To start off, I have one thing to say: I don’t like beauty pageants. Why? Well I’ll tell you why. Having dozens of young women parade around in slinky gowns answering questions that our world leaders can’t even answer such as, “How do we end world hunger?”, not to mention that none of the competition really matters. Everyone knows that no matter how talented or smart the other girls are, the prettiest girl is going to go home with the crown.
What about all those other girls? To me it seems like competing in a beauty pageant is the last things any woman would want to do. At least, some of us are trying to be viewed as people and not objects!
Then again, at least those girls are old enough to decide whether or not they want to enter a pageant. The sad thing is young girls, I’m talking 2, 3, 4 years old, are competing in their own beauty pageants! There’s even a show on TLC called “Toddlers and Tiaras” that’s entirely dedicated to the world of children’s pageants.
From what I vaguely remember of being a toddler is that the closet thing I had to a tiara was the plastic crown that came in the “Pretty Pretty Princess” board game. I also remember that getting dressed up didn’t mean being forced to put on a tiny frilly gown and have my face loaded with gobs of makeup. No, dressing up meant putting on a pair of my mom’s old high heels and a sparkly ten sizes to big dress, faux silk elbow length gloves, and throwing a tea party with my “Peter Rabbit” tea set.
Dressing up was fun; cost free and I did it because it was my choice. No one was pushing me to dress way beyond my years and strut on a runway for the world to judge my outer beauty. Even now, at fifteen I still don’t wear makeup or high heels.
However for the girls on “Toddlers and Tiaras”, I don’t think they’ll have such fond memories of playing dress up. I can sadly admit that I have watched “Toddlers and Tiaras”. What I saw completely disgusted me. These are kindergarten aged girls and younger wearing more make up than your average teen girl, complete with salon styled hair, short frilly dresses, and lots of attitude. To put it nicely, these girls acted like total brats! The couple of episodes had lots of girls whining for their moms (more like assistants) to get them more water, fix their hair or some other pointless task. Although I can’t say it’s entirely their fault. The parents weren’t doing much to help. They pushed their daughters so hard to win and freaked out on them if they lost. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What happened to childhood innocence? Is the joy of dress up and not having to worry about how you look gone forever?
When I grow up get married and start a family, I’ll make sure my daughters have a giant trunk of dress up clothes and a tea set just like I did. But I’ll never make my kids dress up. If they would rather play outside in the mud and dirt, that’s fine. They also won’t be allowed to wear make until their in high school. I’ll try my best to raise children who feel good about themselves for who they are. I’ll also let them enjoy their childhood while it lasts and I won’t push them to grow up until they're ready. No “Toddlers and Tiaras” for me.
What about all those other girls? To me it seems like competing in a beauty pageant is the last things any woman would want to do. At least, some of us are trying to be viewed as people and not objects!
Then again, at least those girls are old enough to decide whether or not they want to enter a pageant. The sad thing is young girls, I’m talking 2, 3, 4 years old, are competing in their own beauty pageants! There’s even a show on TLC called “Toddlers and Tiaras” that’s entirely dedicated to the world of children’s pageants.
From what I vaguely remember of being a toddler is that the closet thing I had to a tiara was the plastic crown that came in the “Pretty Pretty Princess” board game. I also remember that getting dressed up didn’t mean being forced to put on a tiny frilly gown and have my face loaded with gobs of makeup. No, dressing up meant putting on a pair of my mom’s old high heels and a sparkly ten sizes to big dress, faux silk elbow length gloves, and throwing a tea party with my “Peter Rabbit” tea set.
Dressing up was fun; cost free and I did it because it was my choice. No one was pushing me to dress way beyond my years and strut on a runway for the world to judge my outer beauty. Even now, at fifteen I still don’t wear makeup or high heels.
However for the girls on “Toddlers and Tiaras”, I don’t think they’ll have such fond memories of playing dress up. I can sadly admit that I have watched “Toddlers and Tiaras”. What I saw completely disgusted me. These are kindergarten aged girls and younger wearing more make up than your average teen girl, complete with salon styled hair, short frilly dresses, and lots of attitude. To put it nicely, these girls acted like total brats! The couple of episodes had lots of girls whining for their moms (more like assistants) to get them more water, fix their hair or some other pointless task. Although I can’t say it’s entirely their fault. The parents weren’t doing much to help. They pushed their daughters so hard to win and freaked out on them if they lost. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What happened to childhood innocence? Is the joy of dress up and not having to worry about how you look gone forever?
When I grow up get married and start a family, I’ll make sure my daughters have a giant trunk of dress up clothes and a tea set just like I did. But I’ll never make my kids dress up. If they would rather play outside in the mud and dirt, that’s fine. They also won’t be allowed to wear make until their in high school. I’ll try my best to raise children who feel good about themselves for who they are. I’ll also let them enjoy their childhood while it lasts and I won’t push them to grow up until they're ready. No “Toddlers and Tiaras” for me.
Join the Discussion
This article has 2 comments. Post your own!