All across the country especially the Southern states, parents and guardians convince their young children, even toddlers to participate in beauty pageants, embedding in them high hopes and dreams. While pageants may consist of different competitions, a typical pageant flaunts four competitions: a close-up appraisal, sportswear or casual wear, formal wear and play time with the judges. Basically judges expect and evaluate toddlers on individuality, looks and confidence (Nussbaum). Many pageants are available to future contestants and beauty queens all across the country. To enter his/her child a parent must complete a form and contribute money by paying an entry fee. Beauty pageants for toddlers, as seen in popular television, and the news can be trying and even dangerous for a young child as well as expensive for their parents, but they do grant scholarships and usually support some type of charity.
In TLC’s reality television show, Toddlers in Tiara’s, viewers watch young children compete with expectations of winning a pageant, money and a crown. While TLC provides the audience with an accurate account of beauty pageants for young children, they also expose flaws and controversy associated with these pageants. The first episode displayed all the chaos associated with the Universal Royalty pageant along with intense rivalry often correlated with pageants. In this particular pageant, five sisters, in which there was a set of fraternal twins, competed. The twins, AshLynn and BreAnn competed in the same age group and therefore rivaled against each other. The mother clearly favored AshLynn. In her critique, Dennette Wilford, a popular television critic, expresses the obvious of the twins’ mother, “Jamie (the mother) seems like a fairly together mom but once her attention was turned to the twins, she became evil” (Wilford). In the program the mother claims that BreAnn has a big nose and when BreAnn wins, the mother could not be any less satisfied (Wilford). Also the episode shows Jamie purchasing a new pageant dress for AshLynn while BreAnn must wear an old ripped dress, an error which, her mother assures, will surely cost her points in the pageant. Clearly, the mother is instigating some massive sibling rivalry issues. Similar to Jamie, who was a former beauty queen, many parents force their dreams on their children.
Parents often affect their toddlers’ participation in beauty pageants, usually persuading and encouraging their children to win pageants thus fulfilling the parents’ dreams. In her assessment of Toddlers and Tiara, Michele Category observes, “There’s nothing beautiful about parents living vicariously through their defenseless children” (Category). Although not all parents of beauty pageant participants force their young children to fulfill their dreams, many seem to hope their children win awards that they did not. One example contradicting this common occurrence on Toddlers and Tiara’s is Mickie and Eden. Although Eden is only fourteen months old when the program was filmed she seems to highly enjoy the pageant life. Mickie also seems to enjoy using this opportunity to spend time with her daughter; the two seem to have fun with it and ignore the competition. Although the pair mostly enjoys these pageants, Mickie and her husband have spent a fortune on keeping Eden in pageants, similar to many families.
Parents who wish to enter their young children into beauty pageants must pay an extensive amount of money, not only for an entry fee but also dresses, head pieces, and other expenses attributed to pageants. Beauty pageants compose an entire industry; a nearly $5 billion dollar industry (Giroux). Once again, TLC’s Toddlers and Tiara’s reveals this aspect of beauty pageants. Denette Wilford shares, “Mickie confessed in Eden’s short lifetime, they have spent around $65,000-75,000 on pageants, even dishing out $3,600 on a dress” (Wilford). The financial strain placed on these families may affect their health and common way of life. Although contestants may win money, they must be in first place or somewhere near the top and it is not often common. Also the financial situation may place more pressure on the parents to transform and dress up their toddlers more, which may increase the competition and may decrease the toddlers’ innocence.
With the constant focus on looks and perfection, toddlers may lose their sense of childhood and innocence during beauty pageants. These toddlers, not even in school, must undergo spray tans, nail appointments, hair appointments, and make over’s. Do adults even enjoy spray tans? These kids are subjected to errands and pampering of adults. Could this possibly cause a harmful affect on their normal childhoods and innocence? If these children look similar to adults due to make up, spray tans and other contributors, then they may be seen as adults and expected to act accordingly. On the topic of beauty pageants Giroux, the author of many psychology essays, states, “… the boundary between innocence and impurity, child and adult, became blurred…” Pageants not only affect the way adults view these toddlers, they also affect the way these children see themselves, especially as they grow up.
Beauty pageants for young children may affect how they feel about themselves, during childhood and later in life. In a scholarly psychology essay, psychologists compare eleven women who participated in beauty pageants and toddlers and eleven women who did not. They concluded that, “Childhood pageant participants scored higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation than non-participants, and showed a trend toward greater ineffectiveness” (Wonderlich). Although judges base their assessments on aspects other than beauty, “…they are called BEAUTY pageants and they have been and always will be based on using arbitrary standards of ‘beauty’ to make one contestant better than all the rest” (Kendrick). Toddlers are so vulnerable and base their actions off what they see; if all they see is a heavy emphasis on beauty, they may be obsessed with looks as they grow up. Although these beauty pageants may be psychologically harmful, not all pageants are the same and subject toddlers to the same emphasis on beauty.
