One of TLC's top rated reality shows is called Toddlers and Tiaras.
Why are we as a society so fascinated with this phenomenon?
Child beauty pageants: Are they positive or poisonous?
Is this considered exploitation?
Do beauty pageants negatively affect children or is it merely all in good fun?
Explain your answers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
37 comments:
I think it's stupid I don't know why anyone would watch it or why anyone would even enter these beauty pagents. They're wasting they're money parading their kids around like they're toys or babrbies. They are trying to live their fantasy through their kids and it's a shame that parent's can be so selfish. I think it negatively impacts these children because they are forced intot hese situations where looks dominate and they become very shallow and don't know the worth of money. It is not in all good fun when it is taken far to seriously and not for fun.
Chris Grenzig pd 2
Seriously? I can't even believe that this is a T.V. show. These families sometimes have no money whatsoever and they are willing to spend it on these crazy things for their children! Beauty Pageants corrupt children’s mind. Yeah, it is a positive thing for them if they win, but if they don't then it makes them think that they are not good enough. Beauty pageants can be so overrated and parents need to realize that doing this to there children can possibly change how they act for the rest of their lives. I do not think pageants are fun at all. I do not think that parents should be involving their children in these pageants because all that it does it messes up their brains and makes them either conceited or feel as if that they are not good enough.
-Nicole Williams
As a society, we are so fascinated by this phenomenon because it is so rediculous. Child beauty pageants are absolutely poisonous because they are teaching these children horrible morals and that life is based upon winning. This is considered exploitation because the kids are being forced into this lifestyle filled with the idea that if your not perfect, you won't be successful. These parents need to stop living through their kids and let them have fun and do the things normal children do.
Abby Dante period 2
People are so fascinated with child beauty pagents because today, all most people care about is how they look. These pageants negatively affect the children because they will grow up to think that they are better than everyone else, and they will only judge other people based on their looks. It makes no sense why parents would let their kids participate in these pageants. It is a waste of time and money and it is negatively affecting them and their children. The only reason why parents would promote these pageants to their children is because they want to live through their children.
Stephen Pulaski Per. 2
we are so fasinated with these things because they are how our society is. everything is about who has the best things and some people think they should spend a rediculous amount of money to make there daughters look the best they can. child beauty pageants are not positive in anyway unless they win. it makes the children feel like they have to be perfect and they arent pretty enough on ther own. i think that by putting little kids in beauty pageants affects them there whole lives bevause then they are always going to have to think they have to look pretty when they are pretty just being themselves and they are always going to try to impress there parents because they think they dont love them the way they are.
Sounds messed up. It is hard to believe that people watch these shows. Beauty pageants in general are kinda weird because they are so superficial and end world hunger-esque. I would guess that they are extremely dangerous to the kids because of the pressure put on them at a young age. Just on wikipedia, it is like: 2-3 age group, 4-6 age group, zygote-fetus age group. It is definitely exploitation of the kids because they are just being used for how cute they can act at a young age. I doubt there is much fun in them for anyone because of how competitive it is.
This is actually kinda funny. I don't know why we are fascinated with this. My sister watches this show and finds it fun to watch. But I think it's just to look at and say wow, those parents are crazy. To me it is just comical because these kids are 5 and are so rediculously mind washed because the parents are nuts. I mean, children beauty pageants can definitly be a positive thing. It can be like a sport. But i think that these people are filmed because they are the craziest of the crazy. I am pretty sure that every beauty pageant kid is not like that. i think that beauty pageants also can be a thing that it all for fun. When the parents get involved to this extent it becomes a negative thing.
Chris McCormack Period 2
America is by far the most stereotypical nation. Not only because fashion dictates our society, but also because of the way the media has portrayed the ideal male and female. When it comes down to it, the media makes people interested in stupid things. The shows make a mockery of society and make people not care about money. Parents try to live through their children and try to make them do what they wished they did when they were little. I believe there is nothing wrong with positive self esteem and confidence, which beauty pageant winners receive. But, what about those who lose? There is nothing wrong with loosing, that is a learning experience, but it distorts little girls realities of “pretty” and decreases their self esteem. I think pageants like Miss America are fine because the woman seem to have grown into their own skin, but that starts from a young age. It is so unfortunate for girls to be uncomfortable in their skin. Perhaps, we should focus on teaching kids how to be comfortable with themselves and work on this on the inside.
