Monday, August 10, 2009

Beauty Queen Madness

This weekend, I sat through an hour of Toddlers and Tiaras. Boy, do I regret it. Not only is the sight of spray-on tan, stage makeup, curly hair-pieces, and glittery dresses shocking...the stories behind each kid made me ill.


The 4-year-old girl whose mother referred to tantrums as "diva moments" - and shrugged them off, along with the $70,000 in pageant-related expenses.

The 7-year-old twins competing against each other - and mom had her favorite, as everyone in the family and audience could tell. (I suspect the therapy bills for the 'lesser' twin will be legendary)

The cute 8-year-old boy, and his 2-week-old brother - both dressed in tuxedos, and proud mom comparing their on-stage 'performances'.

An hour of self-involved parents, wrapped up in their own dreams of winning children. An hour of tired, unhappy children. Why did I subject myself to this? Why would anyone think this is ok?

Let me just say...my children are beautiful. They have freckles, missing teeth, and silly grins. Their hair is windblown and messy, their clothes occasionally torn or muddy. They laugh and smile and dance around out of shear joy, not to please someone with a "Judge" sticker on their shirt. They will never enter a beauty pageant, but they will win praise - for hard work, for good grades, for being friends with the new kid, for trying their best in soccer. They are learning to value themselves and others for qualities inside each person...and not for the exterior appearance.


If there were an inner-beauty pageant, my children would be winners. No crowns necessary.



2 comments:

Sakuradesu said...

I saw pictures of some of the children the other day and omg they were soo incredible. I mean, it was so sad looking at all those little girls with tons of make up, hair arregements and all those dresses. They looked so old too.

Replica Watches said...

Wow, a beautiful crown and cute children tells the whole story, Designer has done a great work and lot of hard work. I would like to appreciate the efforts.