I've just read the news about a mom who gives botox injections to her 8 year old to get rid of those 'baby wrinkles' for her beauty pageant contests.

Is she in her right mind??

I've first heard of child beauty pageants from one of the episodes in Southpark, I thought it's just an exaggeration of reality..

It turns out the parents of these child pageants really did 'doll-up' their children with hair extensions, fake teeth, fake tans... eye lashes..to make them superficially 'beautiful'. I find it horrifying, this is child abuse, children aren't supposed to look like this?






WTF mom?

It's the innocence that makes children beautiful...not this.
Your thoughts on this?

Last edited by Brucie_kun at 10:00 am, May 13 2011

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Reality.

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Living the American dream.

Well, to be fair, reality encompasses a possibly infinite number of things and concepts. It also includes genocide, for example, and large suitcases. Also Campari. I can't stand Campari : |.

That aside, this stuff has been around for ages. Creepy as hell and also the result of deeply disturbed parents, but what can you do?


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Well, I agree with you Brucie-kun, but the thing is, this is not indigenous to America - this happens everywhere. Parents compete with someone or the other, and their children are often used for these competitions. In some places, this is about scholastic achievements, or aout other activities - everybody is trying to one up someone else. And yes, this should come under child abuse. I think that this severly affects the child, and makes an imprint that is usually negative.

Those kids don't look their age at all .

If you want another example, look at Willow Smith.

Does that look like a 9-year old(It's an older photo)?



Comparing the above two, I wonder who looks happier - the girl with make up on, or the one with tiger markings in face-paint?

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These monsters that dare call themselves parents should be locked up with the criminally insane. I shudder at the thought of what their still developing bodies might become with so many drugs and other harmful crap has been given them. And even if their bodies escape unharmed from this,their minds will be dangerously warped.

Childhood should be about swings, mud and friends. Beauty should barely even register in their thoughts.

Last edited by Dridius at 10:26 am, May 13 2011

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"Religion is like a gun, It's only as good as the people holding it and it can easily take a life."

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Yeah, beauty pageant kids always freaked me out since they look so... wrong. Not their fault though cause the majority of the time it's not their ides. The parents should be banned from making any future children.

Also @Casey D, she's Will Smith's kid, she was bound to look goofy anyway

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The woman in the article talks about it being a tough world. My question - for whom, you or your daughter? I mean, if you want to fill yourself with silicon and prance around on catwalks(never understood fashion shows - they're all ugly) go ahead. At least let your child live.

That girl will be scarred for life. She already thinks that being pretty is worth the pain of the injections.

@TurboPheonix - I suppose that's true , but I should mention I like Will Smith - or rather, liked Will Smith. This whole thing with getting his children working so early made me revise my opinion, but ever since I saw Hitch, I thought he was nice. Seemed more down to earth, so to say. Guess what they say about first impressions is true

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There are times when you will miss what you never had. I wonder how you will find what you so desperately need.

I only see superficial kids on TV. The ones I see in my daily life are normal.

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Beauty pageants for children....that's just sick; sorry, there's no other word for it. How can you do this to you child?!

This is precisely why not every psycho from God-knows-where should be allowed to raise a child; you need a liscense to drive a car, but everyone can have a child without having underwent any mandatory education.

Anyway, just let kids be kids like they're supposed to.

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I think that Jimmy Kimmel & Tom Hanks sum up thoughts on this subject perfectly: "Toddlers & Tiaras with Tom Hanks"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the responses to this subject.

Still, I can never get how willingly and eagerly younger folks would throw themselves at the feat of gov't.

So a few parents here and there use (abuse) their children as objects, perhaps even try to live vicariously through them. Apparently, that is enough to warrant absolving the duties of parents, and delegating more of that responsibility to the gov't.

As much as some may think, "oh but we're only talking about the BAD parents!" Who decides whom the bad parents are? Gov't? Society?

I've seen a parent accused of child abuse because she tried pushing her children through k-12 schooling faster, and put her children through what most Americans consider to be "too much schooling and extracurricular activities." I heard the same "Childhood should be about swings, mud and friends" spouted by neighbours. Some of them just jealous that their own kids didn't have the same opportunities. I suppose that parent should be locked away as well ("with the criminally insane"), so long as populist sentiments against her are fresh.

(Let's just rename the USA to the People's Republic of America... "People's Republic" refers to Populism, so it would be very fitting.)

Children are "used" all right. I hate how they are so often used to further political agendas, because they are one of the Sacred Cows of our world.