I believe todays scoiety loves to see cute kids. Look back to the show "Kids say the darndest things," that show made everybody laugh because it showed how naive kids are.
I think the beauty pageants teach kids nothing. When they grow up their morals will be shot, they are not going to be able to learn from criticism or failure for that matter. There just going to grow up as whiny spoiled brats.
This is not necassarily the childs fault, it's mostly the parents fault. The parents are the ones that are pushing them through this, driving them, buying new clothes, and getting them makeovers. In most cases the parents are living through their kids. They wish to turn their kids into what they wanted to be.
I believe if a parent acts responsibily and treats this like any other sporting event, the kids might be able to learn something from a beauty pageant.
Bryan Martin Per.2
I dont't think its right at all to have children in beauty pageants. They're at such a young age that anything can effect them for the rest of their life. Growing up in these things the become superfical and snobby becasue thats what their surrounded by. No 4 year old should have to worry about what they look like or how they dress. Its only going to hurt them in the long run because most of these children that are on this show end up on drugs or something corrupt. I don't understand why people are so fascinated by these shows or beauty pagents it just shows how fake our society is.
Lauren Graff period 2
I think in today’s society, people are fascinated with this phenomenon because it is always about being younger and "prettier". I think it is absolutely ridiculous. Why do parents do this too their young kids? I think child beauty pageants today are poisonous. I think the way parents dress up their kids and do their make-up is ridiculous. Like to tell a kid you are not as pretty as another is ridiculous. I think that beauty pageants can be very poisonous to kids. I consider this exploitation. I think beauty pageants negatively affect children because it is very damaging for their self-esteem. It may cause a long term effect.
Vanity has become such an important aspect in our modern day society. In the eight grade I starterd using make-up and straighening my hair. When High School started, my eyes were open to a brand new materialistic world of which I never knew existed. Now a days, kids are exposed to that very world at ages in the single digits.
Beauty pageants are proof of this. Toddlers in Tiaras allows the public to see a group of children between the ages of 4 and 9, and how vain they can be. Many parents justify their actions (putting their toddlers into such an image consumed industry) by saying that pageantry builds self confidence and a healthy self-esteem. And they are somewhat right. Teahcing girls at a young age that they are beautiful and making them feel beautiful by dressing them up and having them exude confidence is a valuable lesson to be taught. However, pageants have taken this "life lesson" to the next extreme. Pounds of make-up, hair supplies, thousands upon thousands of dollars later and in the end, the main objective of it all has back fired on us. We are no longer teahcing little girls that they too are beautiful. Instead we have raised an army of monsters who want what they want, how they want it, when they want it; and if they don't get it, god bless whomever decides to stand in their way. The pageantry is teaching them that if you don't win then you're not pretty enough, not talented enough, not good enough. What kind of lesson is that? I believe that beauty pagaents were started with good intentions, because wihin reason they can be very beneficial. But now a days they have gotten out of hand and they are corrupting our society in many different ways, starting with the youngest generation. I can only imagine what lies ahead.
Nicole Savastano
Period 2
I think that it is discusting that this show Toddlers and Tiarasis is on TV, and people are fasinated by it. People think it is extremly entertaining and interesting to see how these families handle themselves. The families on this show dont even have alot of money and are paying an arm and a leg to put their daughters through these pagents and competitions. Parents who do this put their children through this trauma are simply doing it because they wish they had this opportunity as a child. Many parents live their lives through their childrens expirences.
I think this negatively impacts these childrens lives because they are forced in to many situations where looks dominate everything they are taught that money is all that matters. They will eventually have very shallow and low personalitys. It is not in all good fun when it is taken far to seriously and corrupts these childrens lives.
