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? What messages are they sending to their children? Taking your kid to get a full head of highlights, a spray on tan, or even an eyebrow wax is basically saying, “You are not pretty enough the way you are.”
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. Beauty pageants may act like they are promoting a good cause or providing scholarships, but at what cost? The main focus of pageants is to judge a girl’s exterior, and a fake one at that. Shouldn’t we be more concerned with someone’s intellect than how they can make themselves look. For example, Miss Teen South Carolina was asked a question on why she thinks some Americans don’t know where the U.S.A. is located on a map. Though she is stunningly gorgeous with her long blonde hair and bright, white teeth, when she opened her mouth she completely botched the question. Maybe it would be effective to spend more time educating these young women than encouraging them to spend hours primping themselves.
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? I, personally, can’t think of many good things to say about pageants for any age group.