Imagine a little girl the age of seven, wearing so much make-up it makes up most of her face, with a very spontaneous amount of energy. A week before this event she had done so many procedures just to look amazing for this day. Now can you see her nine years later? Stick skinny, wearing a lot more make up to actually look good, addicted to energy drinks, extreme dieting, and exercising. All this because her parents went to extremes just so their child could always win.
Many of us as kids are encouraged to participate in multitudes competitions, with words of encouragements such as “you can do it”, “Try hard enough and you can win”, and if one loses “don’t worry, you can try next time”, “you can make improvements”; and parents doing everything they possibly could to see their child succeed. How far can these words of “encouragement” and this action of “support” go in the mind of a kid, and how serious are parents when they say and do things for their child? In the world of toddlers and beauty pageants, they can mean a lot and can be very strong. Many of us would argue that competition could be healthy, but these competitions can be taken over the top. Parents have been seen doing everything they can, just so their child could win. At a very young age many competitors are undergoing procedures meant for adults, such as waxing, tanning, getting their brows done, wearing make-up, drinking energy drinks, and to make things worse also dieting at a very young age, and exercising, and getting painful cosmetic procedures, like Botox. Recent documentaries of beauty pageants with little kids competing show how much parents and could influence their children to do and how far they would go just so they could win.
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Documentaries like these have received a lot of attention from parents, doctors, and social workers, and anyone who is involved with competitions like these. Not only do you see and hear parents “show off” of the work their kids have had done, but you also get to see what goes on behind the scenes of the competitions. Parents of competitors are seen yelling at their children and telling them what they have done wrong, and critiquing them and using negative words to make them try harder; And if they feel their energy is too low they are given a mixture of drinks to boost up their energy. All this is building the child’s mind to work with unhealthy decisions in life and possibly cause future psychological, and health problems. Now many parents are questioning if shows like these give parents ideas to have their kids do unhealthy treatments, and what should be done to help stop these unhealthy decisions made for kids. Studies show, if one practices unhealthy choices at a young age, they can develop and adapt to unhealthy and self-damaging choices, which will cause much harm to the individual. The child is still developing, and has no need to practice adult procedures. Most say, and are backed up by research to end such practices, laws should be made to protect children that participate competitions like these. Parents that have their children practice in unhealthy procedures should be accused of child endangerment, and should have their child removed from competitions.
Without the extreme measures, competitions could be fun and healthier for the child and their future. A healthy and bright future. Nothing is better than seeing a kid to growing up in a healthy way and being healthy for the rest of their life. Every good parent wants that for their kids.