Personally, I'm not quite sure why anyone would waste their time watching this show. Our society has become so materialistic that it has almost become a sickness. We are so entrenched in making sure that we have top name brands and are up to date with Hollywood that I think we fail to accept each other for who we are. Society has slowly begun to judge people soley on what they look like on the outside rather than who they are on the inside. These child beauty pageants are poisonous and are making children victims of materialism at such an early age. I feel like this should be considered exploitation because children are to young to say that they don't want to do this. Parents think that it will make their child the best and in return will make them popular as well as their child. Being exposed to this at such an early age is most definitely negative. It will hurt a child's image and make them think that looking good is the most important thing. They will lack the ability to accept others who do not participate in such a disgraceful thing.
Gabriella Sehne, Period 8
Honestly, I can never see how this is a top rated show. I have never seen, or heard of it however, I don’t believe it should be played. Beauty pageants for teenagers and adults show how stressful and complicated they really are, so why do parents put their toddlers in a show like this? This show can cause the little toddlers to grow up and feel pressured into continuing with beauty pageants. I see child beauty pageants as poisonous because it is teaching these little toddlers that wearing lots of make-up and being noting but the best is the only acceptable thing from them. I think this is considered exploitation because I feel that parents didn’t even ask their children if they wanted to be part of this, and if they were asked I feel that they are too young to know what they are getting themselves into. In the end I feel that beauty pageants negatively affect children because it is teaching them that the materialistic life it the life they should be living.
Jackie Loveland
Period 8
Whenever I see child beauty pagaents on tv, I personally immediatly turn it off because I think it is so cruel to make a child dress up, put on makeup and parade around like a doll. There human beings! I think they are negative and only done for the parents. It's a chance for the adult to feel good about themselves with their child so they have them be in a beauty pageant to do so. I think that the parents dont ever really think what they are doing to the child and truely do exploite them. It's really mean to do that to a child because they are still growing up and don't understand much and i feel that pageants only slow down their growth making them grow up negatively. It also teaches the child that looks is the only thing that matters in life when it in fact isn't.
I honestly dont know why people are so interested to watch child beauty pagents. I think it is an unhealthy practice that teaches young girls the prettier and more talented you are the more important you are. To go so far to change their image to mold what the judges want to see is disgusting and is only hurting a child's self esteem. I think in order for these pagents to be "all in good fun" it should be based on how the children naturally look rather than allowing them to get highlights, acrylic nails, intense make up, and fake white teeth. It is selfish of parent to make their children loose their childhood and become so obsessd with how the look at what other people think of them.
Julianne Russo per 8
Children are supposed to grow into their own beauty and learn that people can be beautiful insied AND out. These child beauty pageants are stronly poisoning that whole theory. Children are learning at a very early age that there is only one kind of beauty. I feel this is extreme exploitation and more and more children are forcefully being put into these hainous shows. I think these pageants negatively affect children because they are having their self esteems hurt at way too early of an age. These pageants are just molding the children into one kind of a person. Not their own individual selves.
I don't know why people would watch 4 year olds in a beauty pageant. It's not just stupid and pointless television, those parents of the beauty pagaent kids are destroying there children's lives. Now at 4 years old, children are thinking that they have to look the best and you have to do what ever is necessary to win whether its dieting to look better, bodily reconstructive surgery, or just being nasty to other people to win. Those parents are raising little whores and a-holes who are goijng to be snotty, obsessive and just flat out crazy. I mean you can't blame the kids because they grew up thinking that this way was the right way to live.
I think this insane outlook on girls and young child trying to look pretty and older than they really are is rediculous. I don't find that entertaining or even normal. I think no child should ever be brought up in a world were imagines are everything. I am the least bit interested in beauty pagents. Image isn't anything and I would really like to sit down with one of the 9 year old girls who are involved in all that junk and see how she really feels about it. It put negative feelings in a person are such a young age. They shouldn't be worrying about those things they should be having fun and living life like a normal kid.
Jackie Saggese
period 8
I think that these child pagents are ridiculous. I don't know why people watch these or why parents make their children enter them. The parents just want to have their kids win these events for their own glory. The parents want the kids to suceed to make themselves happy, not the kids. I think that this also has a negative effect on the kids. They are put into these things by their parents so early that they arent even making the choices for themselves. They can become way too competitive which take the fun out of these things for the kids.
