My daughter Aela is beautiful! not to brag, but she is. People tell me all the time that she should enter pageants like the little girls in the TLC show Toddlers in Tiaras. I considered this, seeing as Aela loves to model for people and she was a baby model for magazines and diaper adds and things, but my husband says a firm no. He believes that pageant mom’s are crazy ( not all of them are) and that Aela will be forced to grow up before her time. I believe if i entered her in to a pageant i would not go overboard and she would not be allowed to do, say, act or wear some of the same things as the little girls in the show. What are your thoughts on this? Pageants of no pageants?
ADDED NOTE: All of my girls who have wanted to do pageants have done some sort of natural pageant in their past. I do not EVER let my girls wear make up until they are 13 years old so i would NEVER put [name]Aela[/name] in make-up! EVER! The pageant i’m looking into is a natural pageant that focus more on talent and personality and clothes than they do searching for ‘the next pretty face’ if wasn’t this, i would not even think about putting my baby in it! We train our children in the way they should grow and make sure they are respectful, kind, loving and gracious young men and women and would never teach them that they must be the most beautiful.
I wouldn’t do it. [name]Even[/name] if you are not a typical “pageant mom” she will be surrounded by them. Plus, what kind of message will your little girl get growing up being judged on her looks?
I agree with poptart. I think parading a little girl around while she shows off to a crowd of people is disgusting. She has to act like a little adult and wear make up and that just not right. They aren’t dolls to be dressed up and parade around to be judged on their looks. All it does is send a message to all those little girls that the only way to be good enough is to be the prettiest one. Besides, even if you weren’t that type of mom, all the other moms are still there being vicious to their little girls. What if the wrong type of person is there in the crowd? There have been plenty of pageant children who have been kidnapped by pedophiles.
I wouldn’t ever do that. If my daughter wanted to be in a pageant when she was older, like a teenager, I might let her, but not as a young child.
Because I am this kind of person I would make a list. I would list all the things I can think of about pageants and whether or not they fit with your family values. I would look at the pros and cons and then go through them one by one. Are there ways to offset the cons enough to neutralise them? Would this satisfy your husband? Then I would look at the pros and see if there is another way to achieve them.
For example [name]Con[/name] - Time to compete, solution limit to 3 per year. Pro - Stage skills, alternate option community drama group.
Then I would weigh the whole lot up. Your hubby’s discomfort would be a big red flag for me.
I think Dantea summed it up perfectly. Plus, why would you put only one daughter into them? Why not all of them? What kind of message is that sending your kids? “I think Aela is the most beautiful, so I’ll put her in pageants.”.
It wouldn’t be very good for your other kids self esteem, if you only allow one daughter to compete.
I completely disagree with everything pageants promote and I definitely wouldn’t allow my own daughters do them.
I 100 percent agree with this. That’s not a message I ever wanna give to my kids that it is okay to be judged on your looks, that being pretty has any kind of importance or defines them. I can’t even watch it, it disgusts me to see kids who grow up thinking it’s important to be pretty. [name]Just[/name] so wrong.
I absolutely wouldn’t put her in pageants. I’ve got one of those super cute daughters too (3 years old) and I am trying to make sure she is kind and polite and values herself for being a good helper and a good friend, and she will definitely play a sport eventually. Like everyone else has said, overemphasizing the importance of a girl’s looks doesn’t do her any favours. Some of the best girls I’ve known were really pretty girls who had no idea they were. They were too busy being great students and athletes and friends. I feel like that sets a girl up best for success and happiness in life.
And take it from someone who came second in a pageant (they didn’t call it that, but that’s what it was) when they were nine: it’s competitive, it’s horrible and it’s uncomfortable watching the girl who came in third place throw a tantrum. Furthermore, these days I find it’s a shallow message. Girls as young as Aela should not be taught to believe their value is in the way they look - because it isn’t! I’m sure she has more qualities than beauty.
If all your daughters have done natural modeling and pageants in the past… why are you just now questioning if it’s the right thing to do? Also, why hasn’t your husband minded in the past if he’s so against it now?