This is my 2nd article covering beauty pageants for little girls and boys. There are two television programs that cover this topic. They are "LIttle Miss Perfect"( LMP) and "Toddlers and Tiaras" (T&T). Today, I will be discussing an episode that aired on TLCHD on October 7, 2009. The three pageant contestants spotlighted in this episode are competing in Hawaii at the "America's Fabulous Faces" Pageant. The contestants are competing for a crown, prizes and $1000.00 savings bond.

From Honolulu, Hawaii, Aaliyah Huihui Martinez is five years old. Her talent consists of dance routines that are based on her island culture. She's a very talented, hardworking little girl with solid dance technique that could only be cultivated over time with a lot of practice. Because the pageants is being held in Hawaii, mom is concerned that all the contestants will be doing similar Tahitian dances, so Nicole wants her daughter to do the hula hoop for her talent. When mom and daughter get into a power struggle over mom's decision, Aaliyah is not afraid to voice her dissatisfaction to her mother, but mom wins out in the end. Aaliyah gets upset when she can't get her modeling step down and has to stop for a few minutes because she has become upset. After taking a couple minutes to regroup, she gets back up and tries again until she gets it right.

From Pearl City, Hawaii, Jessie Bentley is nine years old. B.J., her mom states that she didn't get Jessy involved in pageants, that her daughter got her into pageants. Mom was more into sports as she grew up, and she expected that her daughter would follow in her footsteps. Dave Bentley, Jessie's dad is a tattoo artist who personally believes the pageants are superficial, but supports his daughter because it's what she wants to do. Fina, Jessie's pageant coach has been coaching her since she was 5 years old. Jessy is very self-motivated and admits to getting butterflies in her stomach, because she wants to win. Mom seems supportive and not pushy in the least.

B.J.'s mom does not believe in doing fake eye lashes, flippers, or spray tanning. It's important that Jessy feel comfortable with her own natural beauty. Mom does get stressed though, because she knows that if she isn't prepared and organized, she could hurt her daughters chances of winning.

From Lake Havasu, Arizona, Lindsay Demyan is seven years old. Mother Melissa started placing her daughter in pageants at the age of 3. Mom admits they are addicted to pageants. She claims that they've spent a few hundred dollars on this pageant. In actuality, between costuming, travel and hotel expenses, this pageant will cost.$7150.00. We don't get to see dad in this episode, and that's probably because mom believes that keeping dad in the dark as much as possible is best, especially when it comes to the cost. Lindsay is the only one, of the three, that has to go through the tanning process because of her white skin color. She will also stick out in the pageant because she is blond. According to mom, "white's not right". Can I say, "I'm a little concerned?"

Because Lindsay has ADHD "off-the-chart" according to mom, practicing for pageants is almost impossible. In addition, mom does not give Jessy her medication on pageant day because she wants her to be "out-of-control, bubbly" on stage.

Something new, I've never seen on any of these programs before is air-brushing of photos. Mom has a friend who edits Lindsay's professional photo by covering her freckles, putting false eye-lashes on her eyes, whitening the whites of her eyes, thinning the nose, and adding more eyeliner and lipstick. Mom calls this the complete package. I wonder how Lindsay feels about having to go to such extreme steps in order to have the complete package. Did I mention, I'm a little concerned?

This is a large contest for this area. Our three contestants will be joined by approximately 100 others. All three contestants will get professional help with hair and makeup on the morning of the pageant. Many of the girls get tired before they ever get on stage because of all the preparations. We already know that Lindsay does not get the medication that helps her to concentrate. Aaliyah gets a big bottle of Mountain Dew to help her. It appears that Jessy makes it under her own steam.

Modeling the Evening Gowans

Aaliyah does very well modeling her gown, but gets a little upset when the pageant director politely assists her off stage because she's taking too long. She's accustomed to taking approximately 90 seconds to model her gown. Lindsay looked beautiful in her full length gown. Her hair was in long loose curls. She had a great smile and looked confident on stage. Jessy smiled but looked a little nervous. Mom states that her first time on stage is always the most stressful for her. Then she gets warmed up and does better.

Swim Suit Competition

All three girls do very well in the swim suit competition. Jessy still doesn't look as confident as Aaliyah and Melissa, but she isn't up against them because they're all in different age groups. Even though Melissa is upset before going up on stage, because she wanted her hair crimped for this portion of the pageant, she still turns pro when it's her turn. She knows what she needs to do and does it very well.

