"Toddlers & Tiaras"...... Another reason why "they" hate us?

[SoCalDem]

About Toddlers & Tiaras

toddler pageant contestant

On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash.

The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals, each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant, it's all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants to prove that their child is beautiful.

Watch Toddlers & Tiaras, Tuesdays at 10/9c.

from google

Toddlers & Tiaras : Pageant Dads, "Sexy" Babies & Creepy Judges ...
Jan 28, 2009 ... Toddlers & Tiaras, TLC's series about child beauty pageants premiered last night. We are all over this shit.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=10&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjezebel.com%2F5141201%2Ftoddlers--tiaras-pageant-dads-sexy-babies--creepy-judges&ei=ubxlSs_SEISUsgOu4eDwDg&usg=AFQjCNHoBjc8ok33tf9VZD0uiglwzVJfQg&sig2=HHrPWZwozSIsWfrj4no6_A Similar -

Toddlers & Tiaras: Got Butt Glue?
Toddlers & Tiaras episode about Butt Glue left me speechless. The TLC show is good in a bad sort of way.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=11&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwhitetrashmom.com%2F2009%2F04%2Ftoddlers-tiaras-got-butt-glue.html&ei=ubxlSs_SEISUsgOu4eDwDg&usg=AFQjCNHxd7Pd0sEqrd0C_qtQ6LHH5kbBvA&sig2=fkrNtPNKKh6esHDVn5gzhw Cached - Similar -

Watch Toddlers & Tiaras Online | Streaming Full Length Episodes ...
Find the latest information on the TV show Toddlers & Tiaras, and watch full episodes and videos, photo slideshows, and more, at Fancast.com!
www.fancast.com/tv/Toddlers-&-Tiaras/101487/full-episodes - Cached - Similar -

Toddlers and Tiaras
Feb 7, 2009 ... Child molesters must be salivating watching Toddlers & Tiaras. ..... What surprised me when I watched Toddlers & Tiaras — the mothers spend ...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=13&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbabyparenting.about.com%2Fb%2F2009%2F02%2F07%2Ftoddlers-and-tiaras.htm&ei=ubxlSs_SEISUsgOu4eDwDg&usg=AFQjCNHjQFMT7mgsQjtT2m6Ju_meHHNz2Q&sig2=ZlOkGLr0Ln1YJc5vHsYz2wCached - Similar -

Toddlers & Tiaras | Dlisted
Jan 28, 2009 ... TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras is a reality shit show about the creepy and fucked up world of child beauty pageants. These little girls make The ...
www.dlisted.com/taxonomy/term/394 - Cached - Similar -

TLC to premiere 'Toddlers & Tiaras' second season on July 22 ...
Jul 8, 2009 ... Similar to its first season which aired earlier this year, Toddlers & Tiaras' new season will give viewers a look into the world of child ...
www.realitytvworld.com/.../tlc-premiere-toddlers-&-tiaras-second-season-on-july-22-9294.php - Cached - Similar -

News results for "Toddlers & Tiaras".

On TLC's 'Toddlers & Tiaras,' Little Divas Make Their Entrance‎ - 1 hour ago
The little girls are show stoppers on "Toddlers & Tiaras," which has its second- season premiere Wednesday on TLC. This time the show will follow the ...
ABC News



.................................

Schlock tv is nothing new, but this has to "take the cake". The promo on TLC was enough to turn my stomach. I'm sure that every perv in the US has that show programmed into their Tivo..:puke:

What's doubly disturbing, is that it's on "THE LEARNING CHANNEL". If SciFi changed their name to SyFy (to simplify things), surely TLC is long overdue for a name change.

What's infinitely annoying is that TLC used to be about fantastic programs..like "Connections", and so many great history, art and science programming.

Too disgusting to even post the pics, but if anyone's interested, they are on google @ link

[Mari333]

1. I consider it child abuse. nt

[Maine-ah]

7. agreed.

I think this kind of crap is disgusting.

[Mari333]

10. ever notice some of the moms at these things?

I dont want to paint with a broad brush, but if I do, tell me.
some of them look as tho they have ZERO self worth/esteem. they look as tho, imo without meeting them, that they are trying to live out some fantasy for themselves through their kids.
its very creepy.

[YOY]

16. The wife met one.

Little YOY is a sweet little girl. I love her just the way she is. Mrs. YOY is a great non-makeup wearing intelligent educated professional woman.

