Beauty Padgents??

Thats a great idea....If you feel like messing up your kids perception on how the world shold view women, for there looks and bodies, instead of BEING APPRECIATED FOR WHAT SHE KNOWS AND DOES. can you tell i hate beauty schams. :grumble:

http://www.upworthy.com/this-womans-beef-with-prettiness-will-leave-you-speechless

It might be a better idea than a spelling bee.

It might be a better idea than a spelling bee.

:laugh:

Thats a great idea....If you feel like messing up your kids perception on how the world shold view women, for there looks and bodies, instead of BEING APPRECIATED FOR WHAT SHE KNOWS AND DOES. can you tell i hate beauty schams. :grumble:

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gonzo0612:
I just came across an ad in the paper for a local Boutique, they are hosting a "Model Search and Pageant" for ages infant to 21. I have a daughter she is 2.. i get complimented on her looks daily aside from the typical "how cute". I thought it might be fun to at least try it out, all in fun of course. I just thought id get some 411 from my fellow MFP users, have any of you participated or know of someone who has expirence with this type of thing, just want to know what im getting myself into. Ive caught a couple of those toddler in tiara shows lol but i think this is just minor not the big league like that!!

For starters I am uncomfortable with the idea of a child and pageants. I am unfamiliar with it ~ am totally green there. However, I am more familiar with child-modeling, being that i was one from the age of 1 and a half upwards. For me it wasn't my mother who'd introduced me to it but a girlfriend of one of my uncles who resided at my Maternal Grandparent's residence with my uncle who'd decided to take me so that my potential earnings could contribute to the house bills (to support my siblings and i plus her whilst we'd been billeted there for my parents were fighting). Fast forward, i secured more than one contract. Per shoot back in the 70s to the early 80s i was getting about $561/per day for me and $1683/per day for her. And I would actually work for about 4 - 5 days per week for Department Stores, private boutiques, some photographers and private collections in casual, active, beachwear, smarts and formals and lifestyle and automobiles.

My advise to you would be (i) Secure a contract before she even breaks a smile. And this should be something you would need to nail down as the parent, when they inform you that they are interested in your child - for commercial purposes. Nail down the minutes. Is it like a standard pay for the day? Will she be getting paid every time a photo of her is published or is it in kind ~ as in she gets food, free copies of her photos to add to her own portfolio or clothes to enhance her wardrobe, sometimes they offer academic tuition fees scholarships, gift certificate type or an account at select restaurants etc ~ You need to know all that before you take her to the shoot. Be mind-ready and remain pushy ~ hard!!! (ii) Food, beverage, snacks ~ packed bites ~ a must!! IF they tell you it'll take them 2 hours ~ prepare for 6 hours. And this is where negotiating an hourly rate is beneficial, NOT always but if they prolong it, you collect. (iii) Make certain your daughter is potty-trained. This is not a fit environment for a toddler whose still going through diaper-changes. (iv) You understand your child ~ What are your child's mood triggers? Run through it. What upsets her and quickly? You need to be "there" ~ you are her conductor. All her emotions need to be on call for work, so you'll need props ~ What calms her down, something far removed from a binkie, preferably something more like you making an *kitten* of yourself off camera to alter her mood on camera. Think favourite toy, book, blanket. (v) Waiting periods are long, whilst they set up the scene ~ take her entertainment ~ keep it carry friendly. (vi) Consider her on the go nap bed because if she gets too moody some photographers will advise she needs a nap, so along that trail of thought, take what you know puts her out like a light ~ favourite book ~ her naptime ritual tools. (vii) Set up a Trust Account for her, where a certain percentage is hers and a certain amount is yours. Often times they might actually have precalculated it for her and will then tell you the details ~ Usually 5% for managerial role, 5% for agent (which is what you are) and 5% for coach (which will be you too). So 85% should be hers. 15% is yours!!! And from the 85% you can possibly take another 5% for transport, maintenance, health, training, wardrobe, etc (viii) NEVER EVER LEAVE THE ROOM OR SPACE. No matter what they tell you, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AWAY FROM HER. You must NEVER leave her line of sight. My Aunt was brilliant about that. BE A DIVA. The child is not the Diva; You need to be the Diva-Mama. Your child is a product ~ the money maker ~ PROTECT YOUR ASSET which is her asset!!!

It is fun ... It'll feel like playtime for her ... Creative costume dress play. I loved it and I like the idea that I could contribute towards our stay at our maternal grandparent's abode, without being a financial burden/inconvenience. It made me work harder!

Forgive me if this post is kinda allover the place, but that was a long time ago.

Edited to highlight: US Currency

A co-worker's wife was hosting a "natural" pageant locally and asked me to sign my daughter up.

I did, as it was pretty cheap, no make-up or fancy dresses required, and it was Halloween themed - so my daughter would get to wear her costume and have fun. She was 2 at the time.

It was an ok day, I suppose. My daughter enjoyed playing with the other kids and walking around in her Halloween costume and a party dress. She won her age group and "most photogenic" (I had to provide an 8x10 - I gave them one she had done at Walmart a few months prior). All in all, I was out like $30 for the day and it made the hostess happy.

However - the other moms were some of the craziest women I have EVER met in my entire life. They were so wrapped up in the pageant foolishness. One woman was trying to sell bracelets to all the other moms to help pay for her pagent expenses. Turns out, the family had no money. Like none. But she wanted the girls in pagents, so that was the trade off, I guess. The other moms all got pretty crappy when my kid won as well. I got out of there pretty quickly and vowed never to do that again.

It might be a better idea than a spelling bee.

:laugh:

^

It might be a better idea than a spelling bee.

Unless she's really good at making fun of the other contestants, spelling bees is the way to go. Pageants are about confidence and insane parents. To win you have to play the psychological game and freak out the parents while your child freaks out the other kids. And curls, the kid with the curls wins.

I saw that in a documentary.

coming from personal experince I wouldn't advise it. last year my daughter wanted to enter one at the school 4-h program. I wasn't for it but she wanted to try. she and two others girls lost and my daughter was in tears telling me and other people she was ugly. I said no your not at all. beauty is in the eye of the beholder. her bestfriend also a pretty girl was singled out and so was her sister. it damaged their self esteem.

I was also friends with a girl who was in beauty pageants and she was a skinny size 1 she went to a gas station with me and I asked if there was anything she wanted and she said a candy bar but please don't tell my mom if I gain any weight from eating it she will be so upset with me. to be beautiful I have to be a size 1.

to be honest these things cause more damage to self esteem if you don't fit their standards and if you do like my friend Charity you will do anything to get there and have a mom who encouraged in her mind anything beyond a size 1 is fat.

It all looks absolutely ghastly. I wouldn't put my child through that, nor would I be willing to endure those people and their children for five minutes, let alone an entire day or whatever. NO. :noway: