When I was a prissy six year old, I didn’t quite get the concept of a frightening Halloween. Each October ballerina, princess or bride were my costumes of choice. In my wildest fantasies I guess I wanted the people who answered the door to applaud, hand me a bouquet of roses, then marry me.
This past weekend at the South Carolina State Fair while rubbernecking at the fair beauty pageant, I thought about how some people who opened their doors to a 6 year old girl clad in crinoline, pearls and pink may have found it terrifying.
Masked photo to protect the innocent and in honor of Halloween, SC State Fair, 2009
Often I have heard pageant moms defend their zeal in putting their young daughters in beauty pageants by saying, “But little Crystal Alexa really wants to do pageants! I wouldn’t dream of making her do them if she didn’t love it so much!”
In 1968 Mattel’s “Dancerina” doll was my idea of a girl who had it all going on: plastic, hot pink and wearing a tiara.
I didn’t know then that there were pageants for little girls.
For this, today, I am grateful. Amen.
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{ 21 comments }
I put pageants right up there with serious competitive sports for kiddos.
THEY’RE KIDS. Can we remember that they’re kids?
Kids are supposed to have free time. They’re supposed to have thumb tendonitis from texting. They’re supposed to be addicted to WOW.
They are NOT supposed to know more about makeup than I do, or have repetitive sports injuries by age 13.
I admit, I have geeks who didn’t want to do serious sports. But one of my BFFs has two in competitive fencing. So serious that they even hired a sports psychologist to deal with choking.
SO not for me.
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I don’t agree. What is the difference in putting your child in a helmet and uniform & putting them on the field to build self-confidence, rather than putting them in a dress & going on stage. My daughter does the natural pageant & yes she loves them. I’m happy when I can stay at home on the weekends.
To be fair, I think all members of the public secretly hold themselves to the standards of the Dancerina doll. I know I do.
But playing dress-up (which is essentially what Halloween boils down to) and beauty-pageanting across America are two entirely different things. If a kid puts on a tutu in their own home or walks around the neighborhood collecting candy in a tiara, that’s just a kid being a kid. But competing against a bunch of other kids also wearing tutus and tiaras whilst being prodded by vicarious mothers (or fathers, in some cases) is much more terrifying.
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LOL I’m glad too for your sake!
I’m not big on pageants. I think they send the wrong message to little girls. And things have really changed. There’s a pageant mom type of show on tv, can’t remember what it’s called, and these girls are getting spray tans and fake teeth and lord knows what else. How can this be good for them? And if you win, what then? There, those four people think you’re prettier than those other little girls. Will she develop self-confidence based around her physical appearance? How unsatisfying and doomed to blow up in her face.
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I am thinking that those mothers are channeling some seriously lost dreams of their own.
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Oh I love it! The image of you all dressed up like that!
Fantastic. This year my little girls want to be princess witches. I am very proud.
Pageants … ptuiiiii. !!!
Little girls in tutus, who love to dance and sway to music — priceless!
A 6 year old wants to…pffft. Let’s hear it for dolls with tiara’s on. I have never once heard my 8 year old niece talk about anything but dolls. I don’t think she even knows the meaning of the word pageant.
Yeah – I was a princessy girl and I loved dolls, but pageants were completely off my radar. I find the whole thing so sad…
Un huh. What a healthy message to give a child… that their looks (pseudo adult looks at that) are what’s important. Those competitions scare me more than Joan Rivers’ face.
It’s all been covered by your previous commenters – that’s what I get for coming to the game late. Pageants send a bad message. Little girls feeling like princesses – that’s something else entirely.
And don’t forget Dancerina had TOE shoes . . . an accomplishment that steadfastly remained out of my reach.
Pageants aren’t big in Australia. For this, I too am thankful.
I’m sure there are some little girls who really love the pageants. However as little kids are guided by wanting to please their parents, We need to be careful in what direction we guide them. How long we push them is often our downfall. Some parents do it for the scholarship money,but money can sometimes cause grief.
Kid’s pageants are just exploitation to me; moms who want their kids to get the attention they didn’t get as kids.
Heh… too cute.
It seems like so much stress for such a little person. Little girls should get to be little.
I’ll never understand it. They just look scary to me.
How come I never saw the Dancerina doll? I had the Dolliken doll (tons of joints -she did gymnastics!) but it’s just not the same.
Pageants make me sad.
Be very grateful!
Kids should just have fun and not be pressured about this pageants. Serious competition about beauty and all can have serious effects on the child’s innocent mind. If the pageant is just like a play or something and nothing really seriously pressuring for the kid, then I think it is okay.
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