Greetings all,
I find child beauty pageants wrong . . . the hair, make up, costumes & ridiculously inappropriate poses . . . what is childish about any of that?? What is with judging & competitions of children beauty full stop?? Even more alarming are the parents, living vicariously through their children, you see them on the side lines, reminding their child to "smile." Surely if the child was having a good time, they'd be smiling, but there is nothing natural about child beauty pageants.
I have had strong views on child models too. When we were living in Sydney 10 years ago, i was approached at shopping centres several times, asking if my 3 daughters would like to be models . . . very interested in my twins. I went along to one agent to check it out, i wasn't serious but with a Hollywood actress cousin, i thought it might be interesting to see inside her world. Twins are awesome for modelling, a single child can only 'work' 20 minutes an hour (or something like that) but twins, you can switch out & get 40 minutes 'work' each hour. The basic story was that you pay a large up front fee for them to photograph your children & be on the books for when a brand needs models or actors to audition. Immediately i felt really uneasy, especially as they kept insisting the twins could play a baby on a number of television shows, even though they are not identical, they weren't listening to me, they had dollars in their own eyes. A childhood of dragging babies & toddlers around ALL DAY for a 5 minute audition without any guarantee of success sounded ridiculous. Making money from my babies didn't sit right with me.
Fast forward to teens . . . my eldest is being talent spotted at athletics. I know the coaches have sport on the mind, but how young is too young to let your child travel interstate for sports, alone?? Last year she made the national finals for high school athletics, we were so thrilled but sending her to Queensland, to stay at a Uni campus & wander the grandstands for 3 days of competition, aged 12, supervised by who?? No darling, you can't go & bless her heart, she accepted that completely. If my husband was in Australia & available to accompany her exclusively, we might have said yes.
I heard supermodel Megan Gale recently say she believes 13 is far too young for a girl to be exposed to modelling (it's an adult world, high pressure + there is nudity/ dress changes - in front of who??) I agree. Do you know that cute children in the department store catalogues modelling swimwear, underwear & regular clothes - those catalogues have to be removed from the newspapers before they are handed to prisoners, for reasons i don't even want to mention.
I'm not a fan of singing shows, so i cringed when Young Talent Time relaunched this year (after a couple of decades) & wondered how they would handle the over sexualisation of children these days & current/ modern song lyrics. They confirmed it for me when a cast member aged 16 girl sang Jessie J's "i'm feeling sexy & free" & a talent hopeful sang Ella Fitzgerald's "at last my love has come along." Ok, so Hi-5, Disney & Wiggles songs possibly aren't what children are listening to, but how one earth can an 8 year old be praised for singing sensual love songs when A Little Mermaid song can equally showcase her singing talent?? Who makes these inappropriate decisions?? Ditto X Factor/ Idol/ The Voice/ Got Talent auditions & competitions which include young teens . . . do they even understand the lyrics??
Finally, last night flicking channels, i saw a sweet little 11 year old from the Blue Mountains, touted as wholesome & sweet by the interviewer, scored the role playing the young Pamela Travers (who wrote Mary Poppins) in a new Hollywood movie about Mary Poppins . . . & what did this little beaming face say "i want to be famous." Ick. All this after the Prince Harry naked photo scandals & everyone knows celebrities have zero privacy . . . who on EARTH would want to be famous?? Worse, her parents were standing there smiling. Who on EARTH would want their child to be famous?? Give up their childhood, for what?? "Child star" is like curse. FYI this young lady has had an agent since she was 5, so hardly plucked from obscurity to land the role. Enough said. Each to their own, not my child.
Watching the early news today, Australia is finally in line with other developed countries: one in five children is sexually abused, what a horrible record to achieve. I know i have given my children every opportunity to avoid such an awful situation. Missed opportunities, sure, if they are that beautiful, talented & athletic, those opportunities will still be there when they are 18. Above all, not one of my children has ever shown the desire to be famous, or even rich, just to do their personal best & impress themselves. My husband & i are so proud, thank goodness they have that mind set.
Am i the only one who feels like this?? I appreciate children need to be cast in child roles, but who is protecting them?? Love Posie
I heard supermodel Megan Gale recently say she believes 13 is far too young for a girl to be exposed to modelling (it's an adult world, high pressure + there is nudity/ dress changes - in front of who??) I agree. Do you know that cute children in the department store catalogues modelling swimwear, underwear & regular clothes - those catalogues have to be removed from the newspapers before they are handed to prisoners, for reasons i don't even want to mention.
I'm not a fan of singing shows, so i cringed when Young Talent Time relaunched this year (after a couple of decades) & wondered how they would handle the over sexualisation of children these days & current/ modern song lyrics. They confirmed it for me when a cast member aged 16 girl sang Jessie J's "i'm feeling sexy & free" & a talent hopeful sang Ella Fitzgerald's "at last my love has come along." Ok, so Hi-5, Disney & Wiggles songs possibly aren't what children are listening to, but how one earth can an 8 year old be praised for singing sensual love songs when A Little Mermaid song can equally showcase her singing talent?? Who makes these inappropriate decisions?? Ditto X Factor/ Idol/ The Voice/ Got Talent auditions & competitions which include young teens . . . do they even understand the lyrics??
Finally, last night flicking channels, i saw a sweet little 11 year old from the Blue Mountains, touted as wholesome & sweet by the interviewer, scored the role playing the young Pamela Travers (who wrote Mary Poppins) in a new Hollywood movie about Mary Poppins . . . & what did this little beaming face say "i want to be famous." Ick. All this after the Prince Harry naked photo scandals & everyone knows celebrities have zero privacy . . . who on EARTH would want to be famous?? Worse, her parents were standing there smiling. Who on EARTH would want their child to be famous?? Give up their childhood, for what?? "Child star" is like curse. FYI this young lady has had an agent since she was 5, so hardly plucked from obscurity to land the role. Enough said. Each to their own, not my child.
Watching the early news today, Australia is finally in line with other developed countries: one in five children is sexually abused, what a horrible record to achieve. I know i have given my children every opportunity to avoid such an awful situation. Missed opportunities, sure, if they are that beautiful, talented & athletic, those opportunities will still be there when they are 18. Above all, not one of my children has ever shown the desire to be famous, or even rich, just to do their personal best & impress themselves. My husband & i are so proud, thank goodness they have that mind set.
Am i the only one who feels like this?? I appreciate children need to be cast in child roles, but who is protecting them?? Love Posie
