Child Beauty Pageants should be illegal.

Thank you for acceptance. The first problem I have with child beauty pageants is that from a young age, children are receiving the message that looks is all that is important in life. From such a young age, kids are constantly being dragged from pageant to pageant, and how often do you think the phrase, "shut up, let mommy do your hair extensions/make-up/false nails"? It is so materialistic and vain to have young girls brought up with the message that pretty girls win. These days we should be educating our children that inner-beauty is what matters, and that what makes you a winner is treating people well, being friendly, charitable and helpful. Not looking the prettiest. I know that as the kids are so young, they may not be able to grasp the full concepts of pageants, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the pretty girls win. Studies show that the lessons we learn in the first three years of our life stick with us for a very long time, as they help to shape our characters. Having kids being brought up under the constant message that being pretty is the way to success, just isn't healthy or beneficial to the child. Like I mentioned, these lessons stick with kids throughout their lives. This causes many problems, for example; feeling constantly pressurized to look the best can lead to anorexia, bulimia and low self esteem. I'm not saying that all beauty pageant kids will become rude teenagers, but being brought up knowing that prettiness and beauty is the only way to success can sure make a very negative impression on a child, and sustain certain beliefs that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty. Beauty pageants also encourage unhealthy competition. Of course, encouraging friendly competitiveness is not bad at all; but if this is the main aim of entering daughters in pageants- let the daughters join sports clubs, or chess clubs! These sort of clubs are just as competitive, but the difference is that they actually include physical and mental stimulation, none of which come from sitting in a chair for two hours being made up, and then made to walk on a stage and smile. Beauty pageants promote competitiveness in a bad way; being that it shows that the way you can win is through beauty, and not hard work and perseverance. If you don't understand- put it this way. If a pretty girl and a plain girl join a tennis club and compete, the winner will be decided on who won the match- determined by how they worked and how much they persevered. In a beauty pageant, the pretty girl would win without working any harder than the competitors. This is not the kind of competition our kids should be involved in! Another argument is how these beauty pageants completely sexualise kids. Picture a girl wearing a padded bikini, walking around a stage in front of an audience of strangers, many of whom are fully grown men. This sounds like what a street worker does, not what a six year old girl should be doing! It is so wrong for little under-age girls to be dancing on a stage in bikinis in front of strangers who could, lets face it, be there for the wrong sort of reasons. David Cameron is taking huge steps towards the UK not sexualising children, take a look on any British news site. These pageants are going in the complete opposite direction, basically promoting pedophilia. If you don't understand why I said promoting paedophilia, think of it this way; men pay to go into a hall and watch little girls dance around in bikinis. How come the US Government is taking steps towards making kids less sexualised, yet still allows this paedophillic pageant system continue? It is not right and completely immoral. Finally, children should be allowed their innocence! If the parents have enough money to enter their daughters into pageants, they have enough money to give their daughter a proper childhood. Young girls should learn to ride a bike up and down their lane. They should have sleepovers with their friends and watch Dinsey movies They should make Lego, play with dolls, spend time with their family, and NOT sit in a chair having hair extensions tied to their head, make-up made for adults plastered onto their face, forced into inappropriate dresses and made to prance around a stage in front of strangers. It is commonly argued that the children want to take part in beauty pageants, which I don't disagree with. Although many daughters will be screaming and hating it, some girls may find it fun to dress up and have their hair done- but should we let little girls do everything they want? If your four year old wanted to eat sugar all day long, you'd say no. This shows that just because a kid wants to do something doesn't mean we should grant it to them! After all, kids have a lot to learn during their childhood, and their judgement may not always be correct (take the sugar example). I hope the voters agree. The benefits to making beauty pageants illegal would be that children would not grow up learning that beauty is the way to success, pedophilia wouldn't be promoted so much, and young girls would be able to live out an innocent childhood.