Recently the ‘Universal Royalty Pageant’ was held in Melbourne. This caused quite an uproar. 150 girls entered the contest, each paying $295 to compete for the shiny crown. These girls are primped, plucked, tanned and manicured, some only months old. Basically, girls who enter prance around in little circles wearing their $500 dresses while a panel of judges decide if they are pretty enough to win…. YEESH.
The Miss America competition (which started the pageant epidemic) began in 1921 after 16 year old Margaret Gorman won the first title of MISS AMERICA. The competition became very popular and almost every little girl wanted to wear a crown and a rhinestone dress just like a princess. Why do parents allow their young, still-growing-teeth children to enter these pageants? It’s a scary competitive world out there! Your kid could get hairspray in their eye, or glitter up their nose! I wouldn’t want to be brought up in an environment like that. Plus, it’s not cheap to parade your child’s beauty around. Gowns and dresses can cost up to $1000, entrance fees vary from competition to competition, and of course there are modelling and acting workshops to pay for!
I wonder, do these parents really want their kids in these contests for a competitive feel or are they really just trying to live their dream through their offspring? I don’t see any other explanation. I myself have been doing ballet for 12 years, my sister has pursued it as her career and I just tag along for fun. Being in the ‘ballet world’ I have come across many ballet mums. You know the type – a mother who wants their baby girl to prance around on stage in a tutu and the kid doesn’t have a choice in any of it? It’s so cliché! Sure, it’s every little girls dream to become a prima ballerina. When I was 3 I wanted to be a fire truck, not a fire woman.. A fire TRUCK. Doesn’t this say anything for those girls who actually wanted to enter the pageants and weren’t forced into it? Okay, that’s cool. I just don’t think young girls should be put into such a wrong atmosphere.
The recent Universal Royalty Pageant held in Melbourne originally had Eden Wood (the 6-year old USA princess) flown in as a special guest to sign autographs and taking pictures with the other contestants. Contestants paid an extra $50 to take a photo with the child royalty. Her mother ended up removing her from the contest in fear of Eden’s safety! The protesters were becoming a little too much – the police had to come and control the crowd. Most protesters were concerned about the skimpy clothing the girls would be wearing; it’s not right for young girls parading around wearing flimsy pieces of lace. Mothers of the contestants say that it’s all just for fun and in the end they all enjoyed themselves. Just think to yourself would you like to be caked in makeup and shoved onto a stage? What if your kid doesn’t win? They would be crushed, and here you are spending money on gowns and spray tans for no reason except to ‘boost their self esteem and gain confidence’ ...unless they lose. Even if they won, the achievement could get to their heads! If I have children I’m just going to let them eat some play dough, play in sandpits and experience life in the most normal way possible.