Like everything else, not all beauty pageants are the same and therefore should not be judged in the same manner. For instance, some toddler pageants restrict the toddlers from appearing to be too grown up. The Sunburst State Beauty Pageant, in Missouri, restricts the use of glitzy headdresses and dresses, which also helps to reduce the cost of this pageant. Also, “Fitzwater (the head of the pageant) said contestants are expected to have ‘age-appropriate hair make up” (Fennell). This restriction not only will help to reduce self-image issues but will also help parents to treat the toddlers appropriately for their ages. Beauty pageants may also be helpful by granting children scholarships (Copeland), although toddlers do not necessarily have an urgent need for scholarships.
Between the spray tans, heavy makeup and huge hair, beauty pageants seem to be too much for young children. It almost seems ridiculous to pile makeup onto a four year old while suffocating her in hairspray for a beauty pageant. Although these types of pageants are seen on popular television shows such as Toddlers and Tiara’s, different types of pageants exist, such as the Sunburst State Beauty Pageant. Pageants similar to these restrict the amount of makeup a toddler wears in a pageant. While some mothers want their children to follow in their footsteps and compete in pageants, others simply want time to bond with their children. Beauty pageants for toddlers should not be taken seriously, but as a time to bond with one’s daughter without subjecting her to stressors and adult behaviors.
In TLC’s reality television show, Toddlers in Tiara’s, viewers watch young children compete with expectations of winning a pageant, money and a crown. While TLC provides the audience with an accurate account of beauty pageants for young children, they also expose flaws and controversy associated with these pageants. The first episode displayed all the chaos associated with the Universal Royalty pageant along with intense rivalry often correlated with pageants. In this particular pageant, five sisters, in which there was a set of fraternal twins, competed. The twins, AshLynn and BreAnn competed in the same age group and therefore rivaled against each other. The mother clearly favored AshLynn. In her critique, Dennette Wilford, a popular television critic, expresses the obvious of the twins’ mother, “Jamie (the mother) seems like a fairly together mom but once her attention was turned to the twins, she became evil” (Wilford). In the program the mother claims that BreAnn has a big nose and when BreAnn wins, the mother could not be any less satisfied (Wilford). Also the episode shows Jamie purchasing a new pageant dress for AshLynn while BreAnn must wear an old ripped dress, an error which, her mother assures, will surely cost her points in the pageant. Clearly, the mother is instigating some massive sibling rivalry issues. Similar to Jamie, who was a former beauty queen, many parents force their dreams on their children.
Parents often affect their toddlers’ participation in beauty pageants, usually persuading and encouraging their children to win pageants thus fulfilling the parents’ dreams. In her assessment of Toddlers and Tiara, Michele Category observes, “There’s nothing beautiful about parents living vicariously through their defenseless children” (Category). Although not all parents of beauty pageant participants force their young children to fulfill their dreams, many seem to hope their children win awards that they did not. One example contradicting this common occurrence on Toddlers and Tiara’s is Mickie and Eden. Although Eden is only fourteen months old when the program was filmed she seems to highly enjoy the pageant life. Mickie also seems to enjoy using this opportunity to spend time with her daughter; the two seem to have fun with it and ignore the competition. Although the pair mostly enjoys these pageants, Mickie and her husband have spent a fortune on keeping Eden in pageants, similar to many families.
Parents who wish to enter their young children into beauty pageants must pay an extensive amount of money, not only for an entry fee but also dresses, head pieces, and other expenses attributed to pageants. Beauty pageants compose an entire industry; a nearly $5 billion dollar industry (Giroux). Once again, TLC’s Toddlers and Tiara’s reveals this aspect of beauty pageants. Denette Wilford shares, “Mickie confessed in Eden’s short lifetime, they have spent around $65,000-75,000 on pageants, even dishing out $3,600 on a dress” (Wilford). The financial strain placed on these families may affect their health and common way of life. Although contestants may win money, they must be in first place or somewhere near the top and it is not often common. Also the financial situation may place more pressure on the parents to transform and dress up their toddlers more, which may increase the competition and may decrease the toddlers’ innocence.
With the constant focus on looks and perfection, toddlers may lose their sense of childhood and innocence during beauty pageants. These toddlers, not even in school, must undergo spray tans, nail appointments, hair appointments, and make over’s. Do adults even enjoy spray tans? These kids are subjected to errands and pampering of adults. Could this possibly cause a harmful affect on their normal childhoods and innocence? If these children look similar to adults due to make up, spray tans and other contributors, then they may be seen as adults and expected to act accordingly. On the topic of beauty pageants Giroux, the author of many psychology essays, states, “… the boundary between innocence and impurity, child and adult, became blurred…” Pageants not only affect the way adults view these toddlers, they also affect the way these children see themselves, especially as they grow up.
