The TLC channel is forever ongoing in my apartment. My roommate and I watch whatever is usually coming on, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. But the show Toddler’s and Tiaras caught my attention and I could fathom how absurd that show is.

I was watching little beautiful girls talk about how she’s prettier than the girl she’s competing with. I was watching their mothers brag about how their little one looks better with a tan than the girl next door. I was watching little girls crying in pain while getting their hair and makeup done as their moms were telling them to shut up and bribing them with toys.

What is this?

These mothers are truly ruining their daughters and turning them into monsters before they even celebrate their 1^st birthday. These little girls should be playing and out and dressing up their Barbies, not themselves. I understand this sound stereotypical, but I’d rather stereotype than believe how low this generation of kids have become.

The mothers are spending thousands and thousands of dollars to make their already beautiful baby girls into fake looking models, in dresses and tiny bikinis, while the kids only care about winning a trophy and getting some toys at the end. These kids aren’t even old enough to understand the word “competition” while their mothers are making the get fake hair, fake tans, fake eyelashes and fake teeth. You can see a lot of these kids saying they don’t even want to be a part of it.

These innocents don’t belong in beauty pageants where they turn into name-calling, spoiled divas.

Obviously there’s no blaming the children. Their mothers have no shame in cursing at other pageant parents while their 9-month-old girl is standing and listening to it all. It really get’s me thinking…

Do pageant moms do this just to boost the hype for television? Or is this actually real?

Whatever it may be, it needs to stop. Mothers need to stop making their kids practice for pageants all day till they have no time on their own for playing and even thinking about school. It blows my mind how child pageants have been around for over a 100 years, and yet the world finds it artsy and entertaining. We need to teach these future professionals how to feel beautiful and independent, not drown them with makeup and money.

Little girls don’t belong in beauty pageants.