I don't know anyone personally that's into this, and I have to note that I've never watched the TV show Toddlers & Tiaras. But...I have seen a couple of TV talk shows where the host was interviewing these parents (usually mothers) and kids.

From what I've seen, it's a sad situation for the children involved, usually pushed into the show scene by mother 'wannabe' beauty pageant failures. I can see a cute baby contest, where you try to win a prize for your cute kid or grandchild, and the baby is dressed in usual age-appropriate attire, no problem with that.

These children (usually girls) are posing in sexually suggestive costumes, blowing kisses to the camera, and posing in erotic ways. They wear heavy make-up, false eyelashes, red lipstick, etc. From all I've seen, it's abusive to these children, as they are pushed by their parents and also insulted on web forums by other competitors. The children themselves appear to be unhappy in their situation, and just want to be regular kids.

These mothers have also considered (or done) things like botox injections and other surgeries for their young daughters to make them more "beautiful". In my opinion it's absolutely sick, and the mothers should seek counseling.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

Child abuse by the loving parents, and the public loves it. They don't realize that some of the public 'loves' it way too much. I would like to see some follow-up on these same girls as they become teenagers. Do they rebel and change their style to something on the other side of the tracks?

And gosh k2c, what tiny font you have. Totally opposite of Mad Scientist.

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- Jim

‘Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.’ Sir Winston Churchill

I've seen those shows too, K2C...most recently Anderson on morning CBS.
I think the mothers are living vicariously thru their daughters.
Many of the girls don't even enjoy doing it but the moms insist.

I'm sure there's a lot of sickos out there that really love it, especially if they're given easy access to these girls photos by posting them online. There was a young girl like that who was killed years back, Jon Bonet Ramsey, don't think they ever found the killer or intent, her family was suspect.

I'm using the 'franklin gothic med' style font which is a choice with the drop down arrow. The size is just the normal default #2. It seems to be a bit smaller, but darker. I like to change things like my font and avatar a lot. Maybe I'll go to the MS size in another ten years or so, when my eyesight worsens, lol.

You hit the nail on the head EarlyBird! They've shown the mothers on hidden camera cursing at the daughters with their demands, and telling them that they're ugly, etc. What's this world coming to?

I’ve seen a few picture of girls dressed up like this and cannot imagine what their mothers were thinking.
Yet if some pervert were to attack them they would be screaming bloody murder and would not be able to see the hypocrisy.

thankfully we dont have such beauty pageants in Australia
they did try to bring it here not long ago and were virtually run out of the country
the general consensus here is that child beauty pageants are a form of child abuse thats psychologically damaging to the child and pampering to perverts

Kudos to Australia! At least some people are still thinking straight!