I believe I have confessed to an unnatural obsession with reality shows. And, still, I am not proud. I know that there are so many other more enlightening things I could expose my psyche to. Like reading a dictionary, for instance. Or, studying Birkram yoga. But, I just can’t help myself. And lately? Well, it’s gotten even worse. I’ve delved into an area of reality TV that disgusted me upon my very first viewing. Little Beauty Queens.

I’m basing most of my judgment from one show, Toddlers and Tiaras, currently airing on TLC. The weekly program showcases different pageant families as they prepare for and compete in beauty pageants across the country. There are typically two types of pageants: natural and glitz. The “glitz” pageants require hair extensions, manicures and pedicures, full face makeup, flippers (temporary veneers), false eyelashes and even spray tanning. And I’m sure you can guess at what I’m going to say next. More often than not, the poor child subjected to all of these various treatments Doesn’t Even Want To Be There. The parents are more than open about the necessity to occasionally bribe their child into performing with money, candy and in one instance, a dog. This is just one example of when bad parenting makes for some great television. Which, unfortunately, does not speak highly of society in general. Or me, for that matter.

Okay, so I am going to hop on down from my soapbox for a moment so I can explain what prompted me to even write this post in the first place. My daughter, Avery, happened to be reading a book in the family room while I was watching Toddlers and Tiaras. (Admittedly, not very smart parenting on my part but I’m all about full disclosure here.) She looked up at the screen and said, “I wonder what I would look like with all that makeup and hair.”

I looked at my little natural beauty and thought, “Hmm…I wonder what she would look like with all that makeup on.” So I grabbed up my makeup bag and went to work on her. I will admit it was kind of fun. I used face powder, blush, lipstick, eye shadow and even a little mascara. I absolutely drew the line at false eyelashes, though. Besides, I didn’t have any.

Okay. She looked beautiful. And that’s with makeup applied by my own untrained hand. And for a moment, I’m all “Oh, my God. With some eyelashes and hair pieces this kid could win! She could be a serious contender at a pageant and maybe we could win some cash. Yeah. We’d save it for college. EAT MY DUST PAGEANT MOMS!”

And then she did this. And I was snapped back into reality. Maybe, someday,if there were a natural beauty pageant in the area I would consider letting her enter. I see nothing wrong with a little healthy competition for boosting confidence and self-esteem. Butthere is absolutely no way I would ever subject this kid to a pageant which required her to”glam up” and lose sight of the natural beauty that she exudes.It is too easy to hide behind all of that makeup and lose sight of yourself, even at a young age.

Besides, I have a hard enough time getting all of my mascara off every night. I don’t need theadded pressure of preventing an extra set of raccoon eyes at the breakfast table in the morning.

Love to all, Mindy