Matt Scicchitano Period. 8
Well if it's on television then it's probably a little over exaggerated. The parents are probably extremely crazy when it comes to pointless pageants and a waste of money. Yea it could be fun and cute to enter your kid into a pageant like once or twice in their lifetime or something, but people who do it so competitively and repeatedly are clearly messed up in the head if they think that it's like priority or something. I can imagine people just watch the show because it's ridiculous and it's probably just something entertaining to watch when bored, and eventually it'll probably turn into something to watch weekly cause you wanna know which kid wins. haha, i'd probably find it amusing myself. I think it's pretty stupid though that people think it's so important. What kind of a parent does that? What do you think that is teaching your child? Definitely not morals. When their kids grow up they're going to be shallow, greedy, selfish, and self absorbed. What smart parents..
I think this show is rediculous. Little kids should not be paraded on t.v. in obnoxious amounts of makeup just so we're entertained. This is such a stupid show, and I don't know why anyone would want to watch it. These little kids are being shown that looks are everything and this is going to affect them when they're older. We should go back to watching shows that require some sort of IQ to understand.
Diana Pacinello Period 8
I never heard of this show, so I don't know what they are making the kids look like, but if they are dressing them up in mini versions of "sexy" womans clothing thats pretty messed up. If they are just dressing them up to make them look like little cutie pies than I'd say its probebly fine. If your kid is upset about losing you can probebly convince them somehow that they are still awesome and not to worry about it.
I have never seen or heard of this show before so i dont really know what it is like. From the sound of it it looks like the parents of these children are trying to live through thier kids. They are living thier dreams through thier kids and it is not fair for the child. The parents will feel good about this but thier child will grow up and have estreme pressure and stress from thier childhood. There is nothing good that can come out of what these parents are doing to thier kids. It is bad parenting and selfishness.
I think that the whole 4-year old pagent thing is riduculus. Four year olds shouldn't have to look beautiful and they shouldn't have to be perfect. They should be crazy with chocolate smeared on their faces. They create a poisonous enviornment and they teach the child that looks and perfection are the most important things in life when in reality they mean very little. People's imperfections and individuality are what make them perfect, and its a person's character that makes them beautiful, not nessesarily their face. That child will grow up totally cluless and lost in a world full of ugly when all they've ever know was beautiful. They won't be prepared for what life throws at them, and they won't know the difference between fantasy and reality.
Beauty pageants are ridiculous at any age, but for parents to force their young children into competing is probably damaging to their self-esteem and mental health. I wouldn't say that it is exploitation unless the parents are doing something crazy like starving their kid to make her lose weight, something that endangers the child physically. Shows like this and shows like the Jon and Kate show are barely civilized. The whole country is watching, just waiting for that moment when these families' lives fall apart. I suppose the parents knew what they were getting into by going on these shows, and that's the price they're willing to pay for their fifteen mintues of fame.
I son't think this is all for fun, many children are forced into this by their parents who are just looking to make a buck. This is completely exploitaion by parents of their children. It's one thing if a little girl wants to enter a beauty contest thats fine. However; in these contests the girl are given unrealistic goals of beauty by their parents and made to wear clothes that are made to look "sexy". Also, I believe that this will have a long term affect on these girls giving them social disorder and inferiority complexes.
James Lopilato
Period 8
People are so fascinated with these beauty pagent shows because these shows are a really intense display of insanity. The shows about kids in beauty pagents are like a train wreck that you just can't look away from. I am guilty of catching a glimpse of these shows, seeing little girls in prostitute-like makeup and wondering why anyone would ever put their child through something like that. While winning is a big confidence boost for these young kids (not to mention an ego boost, which is the ugly, negative side of winning) these competitions are demeaning. Even in elementary school kids are taught a sense of equality among their peers. Despite how horrifying 5 year old being displayed in mini bikinis are, these children's mothers are worse. The mothers are typically the ones who get their children involved in pagents, and for what? I think that the mothers who forcibly enter their kids into these pagents are making a bad attempt at living vicariously through their children. If you look at these mothers more closely, you typically see frumpy women lacking any self-confidence whatsoever demanding absolute perfection from their toddlers who are being forced to learn the right way to pierouette before they can even walk. I think that beauty pagents were created to promote self-love and self confidence, but these messages were lost in translation, replaced with the demand of investing thousands upon thousands of dollars to making children "beautiful" and "pagent worthy".
