It is a girl’s dream to participate and win a beauty contest. Make-up and costumes are what makes this experience exiting; to where it feels like they are queens and princesses when getting ready for an event. Spotlights, the runway and standing ovations are what motivate girls to participate, although mothers also tend to be part of this journey as well. As it seems now-a-days, some of the girls are forced by their mothers to participate for the money.

Therefore, it is questioned whether it is the girls or the mothers interested to participate in these contests. Some girls refuse to participate and others dream to be part of them. Beauty contests are a good activity for girls to be involved in, but the problem arises when it becomes materialistic rather than a fun activity. These young girls are exposed to different types of physical and emotional damages. Social skills are reduced since the time for them to play with other kids is spent preparing for these events. Parents are responsible for the participation of these girls in the contests and sometimes even heavily influential on the girls behavior.

Parents are often responsible for the participation of girls in the competitions, and even sometimes influence the girls’ behavior. The experience parents have with beauty contests is the reason why they expose their children to them. In some cases, it is just a matter of a dream they did not have and are living it vicariously through their daughters. Some moms on lower socioeconomic levels think competition is healthy, others claim that they put their children into beauty contests so they can meet others. Another group of parents put their children into competitions because they found it helpful.

The mothers of pageant participants argue that the little girls like it. I guess they do, but then again, most 6-year-olds like wearing make-up and dressing up like princesses. Some of these little girls started competing in pageants at the age of three! Moms ignore the fact that girls can have fun for a while, but then it will feel like a routine to them. They are building a certain pattern of behavior that whenever they lose they become angry and start yelling. In some cases, mothers punish their children because they didn’t achieve what they were supposed to. no longer feel comfortable without the aid of make-up and other beauty treatments.

Beauty contests have different effects on girls, but eventually they all end up being the same. False teeth, make-up, hair spray, tanning treatments and much more is what the innocent little girls are exposed to. They are probably enjoying the experience of feeling like princesses for a while, but it later becomes a battle. As they realize that their beauty is not natural but fake. They have problems getting along with their peers because they fight easily over little things that can be fixed. When they grow up, girls should realize that these events are no more than a damage to themselves, and that the results are not always going to be as they expected.

They have to learn to value and accept themselves as they are, because in life, there is no make-up to cover “the imperfections” that we might encounter. If what their moms are looking for is money or a reward, there are many other means to receive money and rewards that require hard work. Young girls are “sponges;”they are at an age where they absorb everything in their surroundings, therefore it is not proper for them to absorb a materialistic mentality. If what they want is to get a tiara and a first place, they can get the first place and be winners in life if they succeed being who they want to be, and not what their mothers want them to be.