The mommy she met was stuck in the late 80s hairstyle wise...poofy hair with clothes too expensive to suit the venue they were at. Neither social nor bright. The daughter was weird and didn't really want to play or be social in any normal sense.

Why are these freaks even on TLC?

[Mari333]

22. its the dumbing down of america methinks

thats why i dumped my TV. I havent had one for 5 yrs. It was becoming a bore, a horrific waste of time, trying to find 'something' that wasnt DREK.
I finally said 'this is a waste of my life'. and never looked back.

[Kalyke]

51. Your wife met Sarah Palin?

:D


FWIW, I think these pageants are disgusting and I'm the mother of a very beautiful, non-make-up-wearing, rough and tumble 2-year-old girl.

[YOY]

78. No but along those lines our fundie neighbors started talking like her before the election.

Severe shortage of braincells that one had.

[B3Nut]

18. The moms? When I've seen those disgusting creatures on TV

they have often struck me as being incredibly vapid and shallow, living vicariously through their kids in a pathetic attempt to compensate for their empty existences. I do believe it to be a form of child abuse. They should be encouraging real artistic talent, not encouraging their kids to act like "cheap tarts on a red light street" (to borrow a turn of phrase from Sting.)

It's contrived and artificial...like too much of American popular "culture."

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[KittyWampus]

29. the movie Little Miss Sunshine skewered that very well.

[Liberal_in_LA]

90. This is true at other events, like tap dance, where the lil girl is dressed ultra fancy. Mom is in a

big tee with leggings, no make up. <shrug>

[dflprincess]

92. I agree

I have a friend who fits that description and she tried like crazy to get her daughter involved in the pagent scene. This was maybe 20 years ago before anyone who wasn't involved didn't know what they were like. One day she did convince another friend & I to go to one of the pagents her daughter was in (the child was about 8) - it wasn't as bad as it is on the show but it was bad enough and most the mothers sure fit the profile.

One thing we noticed was that the daughter didn't seem all that enthused - in fact she reminded us of the scene in "Christmas Story" when Ralphie was dressed in the bunny suit. We've all been friends since junior high so we can pretty much say anything to each other but the two of us really couldn't get through to pagent mom and pagent kid wasn't willing to open up to us. So, being busybodies, we went to her mom and one of her sisters (who was close to the poor kid involved). Pagent child was willing to admit to her aunt and grandma that she hated the whole thing and they were able to lay the law down to our pal. (This is now a chapter that is never discussed among us).

[eridani]

102. Sometimes claws are handier than opposable thumbs

[ensho]

44. agree

making little girls look and act sexy is a crime

pedophiles love it

[XemaSab]

104. It's not just making them look sexy, it's making them into objects

It's telling a little girl that her worth is based on how she looks, and she's basically an object to be poked and prodded and judged. It's treating a child like a doll.

(And I'm not one of those women who thinks Barbie is teh Satan. If women want to dress sexy and wear cute clothes and have their nails done, God bless them, but I suspect that part of the horror of the Ramsey case was the fact that the parents turned their little girl into a sex object and apparently someone took the bait.)

[applegrove]

89. Yup. Children should be children and not sexed up teenagers. I saw the promo for the show

and one little girl was asked what she thought of her competators and she said "I don't care about them". Sounds like trainning groud for future freepers.

[SoCalDem]

94. and how about the voice over "work that booty" and creepy dad bumping & grinding

as Mom says that Dad works out most of her routines..the "her" looks to be about 4.. I guess dad takes notes at the strip bars after work :puke:

[applegrove]

95. It is just sick. But that is why freepers will watch it. Because it reinforces their

values of winner takes all no matter what the cost to the people (children).

I remember being in highland dancing competitions as a kid. We certainly were not taught to hate the people we competed against.

[billyoc]

2. "Rock of Love Bus, the Prequel"

[Vickers]

3. That whole industry is just creepy as hell.

Plus, I can't look at pictures of them without thinking about JonBenet Ramsey.

[MicaelS]

88. Agree 100%

First thing I thought of. "Goddamnit, didn't these idiots learn their lesson with what happened with JonBenet?"

[Liberal_in_LA]

91. The male host that sings at every pageant... now he's a little creepy

[Odin2005]

4. Child Abuse.

Everyone who watches those pageants are probably pedos.

