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There She Is...
Young Women and Beauty Pageants By Teri Brown
Though Farrell only participated in a few pageants before winning her title, there are other girls who spend their childhood performing. By the time they're teenagers many are long-time veterans. Whether this is good or not depends largely on how the parents treat the experience and the personality of the girls involved. Some girls are adversely affected by being judged, while others seem to thrive on it.
"I think the issue of being judged can make anyone feel a little uncomfortable, but I realized that a different day, a different set of judges there can be a totally different outcome," says Farrell. "I just participated in the competition to have a good time and I was myself."
Some girls are natural-born performers and treat pageants as one big performance. Mary Dixon Lebeau, mother of five, from West Deptford, N.J., allowed her daughter to participate in pageants when she was a preteen.
"She had always been a performer type," says Lebeau. Her daughter was simultaneously involved in theater, dance and gymnastics. "I think the pageants were enjoyable for her because she was able to perform her tap routine in front of a lot of people."
Lebeau was very careful of the pageants she allowed her daughter participate in. She wanted the experience to be positive for her even if it wasn't something she was personally interested in.
"Personally, I am not a pageant 'type,'" says Lebeau. "But then again, I'm not Courtney. She enjoys the look-at-me aspects of things, while I've always been a behind-the-scenes player."
If your preteen or teenage daughter is interested in pageants, Lebeau suggests that you make sure the pageants you enter are friendly ones. "Not all pageants are positive experiences, and even if your daughter wins, it may not be a good thing, because sometimes they may only reinforce feminine stereotypes," says Lebeau. "There are red flags everywhere. If you have to spend too much money on clothes, lessons or hairdos, then it's probably not a just-for-fun situation. I know women who invest a lot in these pageants. My daughter won in a borrowed gown and a sportswear outfit bought at a consignment shop ... but I know there are some pageants where this attire would be frowned upon."