you are beautiful

I think this little one is just the most beautiful precious little soul. I spend most of the day just looking at her and kissing her sweet cheeks. I want her to always know that her mama loves her and that she is beautiful for just being her.

In the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk in the media about child beauty pageants. A big beauty pageant company from America wants to bring Australia's very first pageant to Melbourne in a few months.
You may have seen the pictures. Little girls plastered with makeup, glitzy frilly dresses and dance moves not even seen in the sauciest of zumba classes.
I'm not really sure what kind of beauty these pageants are trying to demonstrate. The little girls do not look like little girls nor do they really look like adults. It is as though their childish looks (big eyes, cute colours and frills) are trying to be accentuated but with a huge layer of sexualisation on top.

I watched my very first episode of toddlers and tiaras last night. It is a show all about little pageant girls. While I held my little girl in my arms I watched in disbelief as a four year old was spray tanned and dressed up in a swimsuit to "shake my booty" (her words) as her mother told her time and time again that "beauty hurts" and talked about her "hot little miss."

It just made me sad. The youngest competitor in the pageant was 10 months old. At what stage are these little girls able to just be a kid and run around and do kid things without worrying about looking right, walking right and shaking their booty the right way. I wonder how these young children will see themselves when they do reach adulthood. I worry about my little girl wanting to fit in, be thin and be pretty without the pressure of an actual competition she is in. I worry about this wrong idea of beauty that these girls are exposed to. That you are only beautiful if you have a spray tan and makeup. It speaks nothing of your character or the unconditional beauty seen by a mother of her child.

I want my little girl to know she is beautiful to me because she is mine. I want her to seek beauty in her heart and in her character.

If you would like to know more about beauty pageants in Australia or sign a petition to stop the one in Melbourne, here are some links.

Collective Shout
Pull the Pin Rally
Petition



Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes;  instead, it should consist of the hidden person of the heart. 1 Peter 3:3-4