[Maru Kitteh]

72. There's no way anyone could convince me otherwise. This girl is 7 years old.

There are only two kinds of people who would find this acceptable. Pedos and their enablers.

[FSogol]

5. The pic on the bottom w/ the skunks, is that your picture?

Where did you find it?


(Sorry to avoid your topic, but I find those pageants to be too creepy)

[SoCalDem]

8. Nope. Someone posted it online with the caption "the girls found wild kittens"

:rofl:

and I could not stop laughing:)

Once when I was a little girl, I brought home a " baby monkey", that I found at the bus stop (we lived in Panama), and my parents were horrified .. It was a 2-toed sloth:rofl:

[FSogol]

12. Its a great photo.

Aren't sloths less dangerous than monkeys?

[SoCalDem]

13. Well, they do have those gigantic claws, and they don't "do" much

My parents called the base vet, and he sent someone to get the sloth.. I think they took it to a preserve, and then let it go back to the jungle..
Our bustop was right across the street from the jungle, and we always had "visits" by animals:)

We did actually get a marmoset monkey shortly after, and "Tita" was a much more lively "monkey":)

[FSogol]

15. Nice. Thanks. n/t

[babydollhead]

46. my son brought in "a bird feather"

I said, without looking, "don't bring it in the kitchen keep it in the living room." When I walked into the living room, and entire wing of a bird, lay on our living room chair.

[SoCalDem]

47. eeeek!!!

My son once brought in an alligator lizard, and of course he let it go.. We traipsed all over the house trying to catch it before one of the cats or a dog caught it & killed it.. I cornered it in the bathroom and the damned thing lattched onto my hand like vise grips.. (they have no teeth).. It would be fun to had had a video of that morning.,.:rofl:

[XemaSab]

105. They totally have teeth

one of them bit the crap out of my finger last month. x(

[SoCalDem]

107. leeeetle teeeensy teeth.. not like fangs.. and they are quite small

I was surprised at the strength of his little jaws though:)

[XemaSab]

109. That little booger totally NAILED me

I suspect one of them little teeeensy teeth broke off in my finger, 'cause it hurt for a few weeks. x(

And the power of the jaws was impressive... NO LIE.. I was bit by a wild baby 'gator twice the size of that lizard that wasn't nearly as strong. x(

[piratefish08]

6. this is just f*cking disgusting......

[johnfunk]

9. TLC: The Network for Pedophiles and the New Dumb

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mopar151]

14. Ever seen gypsy/"traveler" kids? n/t

[mitchum]

54. Yes, I argue that Traveler culture is now mainstream American culture...

grifting as a way of life
hostility toward intellectual curiousity as a virtue
sexualizing and pimping children
mindless materialism
distrust of "outsiders"

We are now Traveler Nation

[Iris]

59. except don't think the families on this series are necessarily mainstream

Most of these people don't have much else going for them.

[liberal N proud]

17. Mothers living their dream through their little girls

It is child exploitation so mom can feel like she accomplished something.


We had a taste of something similar to the pageants, Our oldest twirled baton in competition. Nearly every weekend, there was a competition somewhere. These competitions required hours of preparation. Parents who had kids in gymnastics may have similar feelings as well. Barton twirling was very physical yet they were to present themselves as if they were in a beauty pageant at the competition.

Between the travel, the costumes the entry fees and then dealing with an adolescent emotions, it was enough to drive one to drink. She competed on the national scene for a couple of years and we were not serious enough about it.

The parents of some of those girls were mean, not only to their kid but everyone else as well. We didn't meet too many people in those competitions that we wanted to associate with otherwise.

I was relieved when she decided she had more important things to do.

[dugaresa]

20. the mean parents and the hyper competition was why we removed our daughter from ballet

when our daughter was 3, she loved to dance about the house. So we thought, why not ballet? Well our free spirit wanted to express herself in her own way and while she was in a class of other 2-4 year olds what we discovered was that some of those parent truly believed that their kid was going to be in the Bolshoi and that we had better get our kid in line or else. They were rude, competitive and kind of mean to their kids.

