TLC premiered the pageant documentaries Painted Babies at 17 and Toddlers & Tiaras in September. I don't watch much TV, so I missed them.
I did, however, just watch this clip, and it makes me shudder. Kids are so very responsive to parent/guardian praise and punishment. They are so very eager to earn praise and to do good. I don't know if any other beastie in the animal kingdom is so hardwired for positive reinforcement. I do know that this kind of behavior on the part of a parent is deplorable.
Boys are far from immune, either. I've witnessed hapless youth manipulated into daddy's little (fill in the blank--mini-me). It was nationalized by the Germans when the Hitler Youth came into being, but it is widespread everywhere, even here in Kansas, today. Sporting events are the most obvious. I've seen parents at ballgames behaving in ways that would make even the Fuhrer embarrassed! I know of one daddy who drives his kids so very hard with insults that I have come close to intervening. It reminds me of an article I read last year about some parents pitting their kids against one another in a street fight, just to "toughen them up." I wouldn't be surprised if those same parents may have been taking side bets on the victor.
To me, it all goes back to letting kids be kids. Let them be little. Give them time to grow into whomever they are inclined to become. I hope I do not put too much of my direction on the shoulders of my little ones!
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