beauty pageants for pre-pubescent girls. is it always the parents who push their daughters into doing them?

Question

me and my girlfriend watched little miss sunshine the other night and we were commenting on whether it was always due to parental influence, or if the child would get the idea herself maybe. i think that an 8 year old girl could be influenced by things she sees on tv (beautiful women etc), things at school, magazines, toys (like those god-awful bratz or whatever) things in the street etc and decide herself that she would want to do something like a beauty contest. my girfriend disagrees and believes that this kind of influence can only come from parents, the kind of parents you read about in those 'real life' magazines under headlines like 'my 5 year old wants to be a glamour model and i support her all the way' kinda thing. what do you think? i gave the example that when i was 8 i got into birds, which wasn't something that came from my parents, although fair enough they supported this healthy interest,(according to my girlf, this is completely different though and not valid).

Answer 1

First of all to Vickie~calling 4-6 yr old girls "sluts" is not appropriate. Get a grip. I compete in a least one pageant a month and sometimes more. I am 14 but most of the pageants have a big age range and younger kids are included. I have seen examples of moms that made their daughters cry and yell at them for not smiling or looking at the judges long enough. Luckily these are really in the minority. Most of the moms are very supportive of their daughters and proud of them. These girls love the competition and love being on stage. In Tx you see a lot of the same girls on the pageant circuit and they become friends. These girls have great ambitions and are smart. They do not live their entire existance waiting for the next pageant. Pageants are the last thing on my schedule. I am a high school cheerleader, professional model and actor and then when I have time I compete in pageants. No one forces me. I have won lots of cash and scholarships, bonds, prizes and gorgeous crowns. I know of a 7 yr old that made over 75,000.00 by competing on the pageant circuit last year. She retired this year and no longer competes. It's a positive experience for most girls. The moms you see on the tv documentaries are not your typical pageant moms.

Answer 2

MY daughters both do pageants. Taylor is 6 and Isabelle is 2 1/2. I don't push them to do pageants. they want ot and they enjoy it. Taylor started a little over a year ago. We were looking throught the paper doing our reading time together and we saw teh ad for apageant nearby. so she and i both went o a web site that sells kids formall attire and she picked out her dress all by herself. It was a long red dress and I was worried that since she is like me and clumbsy that she would fall down or somethign while walking. but she did great. Isabelle was Her Tay Tay what she calls her sister and she wanted a fretty dress(Pretty dress) So we got her one and they both created walks etc on thier own. Its cute and silly and then once we went to the pageant they just walked real fast and off the stage. We didn't do no fancy hair and will never do make up or bathing suits either. Taylor had some curls in her hair but sinceit was raining they fell out but she still won best hair and isabelle won all kinds of awards. Does one get mad when another wins nope. they have fun and now have made many friends that they see when we exchange pics. There are some parents who push thier kids but I don't. We do pageants when they want. you push a kid to go and do one and if you even watch local pageants at malls or hotels you will find the parents who push thier kids those kids don't do as well as the kids who go out an have fun!

Answer 3

I'm reading through these comments and it am literally in tears, I'm 13 years old and I compete in beauty pageants but OMG WHAT YOU SEE ON TV ISNT ALL THAT HAPPENS. I love pageants and everyone who competes with me does, yes of coarse your gonna say oh there's fake stuff and fake tan and fake this but there's such thing as natural were you wear mascara and lipgloss what you guys are thinking of is what they show on tv, glitz. And for everyone saying that there mother is living through them or that they look like sluts or prostitutes shut up! Pageants boost our confidence and self esteem I used to wear pants and long sleeved turtle necks because I wasn't confident but now I feel like I own the world!! Take my word it's not like it is on tv I went to on of the ones on toddlers and tiaras and they showed all the bad stuff they just happened to cut out that another little girl lent a girl a dress or all the good stuff they make it seem like the kids don't wanna do it. Trust me if the kids doesn't wanna do it the mother would most likely not Enter her I mean these things aren't free so please stop commenting mean things everyone get a bad experience once and awhile right? Thank :)

Answer 4

When my daughter was 4, I enterd her into a local pageant. It was not a glitzy pageant with makeup, fake hair and false teeth, it was very natural!!! Flowergirl type dress too. Anyway, she loved it!! She loves getting her hair curled and put on pretty dresses!! At one pageant, I saw a mother smack her child because she would not do what the mother wanted her to do. In my opinion, that is a child that is being forced to do pageants. The day my child says "Mommy, I want to play soccer and i don't want to do pageants", I will say: OK! So, it is not always the parent. I did introduce pageants to her, but I do not force her to do them

Answer 5

Both.
Some mothers want it and push their daughters, and sometimes they push too far. But some little girls really want and dream about it.

I think that little girls should be pulled aside and quizzed about their ambitions vs. their parents' ambitions as far as the pagents go before they are aloud to compete.

Answer 6

I think it's a bit of both.
Parents who push too much (think Dina Lohan) and parents who can't/won't say no to their children (like the parents in the movie).
Good flick BTW. Have you seen "Drop Dead Gorgeous"?

Answer 7

I think it is about half and half. I did know a girl who was in pageants and her mother would put her on diets and treat her like crap. It was terrible... but there are also the girls that dream about it and really want to do it.

Answer 8

It is a form of child exploitation in my opinion. You are right, at about eight, both my daughters started asking if they could participate in competitions, of course their idea of competitive events were more along the lines of 4H anbd Tae Kwan Do. We supported them and when they showed potential we helped push them through tough times, not forcing them to do anything, but offering advice and guidance when they were ready to give up. One daughter made a bundle of money showing animals at the fair... (thousands)./
The other is a black belt in TKD, competes (and wins) in sparring and form competitions, and aspires to open her own TKD studio for kids.

Answer 9

I think Miss Teen South Carolina says it all.

Answer 10

some girl really want to do it, some other just get pushed by their parents, this last is so sad.....