[Mari333]

26. yes, I think you hit on something much larger that exists

the need for many parents to try and control their kids outcome in life...to the point of insanity..
not letting their kids have fun on their own but putting them in these rigid controlling classes or sports things and then watching them like hawks. all that competition and sports rage..
when my oldest son was little he wanted to be on a baseball team at school..he did it, i went to the games, but i never expected anything from him except for him to have fun. i watched him play, but i also discovered the 'sports parents'. what a bunch of boobs.
finally, he just created his own sandlot team with the neighborhood kids and they played in the neighborhood.
he told me 'MOM, I have MORE FUN when there arent ANY adults around'

he quit the baseball team and just played ball with his friends from then on.

He learned well.

[KittyWampus]

33. childhood injuries have skyrocketed as a result. Sports injuries like torn tendons & stuff.

[Mari333]

37. and crazy injuries inflicted by insane parents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTTTUBDx_28

[csziggy]

52. At the physical therapy gym I'm going to there are two groups this summer

Mature adults either getting therapy to avoid surgery or following therapy and teenagers getting therapy following injuries and surgery. I was very surprised at how many in the last group there have been this time around.

Several of my surgeries have been during football season and that PT gym is where most of the FSU football players go for PT so usually I'd see them. But now I am seeing young teenagers and it is disturbing.

My nieces participated in dance and gymnastics from very young ages - they both have damage to their joints that will haunt them all their lives. I thought I had abused my body but I did not have my first serious joint injury until I was in my forties. These girls had similar damage by the time they were 13 or 14!

[KittyWampus]

110. you might consider writing a short Opening Post on that subject. It really needs recognition

Even on DU, there might be parents who need to see this info.

[dugaresa]

34. my only goal was to expose my kids to different options and let them choose

but I never push. When a sport or activity stops being fun, then its time to move on.

[Odin2005]

84. Parents that treat their kids as tools for enhancing their own standing in the community are scum.

And if you dare let your kid just sit around to dream and wonder instead of scheduling every minute of their lives you are declared a "bad parent" because all idle kids are at risk of turning into gangsters cuz an idle mind is the devil's playground, dontcha know? :eyes:

[Ex Lurker]

53. variation on the same theme

a coworker has turned his 2nd grade daughter into a sports machine. She plays softball competitively from early spring through late summer, first in the city league, then on a traveling "all star" team. In the off season they work on fundamentals. She also runs cross country (they do in fact have meets for that age group.) And in what little free time she has, she does tumbling and gymnastics. She seems to enjoy all this, but I can see her getting burned out by the time she hits puberty.

[SoCalDem]

99. poor little thing.. she belongs on a bike with her buddies

riding around , having adventures.. sleeping in on summer days..splashing on a slip n slide, playing dolls..

i think a lot of parents will be very disappointed later in life when these robots flee the nest, and never want much to do with their helicopter parents....and these kids will probably be very ready to institutionalize their elderly parents in an place with
lots of "structured time"..turnabout, y'know?

[Horse with no Name]

101. I know these kids

they grew up with my kids.
I used to think the parents did it as an avenue to pay for college, but the pathology is much deeper.
The kids DO burn out and suffer injuries along the way.
One of the best little softball players I ever saw that did the in-season, off-season, and out-of-season traveling ball ended up burning out her bright light as a freshman in college. She self-destructed. Completely. Lost her college eligibility, her scholarship, every single thing.
She now works minimum wage in a local store and aspires to absolutely nothing. She was a great kid that had lots of potential to do great things--problem is, she did them all before she was 16. She is just tired now.:(

[AllyCat]

65. 3 and 4 year old soccer is about the same

Our little guy just wanted to kick the ball. People showed up with their 3 year olds decked out in matching warm-ups, suits, soccer cleats and shin guards. They'd yell and scream. They'd send out their older kids (not part of the class) to "help out" our guy because he "didn't know what he was doing". Our son would just kind of leave halfway through and sit with us on the sidelines. Gymnastics is going MUCH better!

[Jennicut]

19. My 4 and 5 year old girls do ballet. They get to dress up, have fun and

with no pressure and none of the sick over bearing parents around. I was a backstage Mom at their recital this year and the kids all had fun playing with each other although a room full of 40 3 to 7 year old girls can get crazy.
Beauty pageants are something I would never ever let the kids do. Even the talent part of the competition does not make up for the exploitation.