Shayna Williams, Period 8
Honestly, most girls are self conscious enough as it is. We don't need to instill this quality in them any sooner than we already do. The things that contestants do to their bodies for pagents are unhealthy physically and emotionally. If you are naturally beautiful as a child, odds are you will be just as pretty (if not more so) when you are older. Then you can decide whether or not you want to do certain things to your body. You are educated and responsible enough to make those decisions on your own based on how much a beauty pagent is worth to you. When you are young, it is up to your parents. And it is completely wrong for them to use you and your body like that. It is ultimately going to hurt you. When you are young, if you are blessed enough to be adorable, you shouldn't ruin it with make up or by comparing yourself to others. Save that for when your older if you truly want to. I rarely wear make-up now, but I used to in the beginning of high school. I feel like the older you get, the more confident you become, and the more you realize that it isn't all about looking like a covergirl. If young girls are told that they have to be perfect and unnatural and they have to be the best or they are worthless, what is that teaching them? That is forever instilling in them the sense of imperfection. They will never feel good enough about themselves. You should not have to win a pagent to feel beautiful. And let's say they do win. Then they may forever feel stunning but may be stuck up and conceited forever. And on top of that, they will tan, get surgery and wear make-up from age 5-55. They won't live much longer than that because the chemicals that they inject into their body will for sure give them cancer by then.
Cristina Capone, per. 8
This show is so ridiculous its not even funny. I understand that they are cute and people like watching them on t.v., but they should really call it toddlers and total mental suicide. The fact that these parents can tell their kids that they need to tan or get fake teeth in order to be prettier is absolutely ridiculous. The kids do not learn anything,except that it takes a lot of work to be pretty. this is making them superficial and judgemental at a young age. i do not beleive in parents doing this to their kids. The other thing that is crazy is that besides the actual plot of the show, these parents are so overbearing in making decisions for their children it's ridiculous. they are like imprisoned into being something that maybe they are not. Honestly, this show is a disgrace to parenting.
To be honest with you, I don't really think that the girls are learning half as much as their parents. Of course, it does affect them, and they probably will grow up materialistic, but if you ever closely watch the show its always the Mother who gets more pissed off at the judges than the little girl. Little girls in my opinion, are supposed to be dolled up, playing dress up in high heels and such. When I was little I walked around the house/neighborhood/food store all the time in my plastic, dinky high heels. The children I don't believe are honestly aware of how much money their parents are spending. I don't think it's the toddlers, I think that the parents being parents in our generation have learned to be flashy, and competitive. Therefore, yes, it is poisonous to the young child, but the main cause here is the stupid Mother who pushes her daughter into such things. But then again, modeling has gone on for centries, from the 1920's first famous model made her debut, twiggy. She had to invest large sums of money, but this was all under the covers- and people do this daily for their own sake not just TV shows. Beauty pageants have been about making the world a more livable place.. girls used to wish for world peace and such. I just think that as society is changing, the meaning of beauty pageants are too.
kristenseverino
period8
I don't think there is anything wrong with beauty pageants. However there is a problem once young girls are involved. For a grown adult to make the choice themselves to participate is okay but for a mother to parade her child around is not. These young girls are not little toys they are humans. No parents should put a child is skimpy outfits and loads of makeup to win a trophy. Most of the time these girls are either just like the mothers or rather not do pageants at all. I would consider this to be mental abuse. Some of these girls will grow up resenting their mothers. The others who have been brainwashed will unfortunately do the same to their children. I feel that the mothers in this show are reliving their lives through their children.
I believe that many of the parents that force thier children to be in pageants and things of that nature because the parents are playing thier lifelong fantasies by using thier children. Most likely, these moms are putting thier kids on the show because they wanted to pursue a life in becoming a model or being "Miss America." Children are children. They like childish things, not fake nails and false eyelashes.
These child beauty pageants might be fun for the parents, but I'm pretty sure that their child didn't go up to them and ask to be on a beauty pageant show.
If moms and dads keep pushing their kids, they will break one day. Children need to do what interests them the most, and if parents force things on their kids, the kids will grow up with much hatrid for their parents.
Post a Comment