Oh man I am glad I have a boy!
What the hell is wrong with these parents, what are they trying to compensate for?
And then I wondered, there are so many of these girls who just don't want to be doing those pageants, one in particular wanted to be an Olympic gymnast but her mother wanted her to be in pageants. But why would the parents really want to force the children to do this. If they're having fun that's great, but the cost of the outfits, fake tanning your child, the fake teeth, it just doesn't set a good example. The fierce tantrums these girls have is rather disturbing. Then there was the mother who said she keeps her daughter motivated with Cheetos and sugar cubes. Wait, really? Didn't you just tell her she was getting too fat? It's a child not a horse. Food as motivation just generally disturbs me.
One of the girls won 1st runner up out of about 15 girls (this was the one who wanted to be an Olympic gymnast) and she was happy with how well she did. Her mother on the other hand was not too happy with her.
In the long run how much damage are they really doing to these children? Every time I watch the show I think about "Little Miss Sunshine" (great movie) and how much pressure we put on children.
Before I do things for Garrett I remind myself that I'm doing them for him and not me. I worry that some of these parents forget that. Ben and I have discussed at length that if he is involved with something and turns around and tells us he doesn't like it anymore we aren't going to force him to stick with it (I'm talking extra curricular things and not something like not doing homework).
I guess this is why we rarely watch the show. Garrett likes watching shows with other children. He seems more interested in the girls at the beginning than the ones who are all "glitzed" up.
