Beauty Contests

Are kids’ beauty pageants just child’s’ play? Sure most little girls love to dress up, play with makeup, and at first thought a beauty pageant might seem like a fun thing to them. But what do you think about the parents that allow or even push their kids into competing in these events? At such a young age kids probably don’t know what they are getting into. They are mostly concerned with pleasing their parents. Most parents argue that beauty pageants serve as confidence boosters, that they help kids learn about life, and that they allow kids become more social in the long run. This may be true for the few that win, but what about those that don’t? Often, they feel inferior and upset. They didn’t win and they let their parents down. Honestly, who wants to put their child in the posistion where she doesn’t feel good enough? Beauty pageants don’t even measure naturally beauty. Parents have become obsessed to point where they make their kids wear loads of makeup, extensions, and even fake teeth! I believe this behavior destroys the whole innocence of the pageant.
When I was younger, I remember being interested in beauty pageants at some point. I thought it would be so fun to be crowned as the prettiest girl in the room. However, my mom was completely against letting me compete. She didn’t want anyone ever telling her little girl that she wasn’t good enough or that she wasn’t the most beautiful person up on the stage. Yet, some moms disagree. One beauty pageant mom was quoted saying, “I want my child to be aware that there’s always going to be somebody better than her. It’s a hard thing to learn- it was for me- and I want her to start early”. How awful is this comment? Why would you want to set your child up for failure? Parents should be encouraging them at this age and let them think that they can do what ever they want, not that they will never be good enough. But what do you all think about pageants? Are they simply harmless fun?

Little League Parents

Sports can often help teach children valuable lessons about life: teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship. They can help kids be healthy and active in the community. However, parents sometimes ruin the fun and excitement by putting too much pressure on their kids to perform well. Recent headlines have shown that “Last March in Greenwich Township, New Jersey, a community league basketball game for girls ages 10 and 11 ended with one angry father reportedly kicking the wife of the winning team’s coach. Witnesses say the meltdown began when a woman in the crowd began taunting players. That same month, a hockey dad in Westborough, Massachusetts, was arrested for allegedly kicking and punching a 10-year-old boy on his son’s opposing team. In June, a St. Paul, Minnesota, father was charged with making “terrorist threats” after, prosecutors say, he promised to shoot the coach of his 12-year-old son’s baseball team “like a dog.” The man explained to a local paper that he began arguing with the coach (he denies threatening to shoot him) because he wanted to protect his son from the trauma he felt as a child when a coach told him he was worthless.”( Crowley, Micheal. "Field of Screams". Reader's Digest. October 2007.). These parents may feel like they are trying to protect their children, yet usually they are doing more harm than good.
When I played little league sports, my dad was one of those loud, obnoxious parents who harassed the officials. His tantrums would absolutely mortify me. I was always embarrassed to be related to the dad that was acting up over trivial things. Then after the games my dad would only lecture me on everything I did wrong; He never focused on anything good. His behavior slowing diminished the passion I had felt for sports in my early years. Like my dad, I believe many parents try to live through their sons or daughters. Maybe they weren’t the star player, but they are obsessed with wanting that for their kids. Everyone wants their kids do well, but sometimes parents get out of hand and spoil the fun. Often at games, parents act more juvenile than their children. They are setting terrible examples and teaching bad lessons. Sometimes parents even taunt other children to mess them and try to make them look bad. What kind of person does this? They are just kids trying to have a good time.
One of the worst examples is the 2000 Thomas Juanta case where a hockey dad beat another dad to death. He was convicted on involuntary manslaughter. How would you feel if your dad killed a man over a sports game? Certain places have resorted to suspending sport schedules because the parents got to crazy, and it has become too dangerous. As long as there are sport games, parents will continue to throw tantrums. But how do we stop things from getting out of control? By banning those that act out from the rest of the games? Parents need to get it together and support the team in a positive way. They are the role models for their kids whether they want to be or not. It would be nice if they could focus on encouraging and cheering on their team instead of trying to put others down and start fights.

