2. What is a child beauty pageant?
A child beauty pageant is a beauty contest featuring contestants
including and younger than 18 years of age. Divisions include
talent interview, sportswear, casual wear, swim wear, western wear,
theme wear, outfit of choice, decade wear, and evening wear,
typically wearing makeupas well as elaborate hairstyles. The
contestants wear custom fitted and designed outfits to present
their routines on stage.
3. History
Beauty pageants started in 1921 when the owner of an Atlantic City
hotel struck upon the idea to help boost tourism. However, the idea
had already circulated through "Most Beautiful Child" contests held
in major cities across the country. The Little Miss America pageant
began in the 1960s at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey.
Originally, it was for teenagers from 13 to 17 years old, but by
1964 there were over 35,000 participants, which prompted an age
division. The modern child beauty pageant emerged in the late
1960s, held in Miami, Florida. Since then, the industry has grown
to include nearly 25,000 pageants. It is an increasingly lucrative
business, bringing in about a billion dollars a year.
4. Laws
Besides the laws that regulate child education, pageants are a
relatively ungoverned program. Child contestants are not considered
"working", so pageants are exempt from federal child labor laws.
Pageants also have different rules, so it becomes hard to set a law
that will cover every pageant. New York, Texas, Massachusetts,
Arkansas, California, Vermont and Maine do not have any laws
regulating pageants.
5. Pageant
Contestants spend about two hours or less in actual competition and
no longer than 90 seconds on stage for talent or 45 seconds for
modeling routines. All pageants have slightly different guidelines,
rules, criteria for what they judge on, and events. Events may
include sportswear, swimwear, evening wear, talent, interview,
writing skills, and modeling. Children are critiqued on
individuality, capability, poise, and confidence.They compete to
win a variety of prizes, such as electronics, toys, scholarships
and grants, cash, tiaras, sashes, robes, and trophies. Trophies can
be taller than the contestants themselves; in the Little Miss
pageant, the World level trophies can be 5 to 6 feet tall. Some
pageants do their best to make every child feel like a winner.
There is a queen for every age division and there are Ultimate
Grand Supreme awards, Mini supreme queens for certain blocks of age
divisions (0-5, 6-11, 12-16, 17 and up). There are also side awards
and overall side awards. Pageants may cater to the "natural"
contestant (who typically wears minimal makeup, only her own hair,
no false teeth, no spray tan, and unmanicured nails) and/or the
"high glitz" contestant (who typically uses any and all of the
above listed techniques to enhance her appearances).
6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Cost
Besides travel and lodging expenses, pageants require an entry fee
that usually ranges from fifty to several hundred dollars,
depending on the type of competition being entered. Makeup and hair
is typically done by a professional makeup artist. Spray tans and
other accessories also must be paid for, as well as clothing and
outfits. Dresses can cost anywhere from $200 to $6000, depending on
the designer and the amount of adornment on the garment. Some
parents hire pageant coaches to teach their child professionally
choreographed routines. There have been cases of families going
into debt or losing their homes because of overextending family
resources to cover the costs that the pageants required.Contestants
may sell sponsor tickets and get ads for ad books to help with the
cost of competing. Sponsor tickets range in price from $1 to $10
and are entered in raffle drawings for cash prizes. It is estimated
that the attire and props as they relate to costs of putting a
child through a beauty pageant can range from $300 and upward of
$5000 depending on the level of competition.
11. Pros
Girls feel important
They getto dress up
They get to wear makeup
It raise their confidence
Self-esteem booster
Being Beautiful
Make friends and meet new people
Scholarships
Winning prizes
12. Cons
Not Winning
not feeling pretty enough
Dealing with jealous girls who want to sabotage
Embarrassment
Disappointment and jealousy toward other girls
Doing stuff like starving yourself to prepare
Having a distorted concept of beauty
Costs to prepare for it
13. Reality television series
Toddlers & Tiaras
On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls
and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans
and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and
costumes. Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for
sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash.
The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before
the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches
on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals,
each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant,
it's all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants
to prove that their child is beautiful.
14. Before & After
15. Crowns & Trophies
16. The price of being Beautiful
Surgeries
Dieting
Starving
Eating Disorder
Being skinny
Perfect white teeth
Perfect skin
17. 18. 19. 20. Reasons
The most cited reason parents give for putting their children into
beauty pageants is to boost their childs self-esteem, as well as
teach poise, public speaking skills, tact, and
confidence.