Child Pageants

Thank you for accepting, shamoo. I will now begin the arguments. First and foremost, any child under the age of thirteen is crucially developing skills needed for proper growth. These skills include: gross motor, fine motor, language, cognitive, and social. The ones that apply most to the development of a child when it comes to pageantry, I feel, are the last three: language, cognitive, and social skills. Therefore I will define the three and explain how pageants hinder these crucial developmental skills. As defined by the University of Michigan Health System (2), language includes "speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating, and understanding what others say." Cognitive/thinking skills include "learning, understanding, problem-solving, reasoning, and remembering." Social skills include "interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others." Language As we both know, in pageants, children are being judged based on their performance in the competition. Minor language skills, if any, are not being utilized in the competition. Instead of the children being interviewed as they would be in a Miss Universe pageant, the announcer may state a collection of answers the child has given from a list of questions. These questions include ones such as "What's your favorite color?" and "What do you want to be when you grow up," but because we are not hearing the accounts directly from the child, we neither know if it is true, nor what the child really wants to say about those topics therefore hindering a child's language skills critical for development. Cognitive/thinking skills Relating to the fact that children cannot speak for themselves, it is almost as if pageant directors, announcers and supporters do not believe in the children's ability to think for themselves in the lack of an interview round, and the fact that the announcer reads off the children's thoughts from a piece of paper, or a computer screen (shown in video attached to this round). It is important for children to think that they have a voice, and can speak for themselves in terms of answering open ended questions. They need to believe that they can and are able to think of the answers to questions off the top of their head and that there is confidence from the people around them that allow them to operate on their thoughts. Also, as preparation for the activities and opportunities that will come up when they need to remember, recollect or problem-solve in school and in their future endeavors. Both the lack of language and cognitive/thinking skills can be shown in the clip from TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras named "Makenzie Turns It On." (http://www.youtube.com...) I would fast-forward to 1:20 when the child eventually gets onstage, and within a few seconds you can hear the announcer's voice-over. Social skills Often, children spend a lot of time practicing for these pageants, hindering on their social skills. They spend too much time primping and posing, and not enough time socializing and interacting with others. Because they aren't spending enough time with others, the children participating in pageants may not understand others' feelings and gestures. They may not understand that the other children participating in the pageants with them are in the same situations they are and that they should not be seen as competition, but as human beings. Human beings can be seen as friends or acquaintances if they are not trying to harm you, which is something other five and six year-olds are not trying to do. If children spent more time completing activities in which they had to speak to others, and communicate with others to get a common point across, or to share feelings, they would be much better off than at pageants. To conclude this round, pageants hinder on the growth of a child in his or her critical development in three major skill sets: language, cognitive/thinking, and social skills. Source (1)University of Michigan Health Center (http://www.med.umich.edu...) (2)Toddlers & Tiaras: Makenzie Turns It On (http://www.youtube.com...)