Pageant Panic
Since the debut of the hit television series “Toddlers and Tiaras,” people across America have declared their opinions about child beauty pageants. Some people despise the mothers who put their child in pageants, but others insist that pageants can benefit children later in life. Looking at one side of the aisle, one may assume that parents should never enter their children in such a contest, but they do occasionally benefit the child’s development. A few pageants may enhance your child’s ability to feel confident in front of people and instill a sense of competition in her, but the idea of “living the pageant lifestyle” will likely have negative effects on your child in the future. While children can occasionally have positive experiences in beauty pageants, the consequences of obsessing over winning are too severe to ignore. Some people claim that children learn self discipline through beauty pageants; however, as parents teach contestants to follow strict diets and exercise regimens in order to appear more attractive to the judges, they really only learn that they must work to please others. In “Glitter and glamour: Inside …show more content…
The positive aspects that some claim children can gain from beauty pageants include, but are not limited to: friendship, social skills, and a competitive spirit. While children may learn these lessons by experimenting with pageants, obsessing over every pageant will hinder the child’s ability to enjoy any of these benefits as they only focus on one goal: winning the title. Their fixation on success can therefore lead to a child not wanting to become friends with her competition, which will not help her gain social skills or the ability to compete in a healthy and productive way. A few pageants may help the child, but entering in each one available may have irreconcilable
Since the debut of the hit television series “Toddlers and Tiaras,” people across America have declared their opinions about child beauty pageants. Some people despise the mothers who put their child in pageants, but others insist that pageants can benefit children later in life. Looking at one side of the aisle, one may assume that parents should never enter their children in such a contest, but they do occasionally benefit the child’s development. A few pageants may enhance your child’s ability to feel confident in front of people and instill a sense of competition in her, but the idea of “living the pageant lifestyle” will likely have negative effects on your child in the future. While children can occasionally have positive experiences in beauty pageants, the consequences of obsessing over winning are too severe to ignore. Some people claim that children learn self discipline through beauty pageants; however, as parents teach contestants to follow strict diets and exercise regimens in order to appear more attractive to the judges, they really only learn that they must work to please others. In “Glitter and glamour: Inside …show more content…
The positive aspects that some claim children can gain from beauty pageants include, but are not limited to: friendship, social skills, and a competitive spirit. While children may learn these lessons by experimenting with pageants, obsessing over every pageant will hinder the child’s ability to enjoy any of these benefits as they only focus on one goal: winning the title. Their fixation on success can therefore lead to a child not wanting to become friends with her competition, which will not help her gain social skills or the ability to compete in a healthy and productive way. A few pageants may help the child, but entering in each one available may have irreconcilable