Beauty pageants for young children may affect how they feel about themselves, during childhood and later in life. In a scholarly psychology essay, psychologists compare eleven women who participated in beauty pageants and toddlers and eleven women who did not. They concluded that, “Childhood pageant participants scored higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation than non-participants, and showed a trend toward greater ineffectiveness” (Wonderlich). Although judges base their assessments on aspects other than beauty, “…they are called BEAUTY pageants and they have been and always will be based on using arbitrary standards of ‘beauty’ to make one contestant better than all the rest” (Kendrick). Toddlers are so vulnerable and base their actions off what they see; if all they see is a heavy emphasis on beauty, they may be obsessed with looks as they grow up. Although these beauty pageants may be psychologically harmful, not all pageants are the same and subject toddlers to the same emphasis on beauty.
Like everything else, not all beauty pageants are the same and therefore should not be judged in the same manner. For instance, some toddler pageants restrict the toddlers from appearing to be too grown up. The Sunburst State Beauty Pageant, in Missouri, restricts the use of glitzy headdresses and dresses, which also helps to reduce the cost of this pageant. Also, “Fitzwater (the head of the pageant) said contestants are expected to have ‘age-appropriate hair make up” (Fennell). This restriction not only will help to reduce self-image issues but will also help parents to treat the toddlers appropriately for their ages. Beauty pageants may also be helpful by granting children scholarships (Copeland), although toddlers do not necessarily have an urgent need for scholarships.
Between the spray tans, heavy makeup and huge hair, beauty pageants seem to be too much for young children. It almost seems ridiculous to pile makeup onto a four year old while suffocating her in hairspray for a beauty pageant. Although these types of pageants are seen on popular television shows such as Toddlers and Tiara’s, different types of pageants exist, such as the Sunburst State Beauty Pageant. Pageants similar to these restrict the amount of makeup a toddler wears in a pageant. While some mothers want their children to follow in their footsteps and compete in pageants, others simply want time to bond with their children. Beauty pageants for toddlers should not be taken seriously, but as a time to bond with one’s daughter without subjecting her to stressors and adult behaviors.
Works Cited
Category, Michele. "'Toddlers & Tiaras': TLC sinks to a new low." Burlington Vermont News, Restaurants, more by Top Local Experts. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Copeland, Sadie; Cown, Debra, Grodnitzky, Steven. “Beauty Pageants: Private Benefit Worth Watching.” Web. Dec. 1 2009.
Fennell, Tonya. "A burst of fun for little women at pageant: Youngsters compete in Sunburst State Fair Beauty Pageant." The Sedalia Democrat 18 Aug. 2009: 1. Print.
Fragomeni, Carmela. "STUDENTS PETITION TO BAN TV SHOW; BEAUTY PAGEANT FOR KIDS 'CREEPY'." The Hamilton Spectator 4 Feb. 2009: A05. Print.
Giroux, Henry A.. "Nymphet Fantasies CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS AND THE POLITICS OF INNOCENCE." Social Text 16.4 (1998): 31, 32. Print.
Nussbaum, Kareen. "Children and Beauty Pageants." A Minor Consideration Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Wilford, Denette. "Denette's Digs: 'Toddlers & Tiaras' finally in on the joke Sympatico.ca TV Guide." TV Guide Canada: the online TV guide for TV shows and series Sympatico TV Guide Canada. N.p., 24 July 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Wonderlich, Anna; Ackard, Diann; Henderson, Judith, Eating Disorders May/Jun2005, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p291
Category, Michele. "'Toddlers & Tiaras': TLC sinks to a new low." Burlington Vermont News, Restaurants, more by Top Local Experts. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Copeland, Sadie; Cown, Debra, Grodnitzky, Steven. “Beauty Pageants: Private Benefit Worth Watching.” Web. Dec. 1 2009.
Fennell, Tonya. "A burst of fun for little women at pageant: Youngsters compete in Sunburst State Fair Beauty Pageant." The Sedalia Democrat 18 Aug. 2009: 1. Print.
Fragomeni, Carmela. "STUDENTS PETITION TO BAN TV SHOW; BEAUTY PAGEANT FOR KIDS 'CREEPY'." The Hamilton Spectator 4 Feb. 2009: A05. Print.
Giroux, Henry A.. "Nymphet Fantasies CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS AND THE POLITICS OF INNOCENCE." Social Text 16.4 (1998): 31, 32. Print.
Nussbaum, Kareen. "Children and Beauty Pageants." A Minor Consideration Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Wilford, Denette. "Denette's Digs: 'Toddlers & Tiaras' finally in on the joke Sympatico.ca TV Guide." TV Guide Canada: the online TV guide for TV shows and series Sympatico TV Guide Canada. N.p., 24 July 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
Wonderlich, Anna; Ackard, Diann; Henderson, Judith, Eating Disorders May/Jun2005, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p291
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