I think you guys missed my point- yes we do reward people for being skilled at intellectual or physical pursuits. Skill is made up of not only natural talent but dedication and quality training. Or if you put it another way- you can have natural musical ability- but you won't be a concert pianist without 10000 hours of practice. Let's face it, beauty has little to do dedication or quality training- you either have it or you don't. Yes, yes, people will say it's about 'personality' or 'good grooming' or laughably 'modeling skills' but we're all big and ugly enough to know the truth- physical beauty is 99 per cent due to the genetic lottery (and 99 percent of us lose). Seeing these odds it would be much wiser to encourage children into pursuits that require genuine skill (sport, art, science) - if the kid turns out to be a looker then she won't need frou frou beauty pageants to help her. If they turn out average on the beauty scale well they'll have something else to be proud of. I'm not calling for a ban on beauty pageants - in fact I see them as a perfect lesson in just how stupid some parents can be.

Are you ugly, deaf, or just not listening chandra? What have you got about beauty?

Every thing you have mentioned comes first from a natural ability, talent. So does beauty, what can't you get about that? Why should beauty be less valued than any of the others?

I may be small minded, but I get much more pleasure from watching an attractive poised lady walk down the street, than I do watching a mussel bound escapee from the Gabba, or some bearded professor. Strangely, I would not cross the street to watch little girls play grown up.

I really don't mind if you prefer the beard, the abs, or none of the above, what ever turns you on, & at least I won't try to stop your preference from happening.

I am a Pageant Mum with an amazing daughter. She is bright,funny, caring, considerate and beautiful. Most importantly she is a very well adjusted 15 year old girl. She was never going to be the fastest runner, she will tell you herself if you put her in a room with a ball she will be hospitalised in 30 minutes. She is never going to have a record deal, or play in an orchestra. Pageants are her thing its where she shines. What right do you have to say that she cant do that.
I consider us to have a excellent Mother/Daughter relationship. Pageants, along with her other hobbies, give us the opportunity to enjoy quality time together. I am sure you agree that any time spent with a teenager gives you the opportunity to chat about their lives and find out what is truely going on. I have friends that would love a relationship similar to ours with their teenage daughters.
She is self confident and happy. She has no body issues and is happy in her own skin.
In addition to Pageants, my daughter also volunteers weekly at the Riding School for the Disabled and is an Assistant Coach for a Disabled Cheerleading Team. I am very very proud of who she is and what she has achieved.
No matter what you try and say against Pageants, I know that they have helped shape who she is today.

chandralekha, " Anyhoo- I think we should probably get all those beauty pageant girls into go - karting. Future formula 1 drivers? ;p" is the best comment I've read in ages!

Suzie- believe me, it is easier said than done. That would depend on if the child actually had an outright emotionally distant relationship with their parents and could care not a single bit about their feelings, their rules, praise or scorn.
Some children grow up in environments where parents are more domineering, and equate disappointing their parents to being a failure, or even a bad person.
Especially when the activity they set you up to is mostly the activity you do in your time, and thus you have little else to measure or define yourself for- or even do.
Adding to that, dedicating time to perfect the pageant-performance, takes time away from other developmental activities, play, and skill development; which also reduces the child's ability to actually acquire any new skills or recreational pursuits.
The largest downside for a pageant is that unless the participant can move up constantly to the next 'age group' and eventually get into a modelling career- the whole thing becomes a wasted investment.

And that is also why, Hasbeen- there is a problem with that discourse you mentioned. It is one thing to only be attracted to someone who is attractive- it is another to make someone give up time to be raised to do nothing but TRY to be attractive, when they might ultimately not be anyway- and in absense of any other development, consider themselves simply nothing that the only thing they 'know' how to do they are intrinsically not.

This whole thread falls back on what some kids enjoy doing for a bit of fun, and parents then nagging or coercing them to dedicate themselves to it as a profession.
If a kid puts on a doctor's outfit and plays the board game 'operation'- would you then make your kids spend every afternoon rehearsing the human anatomy, latin language and properties of blood circulation, so that they will definitely be a surgeon when they grow up?
No- and that is actually a comparatively good investment, compared to pageants and talents quests.

Sam, most F1, and other professional drivers, funny enough, all start in karting ..

I know a Porsche factory driver in Germany, he started in karting, was never going to be good enough to get sponsorship in major racing, so went into factory driving .. loves it, gets to drive bid bad ass Porsches most days

don't get me started on envy!