I'm writing about a topic today that I had been holding off on for a week or so. I know a lot of you have seen the young girl on television whose mother was giving her botox injections. The mother and daughter were featured on Good Morning America recently and, naturally, the program caused an uproar. Here is a video clip of their appearance:

I believe that most of you would agree that there is a LOT wrong going on here. Before I get into all of that, I want to explore why this mother is labeled "a pageant mother" instead of an "abusive mother." They never name the system this little girl is competing in and I can tell you 100% that this is NOT happening in the Miss America system. Beyond that, I would bet a nickel that this is not happening in ANY child pageant system. This is extreme and dangerous behavior, and I am very disappointed that it is immediately labeled as pageant behavior. This is bad behavior that has nothing to do with pageants.

It was just announced that Child Protectice Services was involved in this situation and the young girl is no longer in her mother's custody while CPS is ensuring that she has a safe environment to live in.

And while it may seem uncharitable to say this, I am glad this is happening. For those of you who don't know, Botox is made from botchulism - a highly dangerous strain of food poisoning that could kill an entire community in a heartbeat. This little girl is getitng exposed to a deadly substance by her mother who is not a doctor. Beyond that, I cannot imagine my mother implicitly telling me that the way I looked at 8 years old wasn't good enough. I don't even know that I knew what a wrinkle was at 8 years old - I certainly didn't worry about having them!

As I said, there is so much that is distressing about this situation. Where is this woman GETTING the Botox - what doctor is selling it to her? What makes her think that is is appropriate and safe? And why does she (and the media) so easily blame this on pageant pressure? I am no fan of Toddlers and Tiaras, don't get me wrong, but this goes way beyond Toddlers and Tiaras. I wish that the general public could look beyond the word "pageant" in this story and see that it is plain, ungilded child abuse.

So - that's what I think about all of this. What do YOU think?

Posted Friday, October 22, 2010