The issue of young children participating in beauty pageants remains to be a hotly contested debate today. While some parents may argue that these pageants lead to better self-esteem in children, and therefore more success, the vast majority of these children are adversely affected. Beauty pageants for children can cause more harm than good in children, and encourage a superficial mindset and life-style.
Simply put, children are just too young to be involved in a “competition” such as this. With only a handful of children in each pageant earning such titles as “Most Beautiful,” the overwhelming majority of these children will feel outcast, and not beautiful. This can be highly damaging to children’s self esteem from a very young age.
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Additionally, this kind of mindset encourages a very selfish and vain lifestyle. Young girls may get their nails done, their hair dyed, their skin tanned and then covered in makeup. The message to be different and to look a certain way is overwhelming to children, and often promotes a lifestyle of being unattainably perfect. The side effects of being extremely competitive with drastic measures to achieve “perfection” can be long lasting and often detrimental.
When young girls are taught that they must always look and be beautiful, this manifests itself into further issues down the road, such as unhealthy eating disorders or harsh self-criticism. Competition, to a certain degree, can be a healthy way to grow and learn. However, pageants don’t always encourage healthy competition, especially when they endorse looks over character, and being pretty over being smart. When children are forced to be in pageants, particularly under the age of 12, they lack the ability to speak for themselves, and are often forced into participating in a superficial contest that deems whether they are beautiful or not.
In summary, beauty pageants for young children are often unhealthy in that they promote a superficial lifestyle to young children. Young children, sadly, do not often have a voice in this choice, and are thus forced to participate in a competition that encourages beauty above all.
