Are You Kidding Me?

Before I even start this post, I need you all to go and read the following story, and please watch the videos, too: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mom-year-daughter-botox-young-young/story?id=13580804

I literally don’t even know where to start with this, I just don’t. 

For starters, I have serious problems with the fact that these pageants even exist.  I’m OK with photo contests.  Kids are cute and photography catches a moment in time.  These moms who put their daughters in these pageants put so much pressure on the girls to win that it really messes with the girl’s psyche.  In this situation, it’s bad enough that the mom is entering her 8-year-old in the pageants and putting the pressure on her to win.  Now, on top of that, she’s injecting her daughter with Botox!  Botulinum toxin, that’s the actual name of Botox.  The danger is spelled out right in the name: TOXIN.  This chemical is NOT approved by the FDA for cosmetic use in children.  But what is her reason for using Botox?  “It’s something a lot of mom’s in pageantry do, you just don’t hear about it.”  She claims her daughter is the one who wanted to do it.  But, if you watch the videos, in one of them Lara Spencer asks the little girl why she gets the injections, she says “I don’t know” and then her mom prompts her to say that it’s because “of wrinkles.”  I don’t believe she asked for it.  I personally believe that my Mom-of-the-Year nominee was influenced by another power hungry mom who said something ignorant who just wanted someone to feel bad about their daughter.  And she went with it.  I’ve got to hand it to her, not giving in to peer pressure (please read that last bit with sarcasm laid on really thick).

This little girl, aged 8 years, thinks she has wrinkles.  Where did she get that idea?  She’s 8, she didn’t wake up one morning, look in the mirror and say to herself “OMG, I have crow’s feet!  How am I ever going to win the pageant this weekend?”  Who told her this?  I’d start with her mom.  And, in fact, I will.  Did you watch the videos?  If not, click here to watch them.  I hate doing this, but I have to go with my gut on this one.  Look at the mom.  My guess is that she’s still hurting because she didn’t make the cheerleading squad in high school.  She’s out to prove something.  She wants to live her life vicariously through her daughter.  Then there’s the fact that she injects her own daughter with one of the most powerful toxins known to man.  She’s risking the health and welfare of her own child.  She claims the she doesn’t “do enough on her to make a big difference.”  She even says in one of the videos that the amount she uses doesn’t even make the “lines” go away.  Then what’s the point?  And where is this little girl’s father?  I get that mom has raised her on her own, but chances are that her baby-daddy is out there paying some kind of child support, or should be.  Where does he fit into all of this?  If he is paying support, is he happy that his money is going for Botox injections for his daughter?  I wouldn’t be.  And where are the grandparents in this situation?  I can assure you that neither my parents nor my in-laws would approve of Mama Bird injecting Little E’s face with Botox, experienced aesthetician or not.  I also find it hard to believe tat no other parents or any school officials were suspicious of anything regarding the appearance of her face.  And what made this Mother-of-the-Year candidate decide to take pictures and go to the news with this story?  She’s obviously proud of what she’s done.  But I guess injecting a toxin into your child and not having her die would be an accomplishment.

Now we move on to the as yet unknown doctor who supplies the mother with the Botox to inject into her daughter’s face.  HOW DOES THIS GUY EVEN HAVE A LICENSE?  “He’s a behind-the-scenes doctor” she says.  Not for long.  Child Services is now looking into this story and, I’m sure, is going to want to talk to this doctor.  And you’re going to have to give him up, unless you want to go to jail for perjury, leaving your 8-year-old daughter to fend for herself.  This guy does not deserve to be a licensed doctor in ANY state, let alone the State of California, apparently the only state that knows that certain products  “Contain materials known to the State of California to cause cancer.”

If Little E ever comes to me and says, “Daddy, I want to be in a pageant,” I’ll support her as long as she’s old enough to make the right decisions.  I will not, however, allow her to enter one of these child pageants, there’s absolutely no use for them what-so-ever.  They were probably created by moms who were ridiculed in high school, and now they have really cute kids.  What are the benefits?  You don’t have to teach her how to put on her make up when she gets older?  She can fix her hair by herself by the age of 6?  Little E is 2-years-old, and I’ll be damned if she’s going to be wearing make up by the time she’s 13.  The little girls in those pageants look like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with all the makeup their mom’s put on them.  I think it’s time we put a stop to these things, just phase out the children’s pageants all together.  Then maybe we wouldn’t have mom’s telling other mom’s that their 8-year-old has wrinkles, resulting in toxins being injected into their faces.

UPDATE: Is it really an update if it happened before I posted the story?  It is now.  As of today, it is being reported that Brittany has been removed from her mother’s home.  The San Francisco Human Services Agency has gotten involved due to too many unknowns.  I think this is a good move on the agency’s part, but let’s just hope she’s in good hands.