[kimmylavin]

69. I work with the dance program at my theater.

Parents aren't even allowed in the classrooms during class time, only staff members.
The teacher has total control, the kids aren't distracted, and it looks like so much fun, I always want to join in! :)

[Jennicut]

80. We aren't allowed in either during class time but they need

help during the recital. I loved helping out.

[stanwyck]

21. I get queasy every time I see the commercial for this show

These are flat out bad parents. If you're teaching your very little girl how to be sexy on a runway in order to be judged by adults, you're a bad parent. What you're doing to a child is wrong. No excuses. No rationalizations. Don't tell me "she wants to do this." She doesn't. You do. And what she wants is to please you. She is too young to know what she's doing other than pleasing Mom or Dad. This is manipulative and cruel.
I'm judgmental as hell on this. And proud of it.

[Mari333]

24. +1

[Odin2005]

30. +2

[KittyWampus]

35. you just gave me a thought. It'd be more interesting with CHILDREN JUDGES. Kids can be very honest

[chatnoir]

111. +3

[LibertyLover]

23. A friend of mine from high school got her two little girls into this

pageant stuff. I was totally creeped out. Her husband was about 10 years older than she and a farmer in New York state. Let's just say the family was not rolling in money. But she would go out and spend hundreds of dollars on dresses and costumes for the kids, who I thought were ok looking but nothing out of the ordinary. We had been good friends in high school but drifted apart after graduation. I went to college and she went to work and got married while still in her teens. That marriage ended in divorce leaving her with 2 sons to raise. Then she met her second husband, as I say, 10 years older then she and a farmer. She married him and had 2 girls. Shortly before I was moving out of the area to Maryland we got back in touch and I went to visit her home. Almost the entire visit was taken up with watching videos of the kid in pageants. Her room was full of statues and tiaras that she had won. At one point my friend dragged out one of the ugliest flower girl dresses I had ever seen (electric blue polyester with tiers and flounces and yards of cheap lace all over it) and confided to me that she had paid over $500 for it (this was 20 years ago too) but had told her husband that it cost much less (still way too much in my humble opinion) and that her mother had helped her pay for it. At the time her youngest daughter was about 2 and had already been in a few contests to get her ready for the bigger events. To say I was bored to tears by the videos (and the older daughter doing her dance routines live and in person for me) would not be incorrect. But more, I was creeped out by some of the things I saw - male judges getting really touchy-feely with some of the kids, pageant mothers behaving badly - it was more than enough for me to decide that I would never, ever, if I had a kid, do that to them. 15 years later, after my husband and I adopted our daughter, I was walking her in her stroller one Saturday at our local mall. A well-dressed and coiffed woman approached me and asked if I were interested in entering her in one of these toddlers and tiaras pageants. My response of "F you, no way." was immediate and visceral. She asked why, because my daughter was so cute and would probably win. I told her that I considered them nothing more than child abuse and entertainment for would-be child molesters. She was offended and stalked off in high dudgeon, presumably to tackle more unsuspecting parents.

[Mari333]

28. wow what a story!!

Im starting to think these moms are playing "Barbie" with their living children.

[SoCalDem]

32. That's it, exactly. They objectify their kids.

Their kids are their living "toys", and they feel the need to always compare THEIR toys to other people's toys..

[madaboutharry]

36. Now that those girls are grown, it would be

interesting to know where they are with their lives.

[stanwyck]

55. There was a documentary on A+E years ago which

chronicled one family's experiences with the child beauty pageant circuit. YOur mentioning the money spent is a critical point. The father was working several jobs to support his wife's addiction to baby beauty pageants. The family had little money; and what they had was being spend on entry fees, gowns, costumes, dance lessons, and travel. Meanwhile, the family was spending time apart as Dad worked. And worked. And Mom traveled with the kids. The kids not involved in the pageants were dragged along.
I found the scenario incredibly sad.

[tblue37]

82. Dr. Phil has had a number of programs dealing with this issue.

He is appropriately critical of these crazy mothers.

[H2O Man]

25. A clear measure

of the sickness of our society.

[petronius]

27. What kind of person would agree to be a judge at a toddler beauty pageant?

:puke:

[Stevenmarc]

45. The people who had kids in the system who are now too old for it.

It never really is about the kids, it's about resolving their own childhood issues.

