I think they make them loook to old. They wonder why they get taken and raped and god knows what else...theya re making it ok for chil molestors to have free game. I think it is fine if you let them but be themselves...but getting a spray tan and all that make up...jsut makes me sad....interesting question. :)

I am pretty clear about them: They should be forbidden. They are not about the children, they are about parents who want to have a second chance of becoming a beauty pagent themself, because they couldn't back then.
I think it is very bad that children of that age are trained to 'be the best' by any means possible.

I know Conundrumland is supposed to be all about nuance, but on this subject I cannot remain neutral.

Does ANYONE think this is pretty?

I think they are disgusting. Children shouldn't be forced to dress up and be judged. I've seen plenty of reports on these on the news, and it seems like the children are usually forced into it by their parents. The parents have self esteem issues, so they have to make themselves feel better by forcing their kids into these contests. Plus there is money as prizes, so the parents do it for the money and not the child's happiness. Indeed there is a small percent of children that have fun doing it, but that's certainly not enough to make these contests worth the time and effort put into them. Children should be having fun, not being told to act grown up in these contests. If children want to dress up for fun, that's one thing. But these contests are just exploiting children and need to be stopped. The parents should know better.

From my own selfish point of view, I wouldn't allow my little girl to compete in one... Mainly due to the fact that it would be unfair on all the other competitors.

But seriously what is the purpose of them? To endorse the idea that one child is more beautiful than the other according to some arbitrary criteria? To show children that its appearance that counts? To say that someone is better than someone else because of the way they look?

I can't think of any positive lessons that come from them that I'd actually want to teach my child.

I am opposed to them, for two reasons. It appears to me that these are vehicles for parents to use their children as objects for gratification, as the children are started usually too young to form their own opinions. The other reason is more important to me, hoever-- the children who participate in these parents are receiving a very strong message that outer appearance is very important- a message that I don't think young girls should receive.

I think child beauty pageants are one of those things that I personally find distasteful, but tolerate as one of those things that happens in a free society. It is true, for many participants, it is actually the parents living out some vicarious fantasy for perfection, but I imagine in some instances it also out of the child's own sense of competitiveness.

As in adult beauty contests, some participants get a positive experience of healthy competition out of it without sacrificing their integrity and intellectual potential, for others, it merely advances shallow values that place the superficial above the profound.

A parent has to navigate a child through many things, as a society good parenting cannot be legislated. If such contests were banned, bad parenting decisions would still emerge in a million other forms.

To sum it up, are the contests damaging? To some they are, to others they are not. Should they be banned? No. Do I personally approve of them? No.

I think child beauty pageants are bad for the children. In my opinion It is child abuse. It is simply a way for the adults to live life as a beauty queen through their children.

These children (from a very young age) are dressed up to basically look like adults and act like adults. They are forced to get up early to go through this transformation as well as take lessons on how to be the perfect child beauty queen with dance and singing lessons as well as learning how to strike sexy poses.

Lots of make-up, wigs, bleached hair, fake tans and designer dresses are used to achieve this effect. Some parents even resort to wrapping their child's stomachs in saran wrap to make them look thinner ! Even fake teeth are used for those children that happen to loose a tooth just before the pageant and cannot grow it back in time.

What parents completely fail to take into account is how this affects the child psyche. It tells their children that they are not beautiful unless they go through this transformation with excessive makeup and wigs and fake tans etc. Also, if they don't win it can make them feel that they are not good enough, not beautiful enough, not talented enough. It can make a child develop an obsession about their bodies causing eating disorders and other psychological problems. It can also make the child a target from sexual predators because of how adult they look.

I apologize if this answer sounds like a rant but I have a very strong opinion on this subject.

Look at these two articles on the subject

http://loveyourworld.gaia.com/blog/2008/11/inside_the_world_of_child_pageants

http://billyreedsays.com/2006/08/28/time-to-end-child-beauty-pageants/

Take a look at this video that shows how grown up these children are make to look and how enthusiastic and involved the parents get.

Child beauty pageants wander a zone between a mother's using her child like a living dress-up doll, and soft porn.

I don't think they should be outlawed without something equally as lucrative being made available. After all, many of these participants win money for a college education.