General Chat

I switched channels, I was so disgusted with the mothers.

Children should have a childhood. And I'm typing this with gritted teeth, lol.
x

these sort of programmes make me want to throw up,the Mothers???? are trying to relive what they thought they wanted in their children.Yuk,why cant they just let children be children? they grow up soon enough anyway,just let them enjoy their childhood. **M**.

Ive got one girl but thankfully she never wanted to do the dancing thing, she just didnt get it when the girls next door kept doing dance routines in the living room, my daughter would just come home and say they're at it again! Maybe because she has 3 brothers.
She's 15 now and does the usual, going out with friends, likes her bit of make up and loves clothes, but she likes to be different from the crowd.

Oh yeugh! That sounds so tacky!

I'm so glad I had a boy ... (he's now 30 but, even so!)

Jill

Its ok for kids to enjoy dancing but parents spend an absolute fortune on the outfits and getting them to competitions.

I know someone who does this and she spends over £200 pound on each dress and needs a new one for each competition. The kids have fake tans and make up and there hair done like adults not much different from the pageants but has been going on for years

Mini ballroom dancing? Noooo. Surely not!

Jill

Its all the mothers fault, no one else.

You can stop a nine year old doing anything, there is this magic word called NO.

Girls like to dress up and wear there mothers high heels and lippy, but leave it like that a bit of fun on a wet Sunday afternoon, not pageants and pressure and riduculous amounts of money spent.

Its the same with mini ballroom dancing, the amount of money spent on it is huge

Joan
I don't think she looked happy at all, but just echoed the phrases that her mother said.
At least the girl from Hertfordshire seemed to enjoy the experience.
Childhood seems so short these days, it's a pity the Mums can't let it be more natural for their daughters.

Gwyn

I saw a bit of that programme - that girl from Staines that Gwyn mentioned was the most natural of the three they were following. Her mother did not agree with the amount of make up some of the other mothers used on their daughters. Plus, she wanted her child to do it to boost her confidence levels. That seemed to work as the girl was so chuffed after she finished her gymnastic performance.

Plus, she has ended up with two modelling contracts - which hopefully have helped the family finances! So good luck to her.

Jill

An amazing amount of money was spent by 2 of the mothers paying for dresses, make up and treatments for their daughters.
One paid over £200 for 'cat walk' style coaching, ie how to walk, how to pose.

More down to earth was the young girl from Staines? who said any money she won would be useful, because her family were 'skint'. Her Mum at least limited the amount of makeup she allowed and her daughter looked much more natural in her borrowed dress ( they couldn't afford to buy)

Gwyn

I saw that this programme was on mons......but deliberately decided not to watch because of all the reasons boardmembers have stated here......also....

I watched a programme some years ago about American Beauty Pageants, and they did a follow-up last year showing the children, now older with lives of their own.....

Luckily the children involved seem to be sensible, down to earth people with none of the brattishness or self-centred attitudes I would have imagined.......unlike the mothers...... it really showed the mothers as having been the driving force behind the children......and one admitted living through her daughter, because her own ambitions of becoming first in pageants had been frustrated.....

I agree that children should be allowed to grow up without these pressures......

Yes Mildred, I agree entirely with every thing you have said, hence the reason I took my daughters out of competative dancing, but did allow them to do their exams
Julia in Derbyshire

I never saw the programme last night, but have seen similer on the tv.

It also make me fume seeing these mothers push their kids into this pampered poodle show ground.

Ok some kids want to do it, but if my daughter wanted to do it, the answer would be a resounding NO.

If it was a beauty pageant based on the kids ages (no make up, fake tans etc things a grown woman should be dressed as) I may have a slightly differing opinion.

But these mums (who want to be in their daughters shoes) lay their children open to feelings of failure and loss of self worth when they grow up & they realise they are not as perfect as they were led to believe they were.

I did not see the programme. But, many years ago, when my daughters did Ballroom Dancing competitions, they are now in their early forties, I saw what a competative, and bitchy world, it was to be the numero uno, as they say. I did not put up with this for long, and steered them into other interest/persuits, which was a shame, as they were very good dancers, and achieved many medals, for their high standards.
Julia in Derbyshire

i must admit Muffy my BP was on the rise last night i kept shouting at the TV and i wanted to shake the mothers very HARD!

i think its best to let a child be a child
they only get one childhood lets make it the best ever
without robbing them of any of it

I wouldn't dare watch a programme like that for fear of what it will do to my blood pressure !!!!

I won't even allow my girls to wear some of the clothes I see in mainstream stores because I consider them to be inappropriate. What they do in those pageants is, in my opinion, totally wrong........and potentially dangerous.

I'm a firm believer in letting them remain as innocent, carefree children for as long as possible xx

I sat opened mouthed with disgust last night at the television programme last night " BABY BEAUTY QUEENS" on BBC3 i don't know if any of you saw it.

it was set around the mini miss UK contest and followed some little girls on the lead up to the competition, it based it self on the States beauty pageants with young girls aged 6 - 13.

All i could see while watching it was the damage these mothers are doing to their daughters. (move over Gypsy Rose Lee)

little girls should not have makeup caked on to make them look like little drag queens! what happened to natural beauty, rosie cheeks etc not spray tans, false eyelashes and acrylic nails.

These so called mothers are turning these little girls in to false ,self conceited, vain little prima donna's,

One little girl aged 9 "people say I'm beautiful so there's no point wasting it" her mother said she had no competition in the show as she looked down her nose at the other contestants but the little girl was not placed in the winning line up and the little girl had yet another tantrum.

why cant these mothers let their girls be girls and not made up freaks !!!!

before the UK gets out of hand with these kind of pageants we should remember what happened to the little girl JonBenet Ramsey who was an American beauty queen who was murdered by a freak that these shows attract .

im going to get off my soap box now glad i got it out my system

please mum's let little girls be girls don't destroy their childhoods