[AllyCat]

66. That was my thought. Ick

[XemaSab]

108. To take it in a non-pedo direction:

What kind of person would agree to be a judge at a toddler beauty pageant and TELL A PERFECTLY DARLING FOUR-YEAR-OLD that she's sub-par. x(

[AspenRose]

31. There was a documentary about this sort of thing several years ago on cable

We were staying at a hotel and when I flipped on HBO, "Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen" was on.

I watched the whole documentary because I was glued to it, akin to watching a train wreck. You find yourself trying to pick apart the thought processes behind the parents who allow these sorts of things to happen to their daughters.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285298/

The main person in the documentary is now in high school. She no longer competes in pageants because of the expense. Her mom died of a heart attack 6 years ago, and her dad died shortly after that from cancer. She lives with an older sister. I wonder if she'd still be competing if money were not an obstacle.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Dolls:_The_Making_of_a_Child_Beauty_Queen

[Mari333]

38. heres someone who did a good video about it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjWDHFwCrfc

[redqueen]

39. Gross. I never watch TLC so I haven't seen the ad, thank goodness.

I miss Connections. It's too bad about what's happened to these channels. Armageddon, Nostradamus, this 'reality' crap. So sad.

[PVnRT]

40. TLC stopped being about "learning" years ago

I can't think of a single redeeming show on the steaming pile of a cable network.

[Dulcinea]

60. Well...

I have to admit I like "What Not to Wear." :9

[Dulcinea]

41. I used to work w/ a former child beauty queen.

I have never met anyone so shallow, self-absorbed, and vapid in my entire life! This woman is now probably in her 40s & still thinks of herself as Miss Backwoods County or whatever.

I have two daughters, & I would never allow them to participate in such drivel. Thankfully, my older one's interested in science & my little one's an athlete!

[SoCalDem]

42. The BEST thing for little girls, is sports.. especially team sports

The girls who played soccer when my son was playing, were healthy,m self-confident girls.. and those girls took NO guff from the boys.. I cann;t imagine ANY of the boys ever trying anything "funny" with those girls..
in fact our son's coach used to put our son's team through "HELL-SCRIMMAGE".. That was when he made them "play-up" against the girls club teams// they had to work their asses off to beat the girls, and more often than not, they lost..

These were girls who did not care a bit, if they were grubby, sweaty, with hair pulled back into a pony tail, and yet the boys still thought that they were "hot"..and not in a sweaty soccer-y way:evilgrin:

[Mopar151]

49. I would disagree about team sports

being THE BEST (the phrase "Little League Mom" comes to mind) - but if the pageant atmosphere is at one end of the spectrum, there is a lot of great stuff for kids at the other end! 4-H, Scouts (hold the Mormons), robot teams, volunteering, lifelong sports like golf, motorsport, cycling, or crew.

[SoCalDem]

50. You have a point. mine was that team sports vs solitary sports

can foster a reliance on teammates, instead of a head-to-head competition , which sometimes can be pretty harsh.. If one is not all that good at golf, tennis, whatever, they tend to drop it, but in a team sport there are often players of various levels on a team, and each has something to contribute..and the trips are more fun with a bunch of people:)

[Mopar151]

81. Well -

I've been around motorsports since I was a kid - it is natural to think of competitors as friends first. I found it VERY difficult to explain this to stick 'n ball folk, til I heard the Webster's definition of "compete":

com·pete
Pronunciation:\kəm-ˈpēt\
Function:intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s):com·pet·ed; com·pet·ing
Etymology:Late Latin competere to seek together, from Latin, to come together, agree, be suitable, from com- + petere to go to, seek — more at feather
Date:1620
: to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective (as position, profit, or a prize) : be in a state of rivalry <competing teams> <companies competing for customers>

So, that's the deal - we seek the finish line together. And it's less fun to beat an empty spot than your long-term rival - and never more so than when you've been working on his ride for the last week.

[eridani]

103. So, that means your handle is an acronym for

Mostly Old Parts And Rust? :evilgrin:

[Mopar151]

106. Actually

In my case, you can leave out the "mostly"!, or

"Many Old Parts And Rust" - suits me to a T!

[Dulcinea]

58. To each their own.

My daughter is very social & does well in team sports, but a shy kid (like her big sister, who loves Science Club) might be better suited to something else.

