Are Toddler Pageants the Root of All Your Child’s Issues? We’ve all seen, or at least heard of, the television show Toddlers and Tiaras. The combination of crown thirsty parents, and their spoiled rotten kids, create the perfect, addictive show for the bored house wife. While some people find this highly entertaining, I see it as a televised, sparkly circus with the parents acting as the ring leaders. They spend anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars to doll their kids up to an extent where they don’t even look like themselves, just to please a panel of random strangers. Because of the large chunk of change invested into these outfits and accessories, the children’s parents stress how important it is for them to win to make it all …show more content…
My friend is very competitive, she has always been, but I never stopped to realize that it was because of the pageants she did when she was a kid. Her mom had always told her how important it was for her to win every pageant she ever performed in. She was put up against any friend she ever made, needless to say her friendships didn’t last long. Come to think of it, that’s probably why I’ve been able to stay friends with her for so long because we’ve never had to face off in a beauty contest. Even after she stopped doing pageants though, she wasn’t really able grasp and hold on to any type of relationship. She was constantly competing with everyone she ever met. It was quite sad really; She didn’t think she was doing anything wrong because that’s what she’d been taught her whole childhood. I tried to redirect her intentions to a more positive approach but that lasted for about a day. I’ve seen her go through countless friendships, and even more boyfriends, but to this day the best relationships she has are with me and her
1. When Columbus set out for the New World, he set out with the goal in mind that he would reach the famous Asia, in which Marco Polo inspired him to do, and make an enterprise in the Indies using spices of the area. On his travels to Asia, he veered off and never reached it. Instead, he reached the Bahamas and named it San Salvador which means "Holy Savior" in Spainish. Soon after that, he reached America in which he claimed land in the name of Spain. Columbus tried to make a colony of the land in which is claimed but failed, as was imprisoned for his poor leadership.
Beauty pageants that involve children are a booming industry and growing fast in popularity. This is partially because of television shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Living Dolls, which glorify pageants that threaten the innocence of childhood. According to Lucy Wolfe, “in 2011, three million children participated in pageants across the country” (454). With so many children, some as young as six months old, partaking in pageants and countless more aspiring to be pageant princesses, a closer look needs to be taken at the practices that are used to prepare them for the show. Often working long hours, not only prepping for the pageant but also performing in it, the children have no laws protecting them from being harmed or exploited.
I was able to attend a fair on September 15 at the city of Bell Gardens. The fair was created to celebrate the Mexican Independence Day, which in Spanish is called Dia de la Independencia de Mexico. On September 15, they celebrate El Grito de Mexico. This event is celebrated every year, to remind people about the day they gain their independence, which brings many individuals to do the Grito de Dolores. In this case, the mayor of the city along with her colleagues and the escoltas were present. Not only was the Mexico flag present, but also the United States flag. At first, they mayor of the city told all the individuals to stand up and remove their hats for the respect of the flags. They started with the United States national anthem, which the escolta was walking with the United States flag, while the people were told to put their right hand over there heart and then they song along with the
Child labor is the employment of children, but not all work done by children should be classified as child labor that should be eliminated. Children’s participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive. The term “child labor” is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives them from enjoying and living their childhood properly, it also intervenes in the process of attending school regularly. It creates a mental, physical, social and moral impact on the child.
From the perspective I have at this stage in my journey in the early childhood education field, I would like to share what I have come to value and believe in regards to early learning and care by looking at my philosophy statement. To begin we will look at the statement and highlight three key features and find out why they are important to me, then we will see what they will look like in my practice, and lastly we will examine these ideas closely by looking at where they originated. By taking an in-depth look at my philosophy statement we will better understand the motivation behind my practice which I hope to continue to refine and refresh as I gain more knowledge and experience.
