Megan+K’s+OpEd+Article

One late afternoon I decided to take in some television to unwind from a busy week. While flipping through the channels, I came across one of the newest crazes on television today, a reality show. Toddlers and Tiaras showcase mothers entering their young daughters in “glitz” pageants.

This creates a perfect opportunity for mothers to live out their long lost childhood dreams through their daughters. These young girls are having their life roadmap drawn out and handed to them by their mothers daily. These girls are stuck inside rehearsing hour after our while their peers bond and play in the sun. They rehearse their walk, talk, and “special talent”. These young girls need to experience growing up in the outside world with healthy friendships, behaviors, or developing their own goals and dreams to achieve in the future.

The mothers, beaming with excitement and sense of duty to support commercial enterprise, gather the good at grocery stores all across the country. The children are always happy and hyper while prancing around the pageant stage thanks to the ever so healthy high levels of sugar found in the vast amount of candy bars, pixie sticks, and sodas that they consume during the big day. But, what they do not think about is the idea that as the girls get older they might develop diabetes to live with for the rest of their lives. Or, the girls live with eating disorders as their mothers only allow them to eat salad and occasionally a piece of fruit to keep them skinny (along with the sugar). This makes it possible for them to fit in to the perfect size outfit to wear in front of the judges.

With the girls competing, the mothers hope they win the grand price and constantly drill into the girl’s heads the idea of money and the winning crown. The girls thrive on the idea that winning is everything. And clearly everyone in the audience truly enjoys the pounding headaches they will experience as they listen to the girls scream because they did not win the largest, tallest, shiniest tiara and receive the most money and grand prize. All these beauty pageants do is teach women and young girls that if they don't get a crown that they are ugly and that no matter how kind and selfless you are you need to be beautiful on the outside to be successful.

Overall, mothers showcasing their young daughters in beauty pageants do not provide a positive message for growing girls.