Wednesday, March 2, 2011

No Matter How Small

When my children were sophomores in high school, parents and guardians got very exciting letters in the mail. The letters had a lovely note of congratulations alongside a list of the student's achievements like AP classes, honor and high honor rolls, extracurricular activities, etc. I got the letter as well. I was very much excited and then I looked at the return address. I was a little confused. The letter was not from the school they attended or even the school district they were in. I read it again. It was from the publishers of some kind of directory of good students and it said that I can buy the book for a hundred and fifty dollars so I can show it off and be proud. Then a friend of mine told me to wait and see if I get something from "Who's Who", and that the book will be the only worthwhile book to spend money on. She said that the rest would be scams. I waited and I did pay ( I don't remember how much) but less than the scam people were asking. I still wonder why do people scam?
 I am not saying that beauty pageants are scams. I just thought that I would find out what is in it for the people who organize them. So, I was looking at the cost of some of the pageants for little girls. The registration fee can go up to five hundred dollars (not including the travel and accommodations expenses.) This is well and good, people want to be proud of their babies and kids so it is their prerogative to spend. Also to each his own, I am sure every Mom finds her daughter to be cute and probably feel swept off and get carried away when offered a chance. The only fear I have is the emotional turmoil the kids and the parents go through, the hurt and the damage to self esteem of the kids who loose and then the overconfidence or even vanity of those who win. It was interesting to know that the first few beauty pageants (not the kiddy ones) were started by an owner of a hotel in Atlantic City in the early 1920s. The kiddy ones started somewhere in the 60s.
I will admit that I like one kiddy pageant. The one where Tommy becomes Tonya.( even in a cartoon he looked cute as a girl.) Remember Rugrats?
Talking of comics, and stories for kids, today is the birthday of someone unforgettable, who taught us "A person is a person no matter how small."  Dr.Seuss you will always be in our hearts. (March 2, 1904 to September 24,1991)

5 comments:

Belle said...

I agree with you about the pageants. I believe they would do damage to a girl's personality. I love Dr. Seuss too!

Jilda said...

I love Dr. Seuss, one of my favorite authors!
I was in a beauty pageant once, on a dare.
I truly did not belong there. I have know many beautiful women through the years, those who relied on their beauty seem to had/have a tough time with aging.

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Wow, you're so sweet for thinking of Dr. Seuss! Thank you so much for your heart-felt comment on my clipart blog. I really appreciate it.

I've never entered a beauty contest. The thought did pass to enter my daughter into a modeling thing, but we couldn't afford it so we didn't go through with it.

What we do to develop their sense of being is to help them understand how important they are to us as well as our Father in Heaven. I am very open with the things they need to share with us. My home is a sanctuary from the things of this world where they can be themselves without belittlement or judgement.

This is a great post. I'm glad that I didn't set my kiddles up for failure (maybe not exactly so, but it sure feels like it with the deflated hype of losing)--competitions like those can be so tough for anyone if they don't win. :)

♥.•*¨ Elizabeth ¨*•.♥

Fickle Cattle said...

I think it sucks that people would actually attempt to scam kids and their parents. Bastards.

ficklecattle.blogspot.com

Miss Vicki said...

O I Love Dr Seuss! Still got a couple of his books in my bookshelf :)