Common Ground on Child Beauty Pageants Essay

I’m sure you all have seen the TV show â€Å"Toddlers in Tiaras.† It is a show about young children competing in beauty pageants to win a place in a higher ranked pageant, money, and the ownership of a winning title. Many people think differently about the show and the pageants. Some are all for the pageants and some are against them. People who are against the pageants complain that they should be eliminated because they exploit children and place them in harm’s way. They claim because of major dangers; no one under the age of eighteen should be placed in a beauty pageant. The children who are in the pageants are dressed up in adult’s clothing, have piles of make up on, and are harming their bodies. They are harming their bodies by putting the make up on and tanning. By putting make up on at such young of an age, their face ages faster. By tanning, they begin to get that urge that some adults have to tan, which makes their skin age and have wrinkles early. It also puts them at the risk of having skin cancer at an early age. They say it also appeals the children to sexual predators. When a child is half naked on stage and sometimes on TV, these sexual predators see them and may even try to meet them. Sexual predators are only part of the problem. Studies show that every child who may benefit from the competition, hundreds of others suffer damage to their self-esteem and have warped self-vision of themselves and their bodies. Many times, they use JonBenet, a young child who competed in these pageants at the age of six. She was murdered in the basement of her home by a sexual predator. The suspect claimed he became aware of her by the pageants being on television. People who are for the pageants and the TV shows claim that it brings their children fame and confidence. When a child has worked hard on a routine and they get on stage and accomplish it, there is no better reward than the applause and praise from the audience and family. Some also say that the tanning and make up does not harm their skin, it just makes them feel prettier. Someone once told me that when a person looks at themselves in the mirror, and they have their hair and make-up done, they feel better about themselves. That is what many moms claim their children feel whenever they have their make-up done, outfits on, and hair done. Moms of pageant children say that when their child has worked hard, and they have their name called on stage for a winning title, there is no happier feeling. They have worked and accomplished their goal. Call it what you want, but people have their own opinions. Some people think pageants hurt a child, and some think they help a child. Both of them could be right, depending on the child’s standpoint. If a child’s dream is to be in pageants, I would let that child fulfill their dream. What would you do? Works Cited Page Hilboldt-Stolley, Lise. â€Å"Pretty Babies.† Good Housekeeping 228.2 (1999): 102. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.