It takes one accusation of "child pornography!" to make people immediately let down their guard, and allow "appropriate authorities" to sift through private/personal info, close down websites (maybe a manga scanlation site that showed an ecchi scene involving high schoolers was ratted out by a random troll), and anything else ultra-liberals want. I swear, one of these days "pedophilia" (not just the act of "child molestation", but the actual mental affinity) will be outlawed. (Very few people online even seem to distinguish between pedophilia and child molestation.) We'll have "thought crimes" and that will justify any mind-readings that gov't performs on us. (We already have prototype mind readers. I've seen them at my college many years ago when I was still an undergrad.) Why? Because no one wants to even remotely sound like they stand against a Sacred Cow: children, anti-racism, equality, etc...

I am probably one of the few people that just doesn't care about these parents. They're idiots, but I say just let them do what they want. They aren't physically abusing their children, and mental abuse... well, that's hard for one person to judge. I've suffered through a lot of "mental abuse" from all sources, including my parents, and so have many others I've known. We're fine. Children are a lot tougher than we give them credit for. At least I used to think so. Why have we all of a sudden turned into a bunch of p^$$!3$?

Things I take into consideration regarding these beauty pageant kids:
- The kids aren't dying or being beaten. They aren't even being neglected.
- They might turn out a little bit wonky, but a lot of celebrity children do. No one cares about them, do they?
- Who will take care of these kids? The gov't? A foster family? Relatives who generally will be similar to the parents anyway?
- They are raised in an environment where most of the neighbours probably think this is all normal. After all, these child beauty pageants need to be acceptable or even popular for them to last.

Ultimately, how is this going to affect any of us? One one hand, we might have a kid who grows up to be slightly more superficial than the rest, or might have problems with their parents (stupid parents, but a few levels short of "criminally insane"). Whatever. On the other hand, we might end up as parents in a future where it's normal for society to decide how we want to raise our children. I understand most people here are young, and haven't thought this far (or perhaps don't plan on having or even hope to have children). I do, and I'll raise them how I see fit to raise them, and won't appreciate society turning my kids against me.

I'm guessing most people are normal... like me... not *soo* terrible that they need other people (possibly just as idiotic if not more so) to decide for them how to raise their kids.

@N0x_ - The gov't wasn't mentioned, as far as I can see - I even pointed out that this isn't specific to America.
While it is true that most parents push their children very hard, and sometimes children become successful only because of this, the main question here is based on what a 'normal' kid should be, and how he/she should be treated, and if you ask me, nobody's 'normal'.

As far as I am concerned, there is no greater purpose in life. There's nothing we can do but e happy, and try making other people happy. Other than that, everything is transient. Even that is transient, but I find some amount of satisfaction in thinking I might have mde someone happier.

The only things that matter to me as far as children like that are concerned is whether they are happy or not, whether such actions will affect their happiness later, and whether these actions will turn them into someone who regrets life, or whatever you think should not be in a person. That girl thought pain was okay if it made her pretty - and I don't think the botox helped much. It was her mother who said she looked prettier. I think the girl didn't even understand 'pretty' completely, as she says 'and all those good words'. She just felt better, because her mother was happier. That is something that I cannot condone.

You said you were abused and still turned out all right. You have my sympathy and congratulations. But there are others who went through such experiences and did not turn out right. If there is any action that helps return happiness to those people, or rather doesn't allow it to be taken away in the first place, and doesn't hurt anyone else, I support it. You mentioned pedophiles and childmolesters. I understand the difference between the two, and I respect a person who goes against his/her urges to stop themselves from doing something they think is wrong, but I am disgusted by child molesters. At the same time, I also detest all those who look down at pedophile just because of what they are, and do not look at what they are trying to be. An example that fits this situation is that of a pedophile who took medication that weakend his body so that he wouldn't hurt children anymore, from an episode of 'Lie to Me'. I respected the character, though I did not agree with him completely.

That's a tad off topic, though. As far as children and their families are concerned, I will never tell anyone how to raise their children. But if I see a child's long term happiness being damaged because of something selfish or misguided, I would do everything I can to stop it.

I hope I don't offend anybody


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There are times when you will miss what you never had. I wonder how you will find what you so desperately need.

@N0x: You are literally the first person in the thread to mention any sort of forfeiture of parental rights or even address that issue with any sort of logistical basis... It looks like most of us might not agree with it, and we might find the practice deeply disturbed, but no one said anything about dragging the kids away from their parents. Dridius made an obviously exaggerated comment to drive home a point, but that's about as close as it got.

Did you just want to rant? Because that's totally fine, but you really don't need to come up with justifications that aren't present in the text to jump into it... it makes you look like a vindictive ass at worst, and a troll at best.

Though, that epic rant was not exactly "normal." But then again, what is?

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