8 Reasons Not to Enter Your Child in Beauty Pageants for Kids ...

By Alison

8 Reasons Not to Enter Your Child in Beauty Pageants for Kids ...

Beauty pageants for kids have become a huge industry in the US (fortunately they´re nothing like as popular in other countries). However, I think that beauty pageants for kids are a worrying development and that they really shouldn´t be allowed. That might sound drastic, but there are a number of reasons to be concerned about them.Here are some sound reasons for your little girl not to participate in beauty pageants for kids …

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1

Image Obsessed

By their very nature, beauty pageants for kids are built around judging young girls by their looks. And let´s not forget that some of the kids in these pageants are very young indeed – maybe only toddlers. What is this teaching them? That external looks and being pretty are what counts, not what´s inside. Hardly the message that any sane parent would want their daughter to grow up with.

2

Let Them Be Kids

Most of us like to play around with our appearance. It´s fun to change your look with makeup and clothes, and can really make you feel good. But that´s a decision we can make as adults. There´s nothing wrong with little girls (or boys) playing dress-up, but they should be allowed to be kids, and not turned into miniature adults.

3

Expensive

Participating in beauty pageants for kids is a very expensive hobby, and of course as parents you will be picking up the bill. Many parents spend tens of thousands on costumes and travel all over the US. The money would be far better invested in a savings account for your child to go to college, or buy a house.

4

Competitive

Girls can be bitchy and competitive enough as it is, and entering them in beauty pageants only encourages the development of this trait. These pageants are not about entering for fun, but are about winning. It´s good for children to learn that they can´t always be first, but this isn´t the way for them to learn that.

5

Enjoyable?

Parents who enter their kids in beauty pageants claim that their daughters love appearing in the shows, but is this really true? It can´t be much fun for small girls to be subjected to endless rehearsals and makeup sessions, not to mention travelling thousands of miles.

UPD:

Beauty pageants for kids can be a controversial topic for parents. Studies have found that children as young as 3 years old are being exposed to the pressure of beauty pageants, which can cause physical and mental stress. In addition, children may be exposed to unhealthy diets and eating disorders, as well as a focus on physical appearance that can lead to low self-esteem and body image issues. Furthermore, the cost of entering a beauty pageant can be high, including the cost of makeup, clothing, and travel expenses. Finally, beauty pageants can also be detrimental to a child's education, as rehearsals, travel, and pageants can take away from valuable time spent studying or playing.

Famous Quotes

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Plutarch
6

Pressure

A lot of ´pageant moms´ place far too much pressure on their daughters to perform well and impress the judges. This just isn´t fair on young children. They´ll have enough stress in later life, so why subject them to pressure at such a young age? They should be enjoying themselves playing with friends, and not behaving like mini catwalk models.

7

Living through Them

It often seems that beauty pageants for kids are not really for the kids at all, but for the moms. Well, it´s nothing new for parents to live out their frustrated ambitions by trying to make their children famous. However, a good parent would encourage their child to discover and achieve their own ambitions – and all in good time, not when they´re still in preschool.

UPD:

It is important to remember that beauty pageants for kids are not just about the child's physical appearance, but also about the child's behavior and poise. This means that a child must be trained to act and speak in a certain way in order to be successful in a beauty pageant. Additionally, the cost of entering a beauty pageant can be quite high, and the costs associated with preparing for a beauty pageant can also be quite high. It is important to remember that it is not necessary to spend a lot of money in order to enter a beauty pageant, and that it is possible to find beauty pageants that are more affordable. Finally, it is important to remember that beauty pageants can be emotionally draining for both the child and the parent, and it is important to consider the emotional well-being of the child before entering them in a beauty pageant.

8

Let Them Decide

Children should be able to decide for themselves if they really want to enter pageants. Chances are that no little girl would decide on her own to enter. If a parent really feels that they want their daughter to participate, then at the very least they should listen to her if she doesn´t want to continue.

If you need any more persuading that beauty pageants for kids are a bad idea, then watch ´Toddlers and Tiaras!´ Who could forget the little girl –just three years old - dressed up as Julia Roberts´ prostitute character from Pretty Woman? What do you think of beauty pageants for kids – are they harmless fun or sending negative messages?

Top Image Source: weheartit.com

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#4 no bad words

It sexualises them too :(

I completely agree as well. I really don't think it's a great way to enjoy being a kid. Great post :)

I totally disagree my daughter did pageant for 25 years. Has one of the best interviews for job a person can have (we have had several people that interviewed her for jobs tell her she needs to teach classes on this) Can get on stage and talk she is not nervousness. Has helped pay for college. Has offered her a opportunity of a lifetime meeting new friends and going many places. We always knew where she was on the weekend not out at party's. And yes she was a child she did all the kid things. Now my granddaughter is in the pageant and loves them but yes she is in the yard on the weekend planting flowers jumping on the trampoline playing on her 4-wheeler. Pageant are not bad.

i agree so much with all of this! it's a horrible trend! thanks for posting this!

Thank you very much.

I completely disagree with pageants, I don't like them I think they create image insecurities, my child looks amazing he's gorgeous and handsome last thing I need is go some idiot to tell my child he's not good enough to win a stupid tile or crown! I don't think pageants should be for kids period.

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