Lovelyish

I don’t care for “pageants” at all. but i CANT STAND the ones with kids. i don’t care. its so mean, and it makes the kids feel bad about themselves more then anything. ><; 

While a lot of parents force their children into beauty pageants, they are no worse than obsessed parents who force their children into sports.

I was in beauty pageants from the age of 2-5, and I loved every single second of it.  Of course, it was my mom’s idea to put me in the pageants, but when I started to express my distaste for them, she pulled me out.  I was never forced into anything, and never felt the pressure to be ‘beautiful’ until I hit my teen years.  Kiddie beauty pageants didn’t really affect me adversely. 

But Toddlers and Tiaras is a gross, degrading, horrible show.  Those mothers don’t deserve the beautiful little girls they have.  But, those mothers are extreme.  Mine wasn’t a crazy, obsessed stage mom.  She just thought I was cute, and I loved to dress up.  I would also like to point out that I was in beauty pageants in the early nineties, when putting makeup on a child (other than a little blush or lip gloss) was almost unheard of. 

My bf shoots for the show when they come to NY. He absolutely hates it, but he has to take the job. He said that one year there was a “swimsuit competition.” Nothing like little girls running around in bathing suits. Mike said he felt like a sicko just being there.

He also said that they all carry walkies so they can tell each other when a mother is flipping out or fighting with another mom. You know the deal. It’s quite despicable.

No.
…
To Kiddie Pageants.

. . .

Okay, everyone knows that reality shows are the exaggerated caricatures of what is actually going on.  If that was the case I would assume that all girls in New Jersey are trashy whores. 

Also until Dove actually stops selling beauty products, I refuse to take any of their campaigns seriously.

@ohveryoung@xanga - Many little girls like to dress up, and it’s fine if it comes from them.  As an uncle and prospective future grandfather, I draw the line at parents living their own dream through the little girls, forcing them to do things that are degrading or humiliating.  I feel the same way about kids being forced to live out their parents’ dreams in ANY area of life.

@ohveryoung@xanga - I agree with you when it is done purely out of the child’s interest AND when it is stressed to them that outer beauty shouldn’t matter to them at that age. I think it’s great too that you actually got a positive experience out of it though. 

@how_x_loverly@xanga - Yeah, I mean, I have a few bad memories.  But of course, no kid is going to be happy with something like that 100% of the time.  The good ones vastly outweigh the bad, though.  And gosh, I have the cutest pictures to look at now, lol.  And you’re right, no one should force any child into anything.  They should be able to choose what they want to do.  If I were to ever have kids, I’d make sure they did something to occupy their time, but I’d let them choose it.

if its what the KID wants then let them. but if the kid gets crazy to where she is being a diva, then the parents need to pull the kid out. also, no parent should force their kid to do this stuff. 

but yeah, i also think childhood shouldnt be about that kinda stuff. it should be about playing outside, making tents with sheets, dressing up your dolls, playing with your friends…watching cartoons! ones biggest worry should be doing their homework  and chores. not be stressed out by any of that nonsense. theres enough stress in the life ahead of them.

That Dove video is stellar.

They’re disgusting. Generally mothers living through their daughters etc.

YESSS… THAT SHOW MAKES ME ANGRYYYY

It scares me to be honest. beauty pagents in general should be about natural beauty, as in no make up, hair pulled away from the face.one of the funnier things is most of the parents are overweight and ugly, they’re basically making their children everything they couldn’t be

I don’t think children should be forced to participate in pageants if they don’t wish to.  I mean, beauty is only skin deep and take you only so far.  Children should be taught how to love and be kind, work for things that really matter, like having good relationships with their family and friends and be happy for who they are and what they have.

my aunt entered her son in a cutest baby contest and he won a big trophy why doesn’t the male babies/toddlers get their own documentary show, too? most males are naturally cute, so no makeup to enhance their looks, and I think toddlers in mini tuxedos would be adorable. then they can having a gibberish singing talent contest of who is the funniest singer but I can watch the cutesy babies doing things on funniest home videos show. anyway, if they over-stress their child, then I don’t think it is healthy. childhood should be fun and worry free I just dressed up my barbies when I was a child but I wanted real outfits that could fit me to play dress up in, not on stage though, because I have stage fright and was traumatized when the teacher at my elementary school picked me to give a speech in front of my entire grade, which i hated her for choosing me as one of the students to give a speech. I don’t think grade school kids should be subject to speaking in front of such a big audience at that age and the public speaking presentations should start in middle school instead. that was off topic sort of but I felt humiliated from that incident, because I didn’t have good memory back then to remember my speech and was laughed at. it seems funny now but anyway, I was saying that adults shouldn’t force kids to do stuff that they aren’t comfortable with.

@snarkius@xanga - yes! thank you! I always ask myself that, isn’t Dove a beauty product company?

Look, I’ve been in pageants, and the difference between a pageant and a documentary on pageants? Documentaries are exaggerated. Of course the show is going to find the most EXTREME pageant there is. 

I hate kiddie pageants. I know you might think it’s weird for me to say this because I compete in Miss America, but kiddie pageants are so creepy. You need to grow up first and know what you want in life, not have some crazy ideas on beauty and unhealthy competition forced onto you at such a young age. This is so wrong.
If Miss America was anything close to this, if they didn’t put so much effort into education, talent, and charity, and they had pageants for kids that young, I’d never do it either.

