Toddlers and Tiaras

[KristyHall]

Does anyone else find it troubling that pageants as well as popular culture likes to put a value on female, woman and girl alike, based on their physical appearance? The face and body has an exasperation ate, beauty fades, your mind lasts for ever, and until people stop tieing a girl's physical appearance to their sense of self esteem, we are going to continue to have serious health and emotional problems in women.
BTW I did pageants growing up, and even though my other was not a stage parent and I did it as a girl because I wanted to, mostly because I wanted to buy into the media's vision of what makes a worthy girl, I struggled with body image issues the rest of my life.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Is that why so many women are neurotic? They do image on men and being masculine and all that crud too. That's the reason so many kids join the Marines. Ultimate test of manhood.

I think anything that parents go overboard on is bad for the kid. Pageants, little leagues of every kind. I knew a woman that pushed and pushed her kid to be an ice skating Olympic hopeful. Poor kid had to skate every day. Whenever she failed, it just about killed her.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Toddlers and Tiaras is one of those shows.......

I watched it last night for the first time in a LONG time. If anything, I think that shows stops people from thinking it is a good idea to put your child in one.

They talk about how much it costs, you can clearly see the lack of balance in the parents lives when there homes are in disrepair and yet they can spend 3K on a pageant.

The photos, the makeup, the fake tans, the fake teeth, the dresses and cheap crowns............ all that money spent for a chance at a few dollars back.



But the poster that said it was like youth sports, boy are they right! Having spent years on a youth sport board, I can tell you that there are parents that will spend thousands on gear and extra training and camps. More often than not, the player is really there for the treats at the end of the game. Parents spend $$$ on having the best team snacks, latest gear and apparel.

For some sports are about learning to play as a team and developing coordination etc. For pageants (at least for the parents that do not get lost in it) if the kids have fun and feel they are special, is it really different than needing your child to be the star on the sports team?

It is sad when parents push their children to fulfill the parents needs.

(one parent proudly told me how they planned the timing of their childs birth so that he could be the oldest "legal" age for that sport......wonder what they would have done had they found out he was a she? The kid hated the sport with a passion and was a total goof off. Dad would volunteer to be on the board just to get coaches to want his child on their team. This same dad dropped my sons pinewood derby car when it beat his sons-doubt his kid touched the car prior to the debry)

If anything, that show is a warning to some parents (please note most parents do not take their competition that far)

 

[Zinnia-Hen]

LOL I've seen it. Poor kids.

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
Is that why so many women are neurotic? They do image on men and being masculine and all that crud too. That's the reason so many kids join the Marines. Ultimate test of manhood.

I think anything that parents go overboard on is bad for the kid. Pageants, little leagues of every kind. I knew a woman that pushed and pushed her kid to be an ice skating Olympic hopeful. Poor kid had to skate every day. Whenever she failed, it just about killed her.

Oops! I mean expiration date! I shouldn't post when I'm tired!

 

[Wifezilla]

I watch THE SOUP which often shows clips. Yikes! What a train wreck!

As for what happens to these kids when they grow up...

 

[MsPony]

Do these parents realize that men are ¶erving on these little girls? I mean pedophile men. That's disgusting.

As for overzealous parents, we had a mom at the barn like that. Her daughter couldn't ride my *30 year old mare*, who had been a 4 foot jumper and eventer in her day, and had carried me through parades the past 6 years in "retirement" from show. The child wanted to ride my advanced Arabian (5 foot jumper.) The trainer was always like no? Not until you can ride the old horse? The mom did NOT get it and left.