Every parent wants their children to gain self-confidence and to be ready for the highly competitive world ahead of them, and entering the kids into beauty contests is one great way of achieving just that.
However, competitive events can have lasting negative effects on the children especially if the little ones do not have a good understanding of the type of competition they are into and if the parents fail to provide the essential needs of the kids, which are of course a priority over any pageant title.
List of Pros of Child Beauty Pageants
1. Engage in Healthy Competition
Healthy competition is a good avenue for teaching the kids how to be humble winners and how to be a good sport when they lose. It enables them to learn from their mistakes, to improve and to do better.
2. Learn the Value of Discipline
Competitive events like beauty pageants groom young participants into embracing disciplined habits and structured regimen. This allows the children to learn to abide rules and stick to schedules, which later on helps nurture maturity and sense of responsibility.
3. Value Family Support
Kids who enter into beauty competitions normally feel secure about the unwavering support from their family regardless of the outcome, win or lose. This helps them value their family even more, and to strive to return the love and support showed to them.
4. Obtain Financial Rewards
Winning beauty contests puts the children under the spotlight, and with it comes fame and fortune. The financial rewards are the most obvious motivation for a family to have their kids join, which can then fund the child’s education and better future, as well as meet the current needs of the family.
5. Gain Self-Confidence
Beauty pageants help participants overcome shyness and stage fright, and help boost their self-confidence. It aids in gaining a deeper understanding of what they are capable of doing, beyond what they think they can.
List of Cons of Child Beauty Pageants
1. Subject to Extreme Pressure
Fierce competition exposes the kids to extreme pressure and, when not handled properly, can cause the children to fail miserably – thinking they are a failure when they do not win the title.
2. Miss Normal Childhood
Because joining beauty contests at a tender age subjects the children to rigorous routines and schedules, they are prone to miss the usual stuff that kids experience growing up. Child celebrities often grow up too quickly, and miss the fun of childhood.
3. Experience Family Rift
While competition may bring families closer together, it may also tear them apart especially when the parents push their children too hard (and the children no longer feel happy about the pageants) or fail to show enough support (and the children no longer reach their dream of winning titles).
4. Pay the Costs of Entering
Financial rewards from winning beauty contests are not always substantial enough to cover the initial costs of buying clothes and cosmetics, undergoing training, and paying for travel expenses. At times, it puts a financial strain on the family budget when children join competitions.
5. Experience Health Problems
The pressures of joining child beauty pageants may cause the kids to suffer from depression and anxiety, to think negatively about their failures, and to resort to bad lifestyle habits just to look great and pretty.
Since the children are often too young to understand the effects of joining beauty pageants, parents need to help the young ones understand by communicating to them what to expect from the events. Family and friends of the child contestants need to affirm constantly their love and support for the kids regardless if they win or lose.
Natalie Regoli is a child of God, devoted wife, and mother of two boys. She has a Master's Degree in Law from The University of Texas. Natalie has been published in several national journals and has been practicing law for 18 years.