[stanwyck]

57. On the flip side, I went to high school with a child beauty

queen. And she was a doll, both in looks and personality. Her mother was the driving force behind her spending her childhood in pageants. The upside was, she had years of dance training, which she enjoyed. The downside, she didn't have as much time to pursue her own interests. Plus, her naturally blonde hair was bleached even lighter until it was fried. I saw her at a reunion and was so gratified to find her not only as pretty as ever, but also happy. She had been married for years to an Army doctor, had two children, and lived in Hawaii. Same sunny personality. She never indicated any malice towards her mother for the years of pageants, she just always said she didn't enjoy them and was glad when she was able to stop.

[guitar man]

43. My kid looks better than all of them put together

Without a bit of makeup or any fake hair ;)

[Initech]

48. Oh god those beauty pagaents are fucking creepy.

:scared:

[fizzgig]

56. the sexualization of young girls in america creeps me the hell out

disgusting and deplorable don't even begin to describe it.

[Iris]

61. I read somewhere that this is the result of women taking on more active roles in society.

little girls are the only ones left who can be made to appear dainty and hyper-feminine

[mamaleah]

62. It's disgusting. But so are little league/hockey/soccer psycho parents.

Dressing your child up like a 20 something year old is what disturbed parents with failed dreams do.


That said, the insane parents out on the little league field who are convinced their kid is the next Derek Jeter are about the same.

[ensho]

112. yes, sports parents are a bane

parents should be barred from watching school sports

the sport is for the kids not the parents

[Twinguard]

63. Toddler beauty pagents are creepy.

Toddlers should be playing with toys, swinging on swings, sliding down slides, coloring construction paper, watching cartoons, going to zoos, and eating dirt.

It's disturbing to see parents subject such small children to something as superficial as beauty contests. It's also disturbing that the fake tans and makeup seem to gain points among the judges. I wonder what criteria these judges are basing their decisions on. I also wonder if these judges are parents, and if they are, what would they think about strangers judging their children like pieces of meat.

The pagent parents need to get over themselves and let their kids be kids.

[AllyCat]

64. Remember when little kids filled the parks?

Now I know why we are usually the only ones there. People are really just plain f***ed up to be doing this stuff to their kids. And the media is doubly f***ed up to be offering this up as education. Blech.

[SoCalDem]

70. We played on rusty old metal merry go rounds & slides.. we fell..no one sued

I remember being unable to sit comfortably for about a week, when I got a really bad "pinch" from a metal chain on a swing..

Parents these days are always looking for a way to get rich quick, from a lawsuit, so more and more parks are not really for kids to play at anymore..

We have an elementary school a few blocks away, and children are not allowed to play on the ball field or play area when school's out, so we have kids in the street all the time:grr: They prohibit it because of potential lawsuits & have a big old ugly chain link fence..

When I was a kid, we always went back to the school yard after school to play..

[Spazito]

76. I have to say...

the photo in your sig line says it all, imo. (I absolutely love that pic!)

It shows what little girls should be doing: playing, exploring, loving little "kittens" even those with 'skunk' colors instead of being exploited by their parent/s in order to 'fulfill' an unfulfilled dream of said parent/s.

[Ex Lurker]

96. I gashed my head on a swingset when I was 7

my parents took me to the doctor, got me stitched up, and I was back out there the next day.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

67. I don't understand the pride these parents feel

Even if they have attractive children, so what? Wouldn't they gain more pride if their young children were competing for prizes in performing arts, athletics, science, or some other discipline than simply being? These kids apparently are just showing up in costumes and being there. How that that make a parent proud?

[Warren DeMontague]

68. Can't we just call it what it is-- Creepy as all fucking get-out? Who cares whether "they" hate us?

Frankly, if we're talking about the same "they hate us" that was paraded around during the Bush administration as an excuse for various military adventures, i.e. Fundamentalist Islamic Societies, I wouldn't want to take cues from many of them on how they treat kids, women, etc. etc. etc. In Saudi Arabia they stick toddlers in arranged marriages.

None of which detracts from the clear fucked-uppedness of the topic in question. This shit was beyond disturbing back when JonBenet Ramsey was in the news. I don't understand what motivates people to do this stuff to their kids, but then Middle America has this deep obsession with fame and showbiz and the idea of being a "star" that just completely fucking escapes me... I also find father-daughter "purity balls" creepy. There are a lot of things some people do- from watching TLC to attending a megachurch- in this country that I don't get at ALL. But I doubt that "they hate us" because of anything that's on TLC.

