Let Them Play...

Pageants....... Sigh 

Beauty pageants..... they are everywhere and seem to be the main attraction in Texas! Young girls put into pageants to be judged on beauty and what they know. How can they judge little girls on knowledge when most of them can hardly spell? The amount of time parents put into their kids for them to be able to do pageants is amazing! Makes me wonder, is this really for your little princess? Or is this some dream you weren't able to live?

Many parents put their kids through it for themselves and sooner or later when the child grows up it becomes something they want to be because it's all they know. On one episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, there was this one pageant child who told her mom that she didn't want to do it, she was 3 at the time. Her mother replied with "well you have no choice." Is that really what we are teaching our young girls? That LIFE itself is a pageant? and  being the one with the best shell, false smile, fake hair and will win? IN most cases this is true depending on what industry you enter in. WHAT is not showcased in these pageants is that EDUCATION plus beauty can take you to higher places than just being someones eye candy.

Ups & Downs

Ups: 

The ups on putting your child through pageants is giving them a chance to be creative, interact with other young girls, learn competition, earn money (hopefully for school), and to be active. There probably are many more but these are the only pluses I see. 

Downs:

The downs on child's pageants for me go as follows: make up caked on (hiding their true selves), tight clothes, and unwanted attention from predators! Like the most well known case of JonBenet Ramsey, an adorable pageant child who won numerous awards and pageants. She was found dead in her basement, case is still unsolved. God and the killer are the only ones who know what happened to this little girl. At these pageants there aren't guidelines on to who can enter. You never know if you're sitting next to a child predator who's praying on his next victim; this person can be MALE OR FEMALE! Or if that judge at the table is doing unspeakable things with your child while the curtains are down. It's an open field and play ground for anyone to step their foot on. Exploiting your child in bikini;'s, makeup, teaching them to switch their hips and flaunt everything they have around stage is ridiculous. 

These babies don't know any better, they are just kids. Having to be transformed into a woman on stage is normal to them. Sure many would argue about poise and grace and all that good stuff, but the truth of the matter is, you never know who will or might follow you home. You never know who is a predator until your little princess is treated like a grown woman. The grown woman you turn her into when she's on stage. 

I don't understand. Maybe I would be pro-pageant IF they allowed the kids to be judged on how they really are. By that I mean, looks no make up, let them dress themselves, pick their own talents and so forth. Let them be a child on stage, the child they are meant to be at that point in their lives. Maybe if that would happen, I would agree, until then this is where I stand and how I feel.