Toddlers and Tiaras—Scary or Just Plain American Fun?

I happened to catch an episode (or two) this weekend, and was struck by how, on one hand, I thought it was great that mothers were involved in their children’s lives (even if yes, it was to an unnerving degree…perhaps too much is better than neglect? Tough call). I could also get into the idea of teaching kids how to create a goal, see it through, and be the best they can be- win or lose. In theory, I think these are great lessons for kids to learn at any age. And there didn’t seem to be any of these little kids (both girls and boys) were unhappy, and being forced to participate, so again, no outright child abuse from what I could see (and my sense would be that TLC would hope for the drama of an angsty resistant kid).

But, and of course there is a but-- I found it really difficult to watch these episodes (I say this, though I made it almost through two whole episodes), because I struggled with the overt sexuality that these mothers were injecting into their “toddlers” were orchestrating into their performances. Do I need to see a three year old yank off her skirt to reveal her little bathing suit, and then twirl it around like a burlesque performer? And what’s with the copious amounts of hair and make-up? Does a toddler need to do anything more than toddle to be considered beautiful? It seems unnerving that a little girl or boy should spend their free time working on how to be sexier so as to appeal to a bunch of adults. And what, exactly, are those adults looking for?

So, what are we really teaching our kids? Are we teaching them to go for gold when they are passionate about something? Or are we continuing to perpetuate the stereotype that a person is only valuable based on their looks and sexuality (which, of course, are of the hetero-norm type)?

And in my defense, I was only trying to LEARN something from The Learning Channel.