@Le_Farfalle@xanga - Yes, I think that’s the problem with these pageants- parents that didn’t live up to their dreams and are now forcing their children to live their dreams for them. It’s awful.

I can’t watch the video, so my response is to the article only.

The problem here is overexposure to media and underexposure to a parent. Of course, when children are sat in front of the tv for hours at a time, or left alone to navigate the adult world without the help and explanations of a parent, they will react and try to mimic to what they’re shown, which is beauty. Beauty is great, but as adults, we know it’s not everything. Kids react only to what they see, because they don’t have the background knowledge of adults to filter out the ridiculous implications of ads and television.

So my answer to beauty pageants will be to limit media- we don’t even have tv at our house, though we do watch movies, and I don’t see us ever getting it, fashion magazines don’t come to our house, etc.- and for me to stay at home with my children, to mold them properly. I just don’t trust caregivers and propaganda to do it for me.

@WaitingToShrug@xanga - I agree with limiting the media 100%. Not even just so that children will get warped perceptions about things they shouldn’t have to worry about, but also to get them out and doing things! My two nephews were born into video games. Every time I see them, they’re playing video games. They never go outside and play. When I have a kid, that’s one thing I’ll definitely keep in mind to do because there’s SO many things they can experience outside. And if they do see an ad or something that they’re curious about, I have no problem telling them but it’s important to stress the lesson that beauty is only skin deep and the inside is what matters. 

@P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga - I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that you’re adorable. (no homo) And I always appreciate what you have to say. Thank you.

@Wait_by_Moonlight@xanga - you’re welcome and thank you, too. *non-homo fuzzy bunny hug*

Toddlers and Tiaras and that other show are so disturbing. The children look SOOO unnatural. Good God above me.

First of all, that dove commercial is absolutely fantastic. It’s so true, you see it so much and you don’t even realize it! Subliminal advertising.

Second, I am totally against children beauty pageants. Everything you said in this blog I absolutely 100% agree with. These pageants and this kind of advertising is so damaging to young girls self image. It certainly makes it difficult to feel comfortable in your own skin when everyone else is telling you what “attractive” is suppose to look like. I’m naturally thin and way back in the day I would have been considering hideous because plump women were desired. Of course, now it goes the opposite way and either way, it makes me disgusted.

AWAY with kiddie pageants and AWAY with superficial beauty!

There are enough annoying stuck up hot-shot-know-it-all popular teens and adults. Why start this horrible trend in kids?

I think its disgusting what those parents are doing to those kids, & how bad those kids would be when they get older. I would ALLOW my daughter to do it, if she showed an interest in it, but I would never force her to do it, or make her wax her hair, or any of the other crazy stuff those poor kids have to do.

My son yes I do push for him to do sports right now and hes 4, Im not really trying to force him too, but I know kids will quit alot and then regret it later in life (cause i did) So I’m just letting him get a taste of every sport and then let him pick one or two that he likes the most and stick with that one so it could be better for him in the future. So Im really just trying to let him experience all sports not force him into it. I just want him to see all the sides so he can make a choice on which sport is the funnest to him.

what I find so irritating about those kiddie pageants is that the moms always go on and on about how much the kid wants to compete.  I really do not think a kid under say 10 is capable of making that kind of decision.  they say they want to do because they know you want them to do it.  It is just crazy

i saw a commercial for this show where one of the little girls had on a padded top. for boobs. she had to be around four years old. it’s sick.

and you can’t blame the industry for exposing the kids–it’s the parents who are completely whacked. parents, more or less, control what their children are exposed to until they get old enough to care for themselves. the parents are the ones messing their girls up for life by putting them through these pageants. parents are teaching their daughters that the most important thing is how attractive you can be. obviously the parents aren’t the brightest… they’re teaching their kids all the wrong things.

They are absolutely disgusting. I actually think they should be banned.

They are disgusting. Yes my girls and I play dress up, but we do it in away that is positive not undermining their self esteem like these pageants. The mothers should be ashamed of themselves but sadly they probably have no clue the harm they are doing to their kids. IMHO the mothers are pimps and the little girls LOOK like little street walkers. 4 years old with fake teeth, fake tans, waxing etc pathetic…….. 

The Dove video is disgusting. All those naked women are gorgeous!

…..

I am the person behind the scenes making what you see as gorgeous pageant queens and contestants. I’ve been backstage at 30+ pageants age ranging from 4 – 26, from local to international titles as both their stylists and a judge.

Most real life kiddie pageants is about promoting confidence and talent. They usually do NOT allow anyone under 13 in makeup and or swimsuits. So it appears that its not a bad thing, and at first I didn’t see the harm in a little girl dressing up and singing some song.

But I’ve been backstage enough now to have really mixed feelings about the younger age groups. I mean, we’re teaching them confidence and talent, which is great and all, but the little ones cant seem to get past the pretty dresses and the adoring fans, who continuously compliment our little queens (who can blame them? They ARE so cute!). But I see little divas emerging, too comfortable with their bodies too early on.

I’d be really interested to see how these little girls grow up.

I’ve watched few episode of this series and God, it’s just sad. I mean at such young age they already start acting really mean. I don’t blame the kids but the parents. Then when their kids give them attitude, they start complaining. They wouldn’t be like that if it’s not the parents. Smh. 

Somethings I can understand. But fake eyelashes, fake tans, big hair on anyone..let alone a 5 year old.
UNBELIEVABLE.