Security in Public Places

How secure are public places really? Since the Virginia Tech shootings many college campuses have felt the need to bump up the security. However, does this increase in security give students a false sense of protection. For example say you have to have an ID card to open buildings on campus. The fact that it is locked may make students feel at ease and assume that nothing is likely to go wrong. Yet some students hold the doors open, thus, inviting unexpected visitors in. Another example is in my neighborhood we have security guards that patrol the neighborhood 24/7. Naturally, I assume that a burglary is unlikely to happen because the security guards would see something. Unfortunately one night 7 houses on my street were robbed. Though an increase in security may reduce random assaults, I believe its unlikely to prevent pre meditated ones. If someone really wants to do something they will wait and find a weakness. On the other hand if you increase security even more it can became a bother or result in the loss of your privacy. How willing are we to heighten the security around us? I often hear people complaining at air ports about how strict they are; you cant even carry a liquid on the plane over a certain oz amount, and even legal the items must be in a plastic bag, or you have to throw them out. How much of our privacy are we wiling to give up for a little extra protection, and does this extra security actually prevent anything or is it just to make us feel better?

Celebrity Obsession

I have noticed that the obsession to be skinnier has spread to younger and younger generations of women. Magazines and TV shows have made girls self conscious and focused on achieving a certain look. I’m not saying that it is bad to want to be fit or to care about your health or looks, because we all do it. It just worries me when girls in grade school are already dealing with these issues. Recently, my little sister, who is ten, brought a Victoria’s Secret catalogue up to me. Tears were streaming down her face as she asked me why she didn’t look like the models. I honestly didn’t know what to say to her. I mean I know very few people who actually look like those models. I think sometimes the media has caused girls to set unrealistic goals for what they should look like. These girls feel as thought they cant be happy or fit in until they have the “perfect” body. This way of thinking has leaded to many eating disorders and depression among young girls. Kids are still growing, their bodies are still developing, and they need their nutrients. Encouraging kids to eat healthy or to go outside and exercise isn’t a bad thing at all. It just concerns me when they start counting calories.

How to be Good

According to Momaday, a good story should “shake us from complacency”. These stories don’t just hand the reader concrete answers; they make the reader ponder and question the underlying meaning of the novel. While reading one should be completely immersed with every aspect of the novel, not being able to set it down. The story should provoke new thoughts and raise new questions for its audience.
Nick Hornby’s novel How to be Good stimulated me to think about several issues. In the last paragraph Katie finally showed a little bit of contentment with her life. She was just starting to view them as a family again. Unfortunately, this passage foreshadows that an unhappy ending for this family is likely to happen. Katie’s failing marriage is represented by the gutter that David is trying to clean out. This gutter “is rotten, and should have been repaired years ago”(305). David is trying to fix the marriage and clean out the gutter, but he is only taking “wild pokes at the gutter” (305) by doing drastic actions like when he decided to have a complete spiritual make over. However, his extreme behavior change hasn’t made in progress in removing the trash from the gutter or repairing his marriage. Yet, Katie is still tying to maintain a positive attitude when she says, “ I can do this. I can live this life. I can, I can. It’s a spark I want to cherish, a splutter of life in a flat battery”(305). She wants to try to make things work between her and David, but her statement implies a little bit of doubt. Then she says, “I can see that there’s nothing out there at all.”, as she stares out at the sky behind David’s head. For me, this statement proves that Katie knows her marriage will never completely work, and she will never truly be happy, but is willing to give it a chance. In a way this shows Katie is almost over the marriage and lost the emotional connection. I believe that even if later down the road Katie is still unsatisfied with her marriage she will remain in it; its just too hard to start over.
This passage caught my attention because I can directly relate to it. When I was younger my parents were going through a divorce. It was obvious they had lost that spark, and the only reason why they stayed together was to make it easier on my brother and me. It made me think about how people imprisons themselves in situations that they are unhappy with because they don’t want to face their problems and start over. Once my parents got a divorce and remarried it was night and day how better off they were. It was like they were completely different people. If Katie would only take a risk and branch out, I believe she would be able to find happiness in life as well.