Child Models and Beauty Pageants

Beauty pageants are arguably one of the greatest traps for little girls ever devised. Done well, and they do represent some advantages for the girls; done poorly, and the girls can damaged psychologically for life.

Before you even sign up your child for the pageant, do your research on the pageant. What you are looking for is how the losers are treated, and what options they have. It's easy to get caught up in winning, but only one person will win; that makes everyone else a loser. As only the top three contestants get any of the prizes, it's important to look at how the losers are treated. A pageant can represent an opportunity for some of the losers, and it's important to see if any of them are awarded any kind of contracts due to participation.

The other issue to bear in mind is that some competitions can get extremely tough, and so even the girls involved tend to get cutthroat. Girls can do a lot of damage to other girls, and some believe that taking out your competition before they even get on stage is the only way to win. They resort to a number of tricks designed to demoralize other girls; the only defense is to grow a thick skin and do so quickly, and then to do the same to other girls. If that level of competition is fine for you, and you believe that you can deal with the other mothers, then go ahead. Pageants do have a reputation as meat grinders for a reason.

Objectification of themselves is another issue to deal with. Girls get caught up in winning, and so are willing to do anything to do so. Worse is that so do the mothers. Because of that they do anything to win, and so quickly acquire a number of body issues and eating issues, such as bulimia. Unfortunately, those issues help them win, encouraging the exacerbation of those problems. Therapy can help, but it does need to be noted that winning is not necessary a good thing.

However, if those issues can be dealt with, beauty pageants do offer a number of advantages for those participate in them. It offers an opportunity to be seen, both in a number of different outfits and what kind of talents that they have. It also allows potential clients to see how they can handle the stress of competition. Some also offer scholarships and other financial rewards, as well as other opportunities for the winners. For those that compete in circuits, they can gain a reputation and a following even if they don't win, that can help them later on.

When it comes down to it, you as the parent need to seriously debate whether or not competing in a pageant is a good thing. There are a number of advantages and pitfalls in any competition; it is important to debate if the potential advantages outweigh the possibility of falling into the traps.