauty is such an important thing, they deal with enough superficiality in school where you have to have the right clothes to fit in and be skinny enough to fit in and i think its too much pressure on them. I would never want to teach my daughter that she should seek to be valued simply by her looks its teaching our children the wrong values. Yes being beautiful can open some doors easier but id rather teach my child that if that door isnt opening easily then shove on it, just relying on a pretty face to get you by isnt going to help you in the long run, we all age and people that are overly concerned with there looks have a terrible time when the effects of aging begin to show and resort to having there faces injected, cut apart and rearranged and lifted just because they cant handle the fact that at 40 they dont look like there 20. I think there are so many other activities we can involve our children in that really could boost there self-esteem, i dont think beauty pageants really boost self-esteem probably self conceit if they win.

I think it is very abnormal to encourage a young child to wear make-up, to look like they are way older than they are, and even look and act a little bit sexy at such a young and impressionable age. I've seen some news programs about the beauty pagent circuit, and how some of these moms are almost abusive in the way they demand their daughters to behave, and compete. I think it sends the wrong message to these little girls, and teaches them that beauty is the only thing that matters in life. You always hear how the moms who support this claim, "Oh it builds self-esteem." Well so does getting them involved in sports, educational activities, drama, arts, and music; and none of those activities require the child to be exploited or encouraged to look older than they are. I saw a news program on this where the moms were making their children wear false teeth bridges because they were at the age where their teeth were falling out. That does nothing for a child's self-esteem, in fact, it does the opposite because you are making them ashamed and overly conscious of totally natural things. One mom was so upset cause her kid was coming down with a cold and her little nose was getting sore from blowing it. Now adult pagents, I have no problem with because the person is making their own choice to participate.

I plan to allow my child to watch beauty pageants on tv and local pageants, and if she is interested in being in them, then I will enter her. If she decides she doesn't like it, then she'll never have to do one again. But if the CHILD is enjoying it, there is no harm in it. The harm is when the mother is living her dream of being a beauty queen vicariously through her child.

I dont think they are acceptable at all. There are MANY other ways to build little girls' self esteems. I do not think this is one of them. Children are very delicate and pushing a child to look like an adult (making them wear fake teeth, talping their chest, being provocative, etc) will probably give them a complex as an adult. Parents do it for the parents. Simple as that. Kids need to be kids. I'm sure painting a picture or playing in a sandbox would make them feel better inside.

I am all for child beauty pageants. They teach self confidence, poise, sportsmanship, friendship, etc....My daughter has been participating in pageants for a year now. She is 5 and loves doing them. She has made several friends at the pageants and she has learned that you have to be gracious as a winner or a loser.