by Amelia Alisoun
Obviously it is not the tiny children parading across the stage in Vegas showgirl atture who have chosen to be there. It is the parents, most often the mothers, who have carted their child around the country, taken them to salon after salon for various physical treatments, forced them the practice their stage routines and selected the garish clothes and makeup who are the architects of the child pageant.
What is in it for them?
A desire to live out their youth through their children, to indulge their own failings and inadequate sense of physical attractiveness by channelling it to the tiny toddlers in their care?
Parents’ most fundamental duty is to care for and protect the child or children in their care. By encouraging and allowing children to trade their attractiveness for money, recognition and material prizes, they are opening the youngest members of our society to the risk of exploitation and damage.
What do you think? Should child pageants be banned? Or are they simply a way to show off a bunch of cute kids?