Community Corner

Mom's Talk: Do Beauty Pageants Teach Skills?

Can competing in pageants give young girls a leg up in a competitive world?

Beauty pageant contestants go through a lot. They have to practice with pageant coaches for hours a day. They have to buy gowns that cost hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

They have to get teeth bleachings, manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxings. One contestant I saw in a documentary went to a chiropractor for an alignment to improve her posture. The day of the pageant, the contestant must sit still for hours to get her hair and makeup just right. But the prizes make it all worth it, what with cash, cars, trips, and princess canopy beds.

You read that right.

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The pageant contestants I’m referring to are the little stars of Toddlers and Tiaras, a reality show about young children who compete in beauty pageants, and the competition is fierce.

Parents of these tiny contestants don’t bat an eye about spending thousands of dollars on pageant coaches, costumes, dresses, beauty treatments, and even flippers, which cover up a child’s missing teeth. And let's not forget the mom who claimed to give her 8-year-old daughter Botox injections to compete in pageants.

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Some may argue that pageants teach little ones how to be comfortable in front of a crowd. But the extreme lengths to which some parents will go, like visiting the chiropractor, seem to be a bit much. And the flippers? What is sweeter than a little kid's snaggletooth grin?

As contestants get older, the stakes for pageants get even higher. Today, it’s Little Miss Small Town, and tomorrow it’s Miss America. I’ve watched the Miss USA pageant several times. All the contestants seem to be a size zero, with perfect hair, teeth and bodies. Do pageants set the tone for impossibly high standards of beauty?

There are some competitions for children younger than age 12 that are, in fact, makeup free, but rarely televised or promoted like their flashier counterparts. Some of the contestants on Toddlers and Tiaras go natural, but they are outnumbered by their glammed up counterparts.

I do know that contestants are judged on other things such as personality and talent, but the focus of the pageants seems to be on looks.


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