Why do some parents feel the need to put children as young as four through beaut

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   sarahmooseposted 11 years ago

   Why do some parents feel the need to put children as young as four through beauty pageants?
   
   I have a four year old daughter, and love watching her grow up and learn new things. But having seen toddlers and tiaras, I would like to know why parents seem to want to put their children through these competitions, and make them look so much older by plastering their faces in make up? It's just something I'm struggling to understand!

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2. 60

   jengeurianposted 11 years ago

   I have 2 little girls who are 2 and 3, and it is completely beyond me as well.  My older girl is my little princess.  She is the one who loves to wear pretty dresses and do her nails and wear "makeup", but I could never imagine putting her through all that.  These are just the things we do at home to have fun and spend time together.  She has her own lip glosses and nail polishes, and loves to have me brush her hair and put her pretties in it.  She is a typical girly girl.
   My 2 year old is my little tomboy.  She wears dresses sometime, but not often.  She doesn't get into having her hair done and her nails and "makeup" done very often, but that is fine too.  I prefer to encourage them to be who they feel like they are rather than trying to pressure them to conform to what anyone thinks they should be.
   I am right there with you about not understanding.  I have seen one episode of toddlers and tiaras, and I refuse to watch it again.  The struggles to get the children to do exactly what they are supposed to be doing just don't seem worth it to me.  I think everyone involved would be much happier if they were just letting the kids be kids, but then again my motto is to each their own.  It is not for me to judge, but it is for me to decide when it comes to my girls.

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3. 58

   K Kissposted 11 years ago

   I won't go into the details of whether it's wrong or it's right because I believe that each individual has their own standard of right and wrong despite what the situation is objectively.
   
   Many parents may indulge in such activities because they (moms) feel like they have a need to see in their children something that they perhaps never had the opportunity to achieve themselves. It is similar to situations where parents want their children, for example, to be doctors or lawyers, something that they, as parents always wanted to be but for reasons unknown they were unable to be.
   
   While others might consider getting the child through such competition only makes them more able to face defeat from an early age.
   Some may just do it for the fun of the whole charade.

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4. 66

   sarahmooseposted 11 years ago

   thanks for these answers. I agree, Erin loves her play make up and having her hair done. I did see someone here in the UK who bought her daughter gift vouchers for a plastic surgeon for her 8th birthday, which is way too far. I just don't understand any of it, and I don't think I ever will!!

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      K Kissposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you on the plastic surgery bit. That is going way to far because that will alter something in the child at an age when she does not possess the required capacity to give her consent.

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      jengeurianposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, really?  Plastic surgery at 8?  Holy cow!  What is the world coming to?  I still say to each their own, but someone definitely needs to give that person a reality check.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 11 years ago

   I don't get it either. After the whole JonBenet Ramsey debacle you'd think people would've woken up to the fact that painting your little girl up like a miniature porn star and parading her in public is probably not a very good idea.

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   Starmom41posted 11 years ago

   I think it's a warped 'status symbol' for the parents-  like they're trying to live through their children

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   Suzie HQposted 11 years ago

   I have to say i am at a loss to the answer to this also, having watched "Toddlers and Tiaras" out of curiosity a number of times. In my view, our children grow up so fast and to see kids so young in full make-up, false eyelashes, spraytans, tinted hair and french manicures ( as a Beauty Therapist), i find it a bit unsettling, but each to their own. I prefer to see kids involved in sports, drama, dancing . . .anything that gives them their own identity in things that they enjoy and will also help in their social and interactive skills with others.

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   cat on a soapboxposted 11 years ago

   Seeing these toddlers and children in beauty pagents makes my stomach churn! I think parents do this for the money, fame. and endorsements. Perhaps it is to compensate for something lacking from their own childhoods. I'd rather see a child model for children's clothes or products than being put through this ridiculous display of stress-producing vanity. What kind of message does a child get from this ?

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   annaglomeshposted 11 years ago

   I totally disagree with the whole concept and notion of children being subjected to this kind of judging and expectations. Thankfully it has never really taken off in Australia like in the states...but it is growing..which is disappointing

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