Why Should Child Pageants Be Banned

“Banning child beauty pageants is certainly a step in the right direction.” (Riggs. 2013) All over the world, child beauty pageants has taken over. Here in America, many people believe that they need to be banned. Parents dress up their children in so many different outrageous outfits and makeup. Parents don’t realize what they are doing to their children. They are taking away the childhood, which id the most important time of a person’s life. Most of these children are not having fun because they are being forced to the pageants. These children are more than likely to grow up with no self-esteem and hating their bodies since they think that they are not beautiful. They will end up seeing everything wrong with themselves. These pageants need

You may ask why, what’s the difference? Well in Ireland, children are banned from wearing makeup. They can only use their natural beauty. While here in America, the pageants are based on which child looks better with a full face of makeup, fake boobs, tans, wigs and false teeth. Even the outfits that the children wear here are not okay even for a grown up. In Ireland, the child pageants are about the child having fun, while here in America it’s the parents that are having fun by dressing up their kids like Barbie dolls. It’s not even about the kids here, it’s about the money and prizes that the parents win. As Ms. Hamilton puts it “It makes them feel like princesses.” (Rogan. 2015) This should be what pageants should be about, making them fell like princesses, but teaching them it’s all about their natural beauty. They don’t need makeup, or wigs, or tans to look pretty. They need to be taught it’s not always what’s on the outside that counts, but what is on the inside. It’s all about accepting yourself for who you are, not what you are forced to be. Natural beauty is what we need to teach our kids, they don’t need to hide behind a pound of