Talent Competition

Aaliyah is doing hula hoop after all. Many of the other contestants performed differing styles of Tahitian dancing, so mom is relieved that Aaliyah agreed to change to hula hoop. Her routine was good and it took practice to pull off all the tricks she performed. I was impressed. Lindsay, because of her inability to practice, is going into her routine very unprepared, but you can't tell when looking at her face. She smiles and looks confident. There wasn't an extremely high level of dance ability displayed, but what she did do was sharp and clean. She was very flexible as well. Jessy performs a dance routine. Even though her dancing is a little rough, she has some dynamic gymnastic tricks that definitely make her stick out from the crowd. She does need to work on the skills in the dance portion of the routine to pull it all together though.

The Results

In the 5 year old division, where Aaliyah is a contestant, she wins Queen for her age division. She's disappointed though, because that means that she is not up for any of the Supreme Titles. At least that's what she thought, she goes on to another large crown for overall swimwear, which is actually one of the Grand Supreme Titles. Later on in the show, Aaliyah also got the talent award for her age division. I guess the hula hoop idea was a good idea; even Aaliyah admits it now.

In the 6 to 7 year old division, Lindsay also wins Queen for her age division. Again she has a huge crown and banner, but she is disappointed that she will not be in the running for any of the Grand Supreme titles.

In the 8 to 9 year old division, Jessy wins 3rd attendant in her age division. I can't tell if she got anything for that, because I didn't see any trophies, medal, or crowns. Jessy, despite her dance technique issues, took the talent award for her age division.Her strong gymnastic tricks pulled her though.

None of our girls won Grand Supreme with the $1000.00 savings bond.

If you read my first article or hub on this topic, you know that my goal is to look at the pageant, the parents, and the contestants in an objective manner, and evaluate if this is a good thing for these young children. As I've said in the past, it's not just beauty pageants that can get parents into trouble. We've all heard the horror stories about parents pushing their kids too hard in education or sports. The one significant difference with beauty pageants though is the level of superficiality that has grown over the years. Let's talk about each contestant for just a minute.

Aaliyah is profoundly beautiful, especially her facial features. She also has a supportive mom who seems to take reasonable steps to get her good training and education to grow her obvious natural abilities. Aaliyah is self-motivated and is not afraid to speak her mind if she doesn't agree with a decision her mom has made regarding her participation in the pageant. Mom patiently coaxes her into agreeing on the hula hoop idea, which appears to be the right choice since she won talent for her age division. Aaliyah is a beautiful, talented, hard working, little girl with a mother that supports her emotionally, financially, and methodically. It's more than a triple threat, and as long as she is enjoying herself, she will be a strong competitor. If mom is also giving equal emphasis to education and ensuring balance in her daughter's life, they will continue to be a dynamic duo.

Jessie is lucky to have parents who support her in her interests, even though the pageant world isn't really their cup of tea. She is a natural island beauty, and her parents just accentuate the positive, without giving into all the fake beauty referred to as "glits". Unfortunately, in today's pageant world, that will probably not be enough, if she wants to be a serious competitor. She has a strong gymnastic background, but she needs help developing her routine and integrating smoother transitions between dance moves and gymnastic moves. She also needs to improve her dance technique, if she's going to continue to incorporate that into her routine. I was impressed with this family as a whole.

Melissa is a beautiful, blue-eyed blond that has a lot of potential, but I have huge concerns about the messages she gets from mom. To use her medication for "ADHD" in the manner she does might be safe, but sends the wrong message to her daughter. Her statement about keeping dad in the dark about the money they're spending on pageants is a horrible message to send her daughter. Even if they can afford the expense, the dishonesty mom injects into the marriage relationship can't be the right message for her daughter. If there are any financial issues for this family, that makes mom's fiscal irresponsibility one more burden for her daughter to bare.That's got to be confusing for her.

Despite my concerns about mom, Melissa does shine on stage. She has a strong confident stage presence and some basic dance skills. Mom could do her daughter a favor by helping her to grow those skills. The discipline it takes to grow dance technique will help her with her ADHD. It will also use up some of that extra energy and improve her ability to concentrate in other areas of her life, like school.

I wish all three contestants more success in their future endeavors, whatever they might be.