Child Beauty Pageants

By Alyssa Tomlin

Ever since 1921, a tradition of beauty and talent has been becoming more and more popular; child beauty pageants. A child beauty pageant is a contest where children of any age younger than 18 get all done up in many different extravagant outfits, perfect hair and of course the perfect tan and sometimes show a talent in the meantime. There are a lot of people, most of them parents of pageant kids that say child pageants are good for their kids. They say it builds their confidence. Quite honestly I believe it is the exact opposite and they should not be allowed in any way.

When entering a child in a beauty pageant, there are many expectations that must be met. The thing is, a lot of the time the child is too young to get themselves ready and prepare themselves so it’s really a competition for the parents. Parents are basically using their children for their own benefit of having fun and that is not right in the slightest.  The pageants have many sections: talent, sportswear, swimwear, western wear, theme wear, outfit of choice, decade wear and evening wear. There is a good chance that a 5 or 6 year wouldn’t know what any of that means so it’s all up to the parents; their kids are their dolls.

Child beauty pageants are all about appearance. Isn’t that what adults try to teach children what life isn’t about? Appearances. Well apparently pageants are an exception. The goal at a pageant is to make the contestant look older. Before a pageant, the average preparation includes getting their hair done, nails done, getting a dark tan, and sometimes even getting false teeth inserted. Not only does this teach a child that looks are extremely important but it can also be very harmful to the child at such a young age. Getting their hair done could very possibly mean getting their hair died over and over as well as getting it styled. This could cause immense damage to the hair and at such a young age, their hair may never be the same. To look older, the children get false nails and with the constant application and removal, they could ruin the nail beds. When it comes to the tanning whether it’s a spray tan or a tan from the bed, it is not good for the skin to do it a lot, especially when their skin is so sensitive. Lastly, why must children change their teeth? To look older. This doesn’t make sense because it is a Child beauty pageant but that’s just the extent some people will go and it’s crazy.

The children in the beauty pageants, although confident, are extremely vulnerable and these contests can be emotionally harmful in different ways. The parents of these children build up these contests so much as if they are the most important things and the whole idea is about appearance. If a child works hard and loses, that can be awful for their self-esteem. If they continue to lose because maybe their costume isn’t as flashy or they’re a little paler, they could start to think they aren’t beautiful and that is the last thing society should be putting into little girls’ heads. It’s a contradiction to everyone saying that every girl is beautiful because the contests are really saying that one girl is prettier than another. Since there are many more losers than winners, it is a place of disappointment. What’s the point in that?

The difference between a regular beauty pageant and a child pageant is the children don’t understand as much, they just know if they win or lose. It then becomes too important to them and then becomes harmful in many ways. Pageants are ungoverned programs so the children aren’t technically working but it is really a form of child labour. Adults are using children for entertainment and money. I don’t see how anyone can argue that that is right. Child beauty pageants should be banned and people need to realize what it is doing to their children. It is not worth their health: physical or emotional. Children should be able to live a normal life as kid and not worry about their appearances and compete in that sense. They need to end.