Dear Belly,

We should all be concerned.

Beauty pageants are going too far.
Bralettes for girls as young as 3.
Bras for 8 year olds. Lip gloss for
six year olds. Fashion and gossip
magazines for girls aged five.
Good heavens, where does it stop?

Having magazines with headings like,
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" tied to photos of
little girls. What sort of message
does that send out?

We're talking about children here for
heavens sake, how are they going to develop
naturally when the pressure is placed
on them to behave like adults?

This sexualisation places these children at
risk in so many ways - not only from adult
predators but the pressure to be "perfect"
encourages the kids to want to be thinner
at an age when they're growing and nutrition
is crucial. They run the risk of developing
eating disorders, self-esteem issues - and
many other mental disorders.
Why can't they just be allowed to be kids?

I find any parent that encourages this sort of
behaviour in their child should have psychological
counselling.

I don't like seeing the little girls portrayed as older teenagers on stage either. However, if we were to ban such pageants, then where would it all stop? Paedophiles have been around long before we had beauty pageants, so they are not really a result of these shows.

We also have both boys and girls strutting their stuff on runways, in magazines and catalogues as models. Isn't this more of the same thing?

Kids have been playing 'dressups' as adults for many, many years.
Little girls watch mum get dressed up and put makeup on, and then love to emulate her.

Some parents also seem to condone little boys acting as men at times, by allowing them to play violent games, or giving them play guns or other violent weapons meant for adults.
Some boys also go out with Dad and the boys to learn how to shoot real guns. This is dreadful too.

I don't know what the answer is, but I think it is all too late now.

My concerns are not pedophilia only, or even mostly.
Hasbeen your humor was a bit off.
Now we Aussies have our own problems giving children beer or laughing at them swearing.
But this American,well the most we see is from that country, is a real
concern.
Girls as young as 3 in full makeup and dancing not unlike an adult at a male club.
Are the mums using or abusing them, yes both.
A now late teen girl spoke like a 3 year old and seemed damaged by mums efforts to relive her childhood via her child
The show seems to be crafted to show the mums in a bad light.
It does that for me, st Geo pedophiles would watch this show.

And just when you thought humans could not make themselves look any more stupid.lol.

I rest my case.

TTM.

Jon-benet Ramsay was a young child encouraged to dress up and wear make-up publicly, to enter beauty contests and mix with a variety of adults at a vulnerable tender and innocent age. [A baby].

That little girl would have been 20 years old this year. Jon-Benet's life should have served as a warning to all loving parents who want quality of life and life for their children. No judgement on the parents here, as no parent will ever get it right.

Over the past 20 years there has been sufficient education in the way of programs, the internet news stories, the newspapers - most media outlets, educating and making parents aware of the negatives and risks associated with their young children dressing up in provocative clothing and being entered in well publicised modelling pageants, beauty contests and events.

There are dancing competitions [inclusive of dressing up and using makeup] in addition to sufficient competition within a wonderful variety of sports that should take precedence to young childrens beauty pageants.

Think than move it is not clear what you thin who are you referring to?
Baby doll, my way of charging the mothers with neglect, and trying to turn a child in to a living toy.
Human rights, a child's right to be a child, are a question here.
I did not see many dads in the few minutes of the show I watched.
It can not be ignored, children are being sexualized here.
What else can describe it, Joe Beth, those of us who cringed at her death at the impact on her family, the false confessions, surely others shared my concern her killer may have been attacked by her mothers refusal to let the child be a child.
Once mum and dad inspected teen age girls before they went out, once make up was for middle teen years, surely for all the reasons that I am concerned for these children.