We Must Ask Why?

Each parent has his or her own reason as to why they want their daughter to participant in these pageants. On a study done by Levey who researched child beauty pageants of the two to six age group for the Harvard University Gazette, she interviewed forty-one pageant mothers who participate in an average of five pageants per year. Levey concluded that mothers of lower-income and education, enter their children in pageants because they want their children to learn the proper skills necessary to move up the social scale. One stage mother said, "I want my child to be aware that there's going to be somebody better than her. It's a hard thing to learn, it was for me, and I want her to start early." Parents with higher incomes and education beyond high school often justify pageants by explaining that competition is essential for their children to become successful. According to Levey, the upper class mothers want their daughters to become lawyers, doctors or to have professional careers. A lot of parents do it because it was something they probably wanted to do as a child but did not have the opportunity to do it. Some parents feel like they have to live the life they always wanted there their child. This creates the "psycho stage mom". A "psycho stage mom" is a mom who pushes and pushes her child. She is that mother that would stop at nothing to make sure her daughter wins.