In one episode of the now discontinued tv show that had 103 episodes (IMDb, 2013), Toddlers and Tiaras, a 3 year old girl dressed up in an outfit modeled after Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman. This 3 year old, dressed as a prostitute flounced along the stage waving to the judges with hands on her hips. (Canning, 2011). Another example of celebrity mimicry for these pageants which sexualize these children that has been aired on Toddlers and Tiaras is when a 6 year old was stuffed into a padded bra in order to dress up as a busty Dolly Parton (Adams, 2012). These pageants then become a breeding ground for dangerous predators, Kidscape, an organization which attempts to prevent the bullying of children, CEO Claude Knights tells the Guardian Magazine ‘"We do know that predators or paedophiles continually tend to justify their interest in children by saying children are sexual beings. That children are now given a channel to become little Lolitas, to be portrayed as older, to almost become mini adults – these are all trends that give legitimacy to that kind of thinking."’ (Day, 2010). The phenomenon of sexual predators making child pageants unsafe has even infiltrated pop culture and has been spoken about in TV shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in many documentaries such as America the Beautiful: Sexualizing our Youth. These young girls are put on stage and are given things like fake teeth, fake eyelashes and spray tans in order to look older, this is a thinly veiled opportunity to make children look sexy in the same way that 25 year olds looks sexy. Ignoring the looming threat of abuse, dressing and giving a child other beauty enhancements in order to make them look attractive in a way that America traditionally sees adults as attractive robs the children of childhood and will cause them to
The first two years of a humans life are bursting with biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development. In the first few weeks after conception to two years after birth a child’s brain experiences more growth than any other organ in the body. During the first two years of a child’s life the brain is very plastic and malleable. In order for children to continue down a path of success and learning there are certain experiences a child must have in order to develop normally. The First Two years of a child life is responsible for the foundation that is layed.
It may not happen to some, but most of the young girls that compete in beauty pageants seem to have a bit of an attitude towards their parents and ...
Since the beginning of time, fathers have had a profound effect on their child’s development. Over the years, the norm for traditional family dynamics of having a father figure in the household has changed drastically, and so did the roles of the parents. It is not as common as it used to be to have a father or father figure in the home. In this day and age, women are more likely to raise children on their own and gain independence without the male assistance due to various reasons. The most significant learning experience and development of a person’s life takes place in their earlier years when they were children. There are many advantages when there is a mother and father combined in a
The preschooler child displays a variety of physical, cognitive, and social abilities that are quite unlike any other age group. To understand this development fully one must first understand how humans come into being. All human life begins with the single interaction of sperm and ovum. This simple collision springs forth new life. One cell becomes two, two cells become four, and so on throughout the organism’s life span. The human life experience is broken down into nine periods of development. These include: the Prenatal Period ranging from conception to birth, Infancy and Toddlerhood ranging from birth to three years, Early Childhood or Preschool ranging from three to six years, Middle Childhood ranging from six to 12 years, Adolescence
Children use clothing as a form of identity, and when their families cannot afford the latest trends, it can lend itself to feelings of low self-worth and can even make children targets of bullying. Children are inundated every single day with advertising and marketing, and these kids are connected to media a good portion of their day. This allows advertisers to creep into our children’s lives and target them multiple times every day. Corporations are guilty of putting financial gain ahead of children’s health and well-being, and the fashion industry has been identified as one of these industries (L...
On December 26, 1996, JonBenet Ramsey was found sexually abused and murdered in her parents’ home. Ramsey lived in Boulder, Colorado and was a six-year-old beauty pageant queen. The media showed video clips of JonBenet practicing for her pageants and the video clips disturbed many of the viewers. The videos showed her dancing around and blowing kisses while being dolled up in fancy makeup and revealing clothes. This image of a six-year-old shocked many viewers that had no idea what the pageant world was even about. “New York Times columnist Frank Rich called the repeated airing of the JonBenet beauty pageant clips "borderline kiddie porn” (“Child Beauty Pageants”). Some may believe that beauty pageants do benefit children, but in reality, the
We have been friends for years now and I think it is safe to say that we know each other inside and out –flaws and all. Often times we opt out of hanging out with huge groups and are content with just each other. I think that it is important that people do not depend on a massive group of people, but rather just a small number of really close friends. Large groups tend to be where trouble begins and where you seem to lose yourself in the mix of the crowd. She has also taught me how to love myself and be happy with who I am. We are all born with flaws; there is no sense in dwelling on that. We are who we are and we should love our unique selves. Lastly, she has taught me to be confident in myself, whether it is trying a new outfit or applying for a competitive school. You should always be confident in yourself; it makes others believe in
Beauty pageants have long been a form of entertainment, exhibiting beautiful women with ideal bodies competing with their talent and their looks. Many pageant moms involve their daughters in children’s pageants to help them improve their social skills, exercise their talents, and boost their self-esteem. Although the pageants may seem like harmless competition with benefits, research shows that they may be doing the young beauty queens more harm than good. “...the girls are receiving conflicting messages: In order to win, the girls must show a unique personality, but they must also act and dress in a hyper feminine manner and conform to the pageant world 's ideal standard of beauty and narrow set of conventions.” (University of Kansas,