[SoCalDem]

71. The extreme sexualization of very young females in our country

is a very big reason that the fundamentalists who hide their women away, fear us. They do NOT want our culture "tainting" their females.. I agree, they are brutal and archaic, but perhaps part of the reason they draw awy from modernity so much, is the fear that their women will suddenly emulate what westerners do .

[Warren DeMontague]

87. That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Who told you that?

Are they afraid of ADULT sexual freedom, ADULT sexual liberty, and empowered, open, ADULT female sexuality? Abso-fucking-lutely.

But their attitudes towards sex and women go back a lot further than these creepy toddler beauty pageants. Are you saying several hundred years of repression are a response to a phenomenon that's been around for maybe 20 years, or a show on TLC that started just recently??? How does that work?

The bottom line is, these things are creepy as shit-- that's a fact that should be readily apparent to anyone. We don't need to get the approval of the Taliban to clue us in on it.

[Initech]

79. That's why I love the movie "Little Miss Sunshine".

They completely SKEWER those beauty pagaents - and the grandpa and his granddaughter knew that they could take them down a notch with the right looks and the right moves. :rofl:

[cbdo2007]

73. have to admit......watched this once and liked part of it.....

I think they highlighted 4-5 kids in this episode...and all of the girls were sad and horrible and their parents were horrible except one.

She was an overweight girl who was cute but obviously wasn't going to win and her parents weren't pushing her at all, it was something she wanted to do, and she got lots of self-esteem out of it and it was rewarding to watch that story.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

74. I'm glad I was in orchestra instead of pageants or sports.

I loved my piano and violin lessons. We had orchestra starting in sixth grade. I was ten and had been given a violin. I continued playing in high school and throughout college. Our high school orchestra was quite good--we played the Finale of the New World Symphony at University Interscholastic League concert competition, and made an A.

I refused to catch a softball b/c I was afraid of jamming or breaking a finger. Hated P.E. class, got threatened by big stupid six foot tall girls, who wanted to beat me up for existing....I ran faster than they did.

I still play the piano and enjoy music. :D

[MrsBrady]

97. i'm still an "orch dork"

:hi:

piano and violin +1

[LanternWaste]

75. Sex sells...

Sex sells... and we righteously justify every variation of it.

(Connections... I just happened to watch an episode a day last week during my lunch hour. Love it!)

[SoCalDem]

83. My boys were small when we first saw the series, and they were mesmerized

with how odd little things helped change the world:)

If anyone has kids from 8 or 9 to teenage, and that series is available on DVD, it's well worth the money.. I think it was put on by BBC:)

Here's the wiki on the show:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)

[juno jones]

77. Harlan Ellison : 'Our Little Miss' (1970).

It is an essay in both 'Glass Teat 2' and 'Essential Ellison'. Harlan watches a kiddie beauty pageant and speaks his mind:

"...All six had ghastly Miss America smiles on their faces. That wholly unearthly rictus that denotes neither joy nor warmth. All teeth and cheeks stretched back like papyrus; smiles as if painted on, or as though Mister Lynn and his fashion thugs had held by the head each of the children just prior to emergence onstage, and attatched clothespins at the back of the neck, under the hairline, to stretch the faces into that montrous sardonicus. I had visions of the ballet The Red Shoes, of the ballerina dancing all the time away and finally died. I had a vision of those moppets smiling like the through all the days of their lives, until they were put in that final box, smile still strictured."

sad this sort of thing is still going strong.

[rucky]

85. prostitots. n/t

[Generator]

86. I prefer Operation Repo myself

But to each his own.

[SoCalDem]

93. There's a new show called "Flipping Out".. about house flippers who have flopped

That actually might be fun to watch:)

[ensho]

113. me too Operation Repo rocks

nt

[AwakeAtLast]

98. So much of it is already fake

Fake teeth, fake eyelashes, fake hair pieces. Give me a break!

My 7-year-old daughter's feet were so black from playing outside she had to take TWO baths today. Now that's what I call "beautiful"! :D

[Horse with no Name]

100. Child abuse is right

I remember one of these documentaries on these parents had a 6-year old fretting about weight and drinking Slim Fasts only as her diet.
These parents are fucked up in the head and seriously should find some way to work through their own psychological issues instead of creating new ones for their